Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER SEVENTEACH THEM HOW TO MANAGE THEMSELVES

When I was a kid, I had a guidance counselor who worked with me a lot on “executive function” skills—staying organized, leaving enough time for homework, getting enough sleep, getting myself up in the morning, leaving enough time to get ready… A lot of that kind of stuff. It helps a lot. I think it set me apart in my first jobs for sure.

—Twentysomething

Here's a story a manager in a large research company told me: “The first time I interviewed this one employee, she told me, ‘I think you are going to be really impressed.’ Then when I hired her, she told me the same thing. The third time she repeated, ‘I think you are going to be really impressed’ was on her first day of work. Well … I was, and I wasn't. She was very smart and she did high-quality work, in a whole other league than people with much more experience. But her work habits were horrendous. Where do I begin? She came in late, left early, took long breaks, and missed days of work. She lied about it too, always making excuses. She dressed inappropriately. She cursed a blue streak. She did great work, but very little of it. I was impressed and, then again, I wasn't. In some ways, she was superb. But she was just lacking in the basics.”

Young team members often will impress you with how amazingly advanced some of their knowledge and skills may be for their age and experience, yet older more experienced colleagues often report these same young team members lack maturity ...