Managers: 5 Reasons to Eliminate

Which celebrity would you take career advice from?

Oprah

Donald Trump

Hugh Hefner

Madonna

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Want to connect with the younger workers? Then its time to update your vocabulary. And the first phrase voted to be removed from your management lingo is: pay your dues. I could write a long post trying to gently, tactfully explain why you should remove it, but instead, Im going to get to the point:

1. It makes you sound old.
2. It makes you sound bitter.
3. It makes you sound narrow-minded.
4. It makes you sound insensitive.
5. It makes you sound elitist.

Now, before you get angry or decide to ignore my reasons above, let me shed some light on why "pay your dues" makes you appear old, bitter, narrow-minded, insensitive, and elitist. (Ouch, just writing it sounds harsh!) It's because the audience you use it on hasn't had the life lessons needed to make that phrase have a positive impact on them. And, since you can't fast-forward time so they can experience all you need them to in order for the "pay your dues" phrase to be meaningful, it's time to re-think your coaching strategy.

In the employee coaching module I teach to management teams, I provide a simple model for communicating critical feedback successfully to younger employees. One thing holds true, the more you tailor your response to speak to them personally, the better. Dont generalize and make one-size-fits-all comments, instead, take the time to explain yourself, a.k.a. provide a life lesson. I promise you, replacing an outdated cliche with a meaningful feedback experience can make a huge impact. While the first is ignored, the latter is appreciated and therefore, heard.

Here are some replacement suggestions:

• We need to provide you with more learning opportunities so that your perspective on the situation can be enhanced. This will help you feel more confident and effective in your work.
• Our experience shows that people who take the extra time to build their skills are more successful when the time comes for them to take on more responsibility. We dont want to put you in a situation where you'd be at risk of not succeeding the way you want to.
• There is a lot of information that you absorb without realizing it when working in this position. Thus, even though you may feel like you arent moving forward, the reality is that through osmosis, you are actually learning more than you think. To skip this opportunity for you to gain a strong baseline state of knowledge would be an error on our part. You deserve the chance to be properly prepared so you can achieve all that you want to in the future.

As you can see, these examples take no more than 3 extra seconds of your time, but I assure you, the quality of your response will be rewarded with open ears.

In summary, the next time you want to explain to a younger worker why they cant have that promotion, project, responsibility, etc. just yet, refrain at all costs from using "pay your dues" in conversation. I promise you'll find the results more positive, AND let'll also be seen as hip, nice, open-minded, sensitive and fair.