Category Archives: Leadership

The Talent Gap: 90% of Companies Lack Digital Skills!

While digital is the main driver of business transformation, it is unfortunate that most companies go slow to lead the change. Most of the current human resources models obviously do not apply when it comes to digital. But the questions are so simple: Who will lead companies in their journey of digital transformation? Who will generate a digital-savvy culture within the company? Who will play a change agent role in this transformation? Who will build core digital competencies and strategies for this digital transformation?

These questions trigger the absence and necessity of digital mindsets in business world. Yes, there is a serious human capital shortage in digital out there. The world urgently needs talents, competencies and leaders to play key role in digital transformation of business and companies.  How will you acquire talents and constantly nurture them in ever changing digitalised business models? What does your company do to overcome this clear shortage?

The crystal clear fact is that companies are not ready for it. Some of them try to overcome digital transformation through consulting, outsourcing or transferring people from digital companies. But this is not a solution. For being a truly digital savvy organisation you have make it in an authentic way, part of your own DNA and culture. So what you need is examining into current organisational models, company culture and all human resources models. Make a commitment. Go for it whatever it takes.

Moreover companies can also invest in: Incubation programs, new recruitment models, employee-exchange programs, partnerships with internet companies and acquisition of new business model companies. For example P&G started an employee-exchange program with Google to leverage its digital skills and capabilities. And other giant companies are watching talents from Silicon Valley or familiar digital talents.

Looking into HR models, it is obvious that companies need new ways and programs to build a digital vision. It is not about those typical/boring in class trainings. It is about to inject the core competencies into the organisation. Roles, positions, teams, leaders, all of them should be in a harmony to build that culture. And of course this is not just an HR initiative. All disciplines, departments and most importantly company leaders must drive this digital transformation and be volunteer to get out of their comfort zone.

Your giant companies are getting old. Those old good days are gone. You should keep it quick to stay in the game.

 

Tayfun

Reklam Ajansında Çalısmayı Neden Çok Seviyorum?

Yaratıcılık dünyamızı şekillendiren ve anlamlandıran yegane olgulardan. Dünyadaki her buluşun, gelişimin, kültürün, ilerlemenin, sanatın, büyümenin ardında yaratıcılık yatıyor. Bununla birlikte işi sadece yaratıcılık olan endüstriler de var. Mesela bizim sektör: Reklam dünyası. Reklamcılar, iletişimciler, yaratıcı ajans insanları. Ben kısaca reklamcılar diyeceğim bizim bu ekibe. Hayatını yaratıcılıklarını kullanarak kazanmaya karar verecek kadar cesur bir seçim yapmış, kafası çalışan, üreten, yetenekli, iletişimi bilen bir avuç insan topluluğu.

Genel olarak yaratıcı endüstriler çoğu insanın mutlu olabileceği bir alan değil. Neden mi? Düşünsenize, her yeni güne uyandığınızda yeni bir şeyler yaratmak zorundasınız. Her gün. Yarattığınız şeyleri insanlara beğendirmek zorundasınız. Her gün. Yarattığınız şeylerle insanların, markaların, şirketlerin problemlerini çözmek zorundasınız. Her gün. Tüm bunları iyi yapmak zorundasınız. Her gün. Üstelik farklı endüstriler ve farklı markalar için bunu yapmak zorundasınız. Ve başarılı bir işin henüz keyfini süremeden önünüze gelen bir sonraki zorlu göreve konsantre olmak zorundasınız. Sürekli bir belirsizlik hali. Bir gün göklerdesiniz ertesi gün zeminde. Sürekli bir jet lag durumu. Zor.

Madem bu kadar zor, neden bu mesleği çok seviyorum? Anlatayım.

Öncelikle bu topluluğun ortak özelliği zorlu bir meslek seçmiş olduklarının bilincinde olmalarıdır. Bu benim hoşuma gidiyor. Cesaret ister çünkü. Çünkü altında bir kendine güven ve fark yaratma çabası vardır. Sürüden ayrılan kişidir reklamcı. Mutsuz kalabalıklara katılmak yerine mutlu olacağı iş için mücadeleyi göze alan kişidir. Ve yine bu seçimde büyük bir özgüven yatar. Aklına, fikrine, yeteneğine, üretme gücüne inanç yatar. Her gün yeni bir şey yaratma ve hayata geçirme baskısına meydan okuma vardır. Hayata karşı bir duruştur. Kendine duyduğun güvenin manifestosudur bu meslek seçimin. Benim bu mesleği çok sevmemdeki en büyük neden bu kişisel duruştur. Bu duruş sevilmez mi?

Bilmeyenler, ajanslardaki rahatlığın, eğlencenin vs genç insanları çektiğini düşünür. Çok sığ bulurum bu yorumları. Yukarıda anlattığım hayata karşı temel bir bakış vardır esasen altında. İçi doludur bu tercihin. Bazen gençler bile farkında olmaz bunun, sonradan kavrar, anlar, anlamlandırır. Dünyayı değiştiren şeylerin fikir olduğuna inanç vardır. Üretmeye dönük bilinç vardır bu seçimde.

Gelelim diğer nedenlere. Reklamcı insan bilir ki başarıyı fikirleri, ürettikleri ve yarattığı katma değer ile yakalıyordur. Yani ne kurumsal politika, ne başarılı mail atma teknikleri, ne kurumsal konumlandırma, ne de patronla ilişkiler. Bunlar sökmez bizde. Başarıyı hakkıyla kazanıyordur. Yaptığı iş ortadadır. Bence bu büyük bir motivasyon. “İnsan” dediğimiz varlığın doğası gereği. Bu gerçek için mesleğimi seviyorum.

Sonra yine bu reklamcı bilir ki fikirleri değerlidir. Saygı görür. Her şeyden önce fikir değerlidir! İster yeni mezun olsun ister kreatif direktör, bilir ki fikrin nereden nasıl geleceği belli olmaz. Fikrin, üretmenin, katma değerin rütbesi, kıdemi olmaz. Bu özgürlüğü seviyorum.

İşin bir de gelişim boyutu var ki söylemeden geçilmez. Reklamcılar zorlu ve yorucu zihinsel faaliyettedirler. Bu zihinsel çaba hiç bir sektör ile kıyaslanmaz bile. O yüzden güçlendirir reklamcıları. Kısa zamanda çok mesafeler kat ettirir; hem kişisel gelişim olarak hem de mesleki birikim olarak. Bu fırsatlar bolluğu bizim mesleğin en çarpıcı özelliklerinden.

Ve aslında toplumun geneline subjektif gibi görünse de, aslında reklamcılık çok objektif bir iştir. Verilen emek, harcanan zaman, bulunan fikir, üretilen iş kabak gibi ortadadır. Üretmek de reklamcıya büyük keyif verir, iş hazzı verir; onu hayata ve mesleğe bağlar. Bu bağ bu mesleğin en tatlı aromasıdır. Yaşayan bilir, sever.

Art direktör, metin yazarı, sosyal medya uzmanı, stratejist, yazılımcı, müşteri temsilcisi, yöneticiler, herkes.. Reklam ajansındaki herkes bu yaratma ve üretme sürecinin merkezindedirler. Ve bir şeyleri hayata geçirmenin verdiği haz bu insanları ayakta tutar. Ben tüm ajans insanlarına, kendilerine bu kadar güvendikleri ve yaratmayı seçtikleri için büyük saygı duyuyorum. Hele ki genç insanlara. Saygı duyduğun insanlarla çalışmanın huzurunu seviyorum.

Gelelim diğer bir nedene. Tamamen kendin olarak davranıp, kendin olabildiğin; yeteneklerin ve birikimin ile kendini ispat edebildiğin meslektir çünkü. Rol yapmana lüzum yoktur. Ayrıca hayata bakışın, gözlemlerin, dünyayı algılayışın, hobilerin, okuduğun kitaplar, izlediğin filmler, bunların hepsi işinde büyük bir girdidir. Yani başkasının hobi diye yaptığı şey senin için aynı zamanda mesleki bir gelişimdir. Kullanırsın çünkü onları. İçgörüleri, fikirleri, çözümleri, stratejileri bunlarla beslersin. İlgi alanların ile mesleğin birbirine yakındır. Kurumsal hayattaki çoğu insan gibi iki farklı dünyayı kalın bir çizgiyle ayırmak zorunda kalmazsın. Tek bir hayatın vardır. Gerçek bir hayat. Onu yaşarsın. Ben bu gerçek hayatı yaşamayı seviyorum.

Ve hayatta çok zor olan her şeyin çok güzel olduğunu biliyorum. Tıpkı bizim meslek gibi.

Tüm “yaratıcı ajans insanlarına” sevgilerimle.

10 Tips for Millennials To Rock in Workplace

In my latest blog post I pointed the big picture about millennials in workplace. Now I want to share some friendly advices for the new generation of talents. Here are some tips from me to you guys:

1. Please make sure that you have a deep and objective understanding of your skills.  Do your personal SWOT analysis. 

2. Look for career aspirations. But you can not get promoted within every 2 years. So, also plan your life carefully.

3. Performance and added value is important. So, carry on to keep up the good work. Focus on your concrede contribution.

4. The workplace is about accountability. So, be there to take full responsibility.

5. You may want everything to be super fast. But please consider that the great things take time in life.

6. You can not know everything. Period. But you can have a development plan. So, keep going on improving your skills.

7. Success requires a level of commitment. So don’t underestimate the power of staying and learning. Try to prove yourself sometimes.

8. Voice what you want from your company. But also consider what you are expected to give the company.

9. Continue to believe yourself! But also believe some others and make use of wisdom and experience.

10. They may call you “millennial” or “Gen Y”. Don’t care too much about labels and generalizations. Know yourself, develop your skills and perform at your best.

The future depends on you. The world is what you will make of it.

Good luck!

Tayfun

Yes, I Am Also A “Millennial”!

I don’t like labels. I sincerely believe that each generation differs from another, both with weaknesses and strengths. There is no better or worse. There is a constant change and evolving world, so there is adapting people into this tremendous changes.

However I realize there is too much claims or even accusations for the new generation. Sadly, I even sense the word “Millennial” or “Generation Y” implies a sense of negative portrayal. The world create a stereotype for young generation with a marketing sawy jargon. They missed a huge point. This is not about a generation. This about constantly changing world, values, technologies and media landscape. People do not change, but the world does. So I find this kind of segmentation a bit narrow minded.

The phrase Generation Y first launched in Ad Age magazine in 1993 to describe the children of that day. Then it spreaded all over the world and used to describe people born from early 1980s to early 2000s. This is the new generation coming after Generation X – people born between early 1960s and 1980s. Alternative names also proposed by different people and institutions: The Me Generation, GenY, Generation We, Global Generation, Next Generation, Net Generation. At the end the winner was “Millennials”. The Gen Y is replaced with a new name “Millennials”. Both Ad Age and Time magazines agreed the usage of this name since they believe it is a better description.

Honestly, I believe the global marketing landscape also expanded such usage. These young people are the largest generation with greatest combined purchasing power, stated by Forbes. Since marketing people are in love with segmentations, they always needed shinny buzzwords.

 It is also a hot topic in workplace. I want to focus here in this post. Such labelling is the easiest way to work with, deal with and collaborate with a new generation. An easy way out and laziness of elder generations – Label the young people and justify yourself with those given perspectives – It is all about them right? No! This is not the right way to live with or work with millennials.

I want to share some prejudices and common claims about this generation. I believe these are not constructive at all:

Entitlement. “They think they have the right to anything.”

Narcissism. “They have excess interest in oneself as human being.”

Over confidence. “They think the world is spinning around them.”

Lack of loyalty. “They are detached from institutions.”

Impatience. “They want everything to be done immediately.”

To me, this is not the right way to deal with the generation gap. In the workplace, we have to push ourselves to better understand and act according to the needs and values of millennials. We have to see the unique attributes, valuable characteristics and strengths of this generation. In short I say be objective, be constructive and focus on positives.

In short Millennials have great strengths. They believe in development. They believe making difference. They want to be a part of a meaningful purpose. They are tech savy. They are really enthusiastic about work & life. They are good team players. They count diversity.

I have been leading people and various teams for about 10 years. As a Gen Y leader myself, I put great effort to observe strengths and weaknesses of different generations. In 2009 I leaded a team in Philip Morris, and 80% of the team are people Gen X. It was a great experience for me to coach, train and collaborate with those folks. During those years, I found the opportunity to manage different teams consisting both Gen X and Gen Y people. Those were the years I figured out how leaders should perform in workplace in order to advance different people. Their motivations, aspirations, goals and needs were completely different. And I went a journey both in to myself and in to themselves in order to get the best out of it.

For about 4 years, I am leading in a digital creative agency. Creativity and technology unites in our workplace. This is completely the most natural playground for millennials generation. Agencies value creativity, added value, diversity, flexibility and enthusiasm. These are the same values millennials seek for.

How to work with or lead Millennials?

I want to share some basic points that I believe helpful while working with or leading people of this generation. Here are some concrete tips.

Action: Millennials are not wallflowers. They want to be part of the action. They don’t want to observe, they want to participate, and they want their views to carry weight. So, take them to the stage.

Fun: Millennials expect work to be at least occasionally with humor and fun. So, ensure a funny workplace.

Freedom of choice: They may not avoid at the assignment itself but instead may challenge the methodology. They want to do it in a new way. The way they believe. So, give them a space.

Collaboration: They believe diversity. They believe every part should be connected. They value teamwork and feel more comfortable in a team. So utilize it. But sometimes they struggle to build and develop those relationships. So, encourage them.

Authenticity: They understand the sincerity. Be yourself. Be authentic.

Impatience: They growed up with any easy and quick access to media and information. Yes, they are impatient. But they seek to get new skills immediately. So, challenge them with new challenges, tasks. Give them multitasking opportunities.

High Expectations: They have high expectations from themselves, from life, from workplace. They want to be wealthy by doing things they wanted to do. Yes, a big challenge. So, make realistic but compelling plans for them and assist.

If you are managing a team/organization of millennials then you have to be ready for a lot of other things :) If you consider and deal with these complexity, they will be the greatest assets and most valuable corner stones of your organization.

Here are some further tips from my personal experiences:

They seek coaching and mentorship: They see training and coaching as fundamental for their development, and their career. They truly believe in personal development! I am not talking about traditional in-class training programs. They see training more often building on the job activities, taking further responsibilities, etc.

They seek constant feedback: They expect from direct reports, seniors and management people to spare quality time and give feedbacks constantly. Besides these, millenials, more than any employee type, needs continuous affirmation of how succesful or good they are in their job, or actions. They want/need to hear that.

They need to share a lot of things: You will hear so much about their dad issues, boyfriend/girlfriend fights, personal struggles, and countless stuff. Be patient. You probably did not mention any of these to your peers, or bosses. But millennials do. So listen to them! Listen with all your attention and sincerity.

I hope these will help to have a better understanding of millennials. This post was mainly for each generations. However, in the next blog post, I will address some tips & advices directly to millennials. Stay tuned.

Cheers.

PS: Since I was born in 1982,  you may also call me a “millennial”. It is my pleasure! :)

Tayfun

Work In A Digitally-centric Way

Having a group of people who can complete digital projects isn’t the same as have an agency that thinks and works in a digitally-centric way. Having a digital “capability” is not the same as having a digital “competency”.