After looking at the challenges that Boomers face when communicating with Millennials, Bob and Alex discuss an article from Lindsey Pollak about Millennials who are leaders that manage boomers. Her first suggestion is to try and keep away from terms and phrases that will keep tagged as being young Awesome is a little prevalent for Bob. Absolutely is the word for Alex. Spiffy? They both are lost.
Podcasters will take out the um's and ah's, but Bob leaves them in for the authenticity and casual atmosphere of the world…dog barks are welcome. Alex says she'll stop and take a breath rather than drop an um or like. When she is listening to others, Alex counts them.
Her tip to get rid of it? Alex suggests consciously taking a breath…
The other point concerns communicating with them in the style with which the listener is most comfortable. Bob agrees that if you know their preference it will be well worth the effort to use that. If you're on a job search it may be useful to ask the gatekeeper what the hiring manager's preference is. Alex says we need to get the message out there quickly. Alex compares it to creative writing versus writing a press release.
Bob tries to write like he sounds, so if someone has heard him already, they can hear his voice in the message. But when you get shorter, the words that convey Bob's voice also gets edited out. Of course as Alex points out that face to face medium is so context rich that you cam make the communication even shorter, as well as get the chance to confirm understanding. It's takes practice…give yourself the time to figure it out. You want to me as effective as possible in the organization.