
December 5th, 2017
“Adapt” is the New “Change”
The saying “nobody likes change” really is true. Most people hate it and some will do everything in their power to fight against it. But as I sat in an industry seminar last week at the WinDoor trade show in Canada, I realized “adapt” is a better word. It’s much less scary — and it really is necessary as we all “adapt” to a changing world.
If you are a non-millennial like me, we have to adapt to the younger generations. And I think what people forget in all of this is that if you do this, your life will become easier. Why fight the change?
Atlantic Windows, based in New Brunswick, Canada, certainly isn’t, and it hasn’t for a long time. Its president, Greg Dickie, and two other long-time employees, all of them non-millennials, talked at WinDoor about how little things they are doing at their company are making a huge difference in retaining employees and helping with hiring. But if you have been around for awhile, you may scoff at some of these communication techniques.
“We need to adapt to the new generation,” stressed Dickie. “We text them or we send them a Facebook message and they respond instantaneously.”
Yes, Facebook.
“They don’t check e-mail,” said Dickie. “We are getting used to it, and it is improving our communication quite a bit.”
When it comes to finding new employees, the newspaper isn’t where they head. Instead, the ads go on Facebook — and they receive a huge response.
So keep in mind that different generations may require different communication methods. If your response is, “Why should I have to change?” I would say, “Why shouldn’t you?” If using text vs. email will make a difference, why not? Just something to think about.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts.
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