The Millenial Approach to Business Decisions

How can understanding different generations help drive business decisions and brand development? Many years ago, I was given the assignment to develop an infographic interpreting trends outlined in a Pew Research article published in 2014, discussing the differences in motivations between generations in the then-current workforce. Although outdated for current implications, it remains that executives and workforce leaders understand the styles and motivations driving the different generations in the workforce. Today’s workers span from Alpha to Boomer, with the differences even wider than this 2014 article described. The graphic here largely discusses the differences between Millenials and Gen X/Boomers. If I were to re-do this today, I’d need at least three axes, since the generation undernePew Research article published in 2014ath Millenials have brought an even wider range of talents, motivations, and influences than were present before they entered the workforce, and thus those having disposable income.

The dark blue portions of the infographic below represent the Generations born before 1980. They are, when compared to later generations, more motivated by external forces. Things like their family and friends, their built environments, the activities they take part in, the economy and social norms. These forces "push in" and drive their behaviors. It’s not that they accept whatever comes their way, but they have a reverence for the way things are, and adjust accordingly. Generations born after 1980, in light blue, are driven by internal desires, motivations and see their external world as something that is to be shaped, instead of being shaped by it. Their actions "push out" on these external forces, molding the world into their ideal visions.

What can understanding these differences do for the workforce? What happens when team members are motivated in completely opposite ways? How can these insights generate return over time for your brand? Working with and selling to Millenials, the answer seems to be, speak to their sense of self, appeal to what they value, let them choose you. For older generations, deliver a sense of purpose, a reason to show up: choose them, need them.

The graphic below isn’t a typical ‘infographic’ and wouldn’t appear in a report or academic publication. I wanted to create a designer’s interpretation of the facts presented in the article. Something that invites thought, consideration, something that could be hung over an office desk to invite inspection. That said, viewing this almost a decade later and some glaring typographic inconsisentcies are jumping out to me. In the last decade I’ve honed both my research skills and my typography taste, I guess. I still enjoy looking at this, and providing a different way of looking at data - circular, balanced, and as a visual story.

Design Thinking and Healthcare

A few years ago, I worked with the Women's Health service line of a hospital system to define their strategic direction–a strategy statement, Vision, and set of guiding principles in line with their long-standing Mission as part of a large, regional integrated health system. Women's Health is a key service for many reasons, and the group had achieved success as a provider of healthcare services for women as they progressed along the continuum of care - for women that’s typically measured by phase of life (age). This particular hospital system had excellent statewide and regional performance and outcomes for Maternity care, including pre- and postpartum. The clinicians and leaders were proud of this and were looking for the next set of strategies to set their sights and goals. A clear direction would help grow their services, unite the employees and physicians and signal their commitment to continued excellence in a market that was becoming increasingly competitive in this specialty.

I designed both a set of visioning exercises as well as prioritization exercises for identifying which key strategies would most impact the vision and direction. Pre-work consisted of empathy interviews aimed at uncovering core issues and common themes, which would form the foundation for the two-day offsite strategy session. Around 50 clinicians and business leaders came together to level-set on their current state while using a structured, collaborative thought process to uncover and align around a future vision.

The work done during this project became a vision statement and set of ten strategic priorities, many of which years later still inform the strategic plan and related priorities. My role was as a designer and facilitator of retreat sessions, materials, takeaways and directing the next stage of strategy work. This type of collaborative process was new for the organization, and could have easily  been replaced with a series of smaller, business-focused meetings, but bringing a mix of clinical and administrative leadership together, without distractions, was invaluable and helped develop the working relationships needed to continue pushing these efforts forward.

As a designer and strategist, this hit all the sweet spots–seeing groups come together to collaborate and ideate, deep-diving into particular topics, designing a thoughtful way to walk groups through complex ideas, and storytelling to advance the ideas into actionable insights and takeaways.