Today we’d like to introduce you to Tonia Morris.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tonia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My journey actually started in 2008 working as a Director of Human Resources for a large pension agency in the Atlanta area. I spent over 25 years in this profession and quickly discovered changes. The changes I noticed were more and more employees were becoming disengaged and the workforce dynamics were changing. An influx of Millennials was entering the workforce. In my role as HR Director, my primary responsibility was culture transformation. I become more curious about this new generation who many didn’t understand. I begin asking questions and providing feedback to the executive team about this new generation who have a different work expectation. My goal initially is to be the voice for the Millennials. I truly enjoy their fresh outlook on the workplace, I loved how they were disrupting today’s workplace in a good way. I begin talking and speaking about How To Leverage Millennials in the workplace. I would speak to colleges, corporate organizations, associations, and conferences about this new generation in a sense I was an advocate for this generation. I was very intrigued and wanted to help organizations understand them and embrace them. I quickly realized baby boomers were not leaving as fast as many had hoped and they were staying longer. I also notice all we heard about is baby boomer vs millennials, the two talked about the generation.
Gen X was never talked about, they were the ticked off and pass over generation. I thought to myself I gotta do something to bring harmony into the workforce. So my message to organizations switched from just talking about millennials to talking about multi-generations in the workforce. I coined myself as the Generational Connector, helping organizations connect one generation at a time. I now help clients build a Generational Inclusive Workforce. I believe if we can all get along- then we can belong. My goal is to minimize chaos among the generations so we can have more meaningful and productive workplaces.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I would say the road has been somewhat challenging- simply because people don’t like change. It was hard to work with leaders that were in denial of the changes that were occurring. There was so much stereotyping about each generation until no one wanted to change nor see the reason to change.
In many of the organizations, employees were disengaged at every level. Being an employee was just not cool because each generation had its own bias and stereotypes and no one was having conversations around the differences.
For example, the Baby Boomers were feeling pushed out, Gen X was feeling pass over and Millennials were not taken seriously. When you have that formula in your workforce you have chaos!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Tonia Morris, founder of Simply HR and More and Tonia Morris Speaks is a consultant and training firm that helps organizations with building a generational inclusive workforce through people and processes. We develop HR processes that are generational inclusive.
We are known in the community for our training and keynotes around Multi-Generation training. I speak a lot to organizations, colleges, associations around multi-generations inclusiveness. We develop training programs for Millennials and Gen Z, we also provide culture assessments for organizations and help with culture transformation.
What set Simply HR and More apart is we keep everything simplistic! We truly believe it is important to have a workplace were EVERYONE can get along so EVERYONE can BELONG!
Tonia Morris was just awarded the 2019 Stevie Award. The Stevie® Awards for Women in Business are the world’s premier business awards for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. Tonia received The Maverick of the year for her Generational Inclusiveness work in the workplace.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was and still is the life of the party. I absolutely love helping people and solving problems. I am a great connector, love connecting people and seeing success.
Contact Info:
- Address: 892 Windsor Creek Trail
- Website: www.toniamorrisspeaks.com or www.simplyhrandmore.com
- Phone: 404-692-5355
- Email: tonia@toniamorrisspeaks.com
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