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FEEL Model

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Good News for Leaders, Here’s What #Millennials Like About You

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Last September, the World Economic Forum published an article discussing what Millennials really want from businesses. What stood out immediately from the article appeared in the first sentence. “The global business community is being challenged by Millennials who want to change the world — and the results are going to be incredible.”

The article went on to discuss how Millennials want to create change and value takes priority. Financial performance should not be the only measure of success. They are focused on and want to see social change. The organizations that live by their values and bring them to life are the companies that will get Millennial attention, the benefits of their purchasing power, and their employment. As a result, businesses are actively working on becoming more socially conscious by placing organizational purpose over corporate mission and profits.

Although I’ve shared some of the ways leaders are disappointing Millennials in previous posts, here’s the good news … you’re getting a few things right in your communication and it’s appreciated. It’s not all bad for business leaders and brands that want to reach Millennials through their marketing channels or want to recruit and retain them in their companies.

From my research, there are several ways that leaders score positive points and can make a difference. Here’s what Millennials said when I asked, “Please fill in the blank. I LIKE a leader who …”

  • Speaks up more and shows a lot of corporate activism. Brands are more than their products and services today.
  • Interacts frequently with followers. The screen doesn’t exist and you can have a conversation.
  • Convey thoughts properly and effectively.
  • Takes the time to communicate through videos.
  • Shares direct and straightforward messages.
  • Communicates in earnest and follows up with action.
  • Leads with integrity and leads by example.
  • Inspires an audience and listens carefully to their thoughts and concerns and fuel the passion further.
  • Is vulnerable and authentic.
  • Shares some personal experience and knowledge; a leader who is compassionate and interested.
  • Basically enjoys helping others to become leaders.

By way of background, I started my research journey to really understand how Millennials show up to their conversations and how they want to be perceived. What surfaced quickly in my one-on-one interviews was what they expected from the leaders in their lives (bosses or managers at their companies, business professionals representing the brands they love and even their religious and political figures too) whether they’ve expressed this publicly or not.

After experiencing personal family trauma, I wanted to also learn why communication doesn’t always show how people feel when they share on social media or during their in-person interactions. That’s why it’s so important to show up to your conversations with a FEEL First approach.

Because, when you FEEL before you communicate, you:

Face Your Fears by you’re stepping out of your comfort zone and allowing yourself to be more open to the ideas, feedback, and information that challenges the way that you are programmed to think.

Engage with Empathy by actively listening and you’re able to put your own agenda aside. Taking the time to understand the details of someone’s situation is the first step toward compassion and walking in someone else’s shoes.

Use Ethics and your good judgment by exercising your values and beliefs with every interaction and being true to yourself through your communication.

Unleash the Love of your work, ideas, cause, etc. (you fill in the blank) with contagious passion and the kind of energy that makes people want to not only be around you but also to support your cause and collaborate with you.

If you’re a leader and you FEEL you’re not connecting and advancing your relationships or exciting the people around you (not just Millennials but anyone), then here’s are a few ways to address the “F” in the FEEL model that might help. Embracing open conversations, differing opinions and being open to change means stepping out of your comfort. When you’re more aware of how you show up to your conversations, and when you have an open and inviting approach, different actions will result, from the people around you.

FEEL First Model Deirdre Breakridge

Millennial Research Shapes the FEEL First Model

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In October 2018, I set out on a research journey to learn more about Millennial communication. I wanted to understand where they liked to express themselves and how they wanted to be recognized on social media. I also started to uncover the types of interactions Millennials expected from their “Leaders.” For the purposes of my one-on-one interviews, “Leaders” were defined as their own company leaders, business executives from familiar brands, or from the brands and the causes they cared about, and political leaders too.

One question was easy to analyze and the results didn’t surprise me. I asked 25 Millennials what advice they would give to leaders on social media. After analyzing their answers and using a tool to create a word cloud, certain words carried more weight and meaning. These included: TRY, UNDERSTAND, SOCIAL, MEDIA, NEED, CARE, GIVE, PEOPLE, RESPOND, MESSAGE, INTERACTIVE AND EMOTION. You can see the word cloud below.

Diving further into the interviews, the quotes from the Millennials answering this question were just as interesting. Here are a few of my favorite quotes offering advice to their leaders:

  • Be relatable and much more interactive with us.
  • If someone tweets to you, the least you could do is respond.
  • Be clear and concise; our generation is overloaded with far too much information.
  • The message doesn’t have to be perfect; this will make you more relatable and approachable.
  • Show you care about the people behind your organization and brand.
  • Operate your own social media, don’t let someone else; it seems a little shady.
  • Take the time to understand us or your audience in general.
  • Take the time to know us, especially on social media.
  • You need to learn how to communicate through social media.

Millennials are asking for leaders to be more human and genuine and to show up with the emotional intelligence when they answer questions or interact with them. The smartest leaders will take this information and work on how they communicate through social media. One way to close the gap between what Millennials expect and how their leaders currently communicate is to FEEL first. What does this mean?

Face Fears – making you more open to different perspectives and not share knee jerk communication

Engage with Empathy – Don’t just listen but listen actively and ask questions, understand people so they know you care. Think less about your messages and how you can help them.

Use your Ethics (and good judgment) – Always being accurate, truthful and fair in your interactions. It also means showing up as your authentic self.

Unleash the Love – If you don’t show your passion, energy, and enthusiasm then why would anyone want to join your cause.

Here’s a video discussing the research and a new FEEL First Test (a web app) which is coming soon.

FEEL First Model Leadership & Communication

Launching the FEEL First Before You Communicate MODEL [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Communication is at the heart of your business and every relationship you build. With book titles focused on the best ways to engage including, Decency Starts at the Top, by CEO and Chairman, Larry Weber of Racepoint Global and articles focusing on “Workplace Compassion: A Trend Driven by the Changing Workforce” your authenticity, integrity and empathy become front and center at every touchpoint.

Modern communicators have a responsibility to use communication as a way to build bridges between people and groups; sharing communication to help, uplift and ignite passion and positive momentum. It’s a do “good” and do “no harm” approach. But, with a noisy communication landscape, does communication from businesses professionals, who speak on behalf of their organizations, reach the public in a “do good” manner; in a way that instills trust, expresses kindness, and creates opportunities to build relationships?

You may come in contact with leaders and business professionals every day. They are your own company executives or the senior executives who speak out on behalf of your favorite brands and social causes. Or, maybe they are the political leaders in your newsfeeds on social media. Regardless of the type of leader, do you think the communication they share is reaching, resonating and helping people, especially when it comes to younger generations? With  Millennials and Generation Z experiencing more depression and anxiety at alarming rates, are leaders today meeting the communication expectations of these groups, or any group they want to reach?

Now, it’s time to reign in the communication for some self-reflection. Ask yourself an important question. Do you really know what someone else is experiencing before you tweet, blog or post on Facebook? Are you using social media to get closer with people to build your own personal brand? The data you collect and analyze on social media is based on what people want to share with you, and how they want to be seen. Of course, there’s a highlight reel on social media. What you see on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or any platform does not always give you a clear picture of someone’s life, what is going on in their world or how they are truly feeling.

FEEL is the optimal word here and what others are feeling. Your communication can either help them, or it can quickly becomes a part of the “noise” that blocks the value, which affects the end goal of any interaction.

Whether it is you, or the leaders you know, there’s a better way to approach communications when the noise is overwhelming … it’s to FEEL first. If you don’t FEEL as a first step, which means to Face Fears, connect with Empathy, use Ethics and unleash the Love of your mission, then all of your planning may fall on deaf ears. Once you can FEEL, the strategy that you’ve developed will play out not only to connect you, but also to help you engage in a way that is valued and seen as more human and open, creating those longer lasting bonds.

After a devastating family tragedy last September, I embarked on a research journey. I started to speak with Millennials about communication preferences and began analyzing Women Worldwide interviews with guests focused on leadership and communication (using text analytics). My goal was to see if what Millennials preferred in their communication from leaders is what they were experiencing on social media. Were the characteristics they preferred drawing them closer to their leaders or pushing them farther away?

Then, when I teamed up with Talkwalker to use their search tool, the themes identified around leaders, communication and emotions and different communication qualities really came to the surface. The lightbulb went on! Seeing the results (in word cloud format) based on a sophisticated Boolean search (yes, Talkwalker helped me here) it appeared that the IQ side of leadership stood out more in conversations. With more than 50% positive sentiment, about 47% neutral and only 3% negative, words such as “knowledge,” “experience,” “confidence,” “strength,”  “professional” were the most prominent in discussions about leaders and communication, across blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

But what about the Emotional Quotient (EQ) side of the house? I was surprised that words such as “interpersonal,” “respect”, “feel,” “values,” “real,” and “commitment” took a back seat. What does this say about leaders and communication on social media, when the EQ or the soft skills were much less in the spotlight? You can take a look at a couple of graphics showing the text analytics to see for yourself.

Boolean Search on Leadership, Communication Qualities and Emotion Graphic !
Boolean Search on Leadership, Communication Qualities and Emotion Graphic 2

Keeping the initial research in mind, I’ve taken the first stab at a communication model that may help to close the gap between what Millennials and Gen Z want and the type of communication that’s lighting up social media and may not really be resonating with them. The components of the FEEL First model are as follows:

•    An audit process to get unstuck, which is the first step in understanding how you’ve been communicating in the past. This is usually a Fix it to Move Forward approach.

•    Finding the Passion Potential with any group, to make sure that what you believe is relevant to share will actually resonate and have the potential for further engagement with them.

•    Take the FEEL Test to help you engage more authentically with any audience [there are four parts focused on each piece of the FEEL acronym]

•    Address your FEEL weaknesses after scoring your test.

•    Apply the FEEL approach to social media, company team meetings, speaking engagements, and your media interviews.

•    Measure the FEEL model to see that you’re moving toward genuine communication and relationships that encourage fresh ideas, empathy for all parties, use good judgment in all interactions and unleash a passion that becomes the DNA or the fabric of your relationships.

The FEEL First Model

I’ll be building out the model in much more detail in the weeks ahead with exercises and different ways to advance your steps with the FEEL First Approach. All ideas and suggestions are welcomed!

Moving Leadership to FEEL first

Moving the Leadership Conversation to FEEL

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If I asked you to name the top qualities of a leader what would you say? Leaders have vision. They inspire and motivate people. Leaders are creative and they have passion. But, would you say, leaders are people who feel deeply for the people they serve? Is this a conversation that you’re hearing?

As a quick snapshot experiment, using a social media monitoring tool called, SocialMention, I decided to test the strength of the word “Leader” with many of the known characteristics that I’ve just mentioned. When you pair the words, “leader” and “creativity” or “leader” and inspire,” the conversations are strong and the reach is wide. The sentiment is also a high positive ratio.

But what happens when you pair the word “Leader” with “Feel?” Check out my video to learn the strength and reach of this conversation. The results are sad which validates why we leaders today who want to create change and impact need a FEEL model.

F = Uncover your Fears and move out of your comfort zone.

E = Come from a place of Empathy and dig deeper to understand what’s “below the surface” of the people you want to reach.

E = Communicate with Ethics especially in the age of social conversations.

L = Love your mission and believe in the cause so others will want to join you.

Featured image courtesy of Dmitri Popov on Unsplash.