Generational issues, some might say, is a topic that’s been beaten to death. There are numerous books on the subject, and mine is one of many blogs out in cyberspace. Additionally, people can sign up for training sessions, bring in experts for team building, and in some cases, have a company strategy realigned to deal with the “issues.”
Yet Work With Me does something a bit different. It acknowledges the similarities across the generations. Yes, in fact we have more than being the same species in common across all the generations in today’s workforce.
Debra Magnuson and Lora Alexander, with Personnel Decisions International (PDI), have co-authored Work With Me: A New Lens on Leading the Multigenerational Workforce. A Baby-Boomer and Gen-Xer, respectively, they gathered information from numerous groups and research to pull together a book that is just as much a tool as it is a set of bound pages.
So what inspired the book?
“We were in a really long meeting,” said Alexander. “I grabbed a napkin and sent it across the table to Debra saying ‘We should write a book about this.’”
So, similar to all those other great ideas that began as a napkin sketch, Alexander and Magnuson began crafting a book about the Generations. But they couldn’t be like every other book out there. They knew that if they were going to write about four generations colliding in the workplace, they would have to get it right.
So who is in the workforce? Traditionalists (1922-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen-Xers (1965-1980), and Gen-Yers (1981-2000).
If you don’t believe me, look at the world today: Warren Buffet is aiding in the economic bailout, Barak Obama is the U.S. President-Elect, Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane is a modern-day renaissance man, and America Ferrera’s Ugly Betty teaches us that you have to take responsibility for your career.
“We had a chance to bring the misconceptions to light,” said Magnuson, “and explore what were the underlying flash points that created all those famous incidents we hear about.”
Alexander said, “Everyone has a story. There was a woman at a company who just had a baby, was on leave but still came into the office to a strategy meeting. Her overalls and ball cap (she did have an infant at home) insulted a Traditionalist in the room. Instead of working out the next year’s strategic direction, the group had to work through why her appearance was a big deal.”
In Work With Me, Alexander and Magnuson provide a number of similar stories for readers. They then go beyond the stories and explain what companies can do about the conflicts. And they have the background to do so.
“Mid-Level and Business-Unit leaders are strategic in setting Talent Management policy,” said Magnuson. “They set the tone for the future and can make it happen. This book can help them along the way.”
In the next entry, we will be looking at where leaders can find common ground among the generations.
Win a copy of Work with Me! Post a comment to this blog and you will be entered in a drawing to win a signed copy of the book. Additional information can be found at www.personneldecisions.com. Also available for Amazon Kindle.
The views expressed in my blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
The authors of the book Work With Me: A New Lens on Leading the Multigenerational Workforce will be featured in a series of blog postings over the next few weeks. Look for the upcoming interviews and a chance to win a copy of the book.
True Story: A family member called me up and explained that he was already tired of his job, only after two months, because there were only three people under the age of 25 on his team. He said everyone else was “old.”
There are only about 15 people on his team. So if you count him, 26% of his team is under the age of 25. Considering 18-24 year olds only make up 16% of the population*, I think he’s in a group with a pretty good ratio.
That didn’t matter.
What mattered, as I later thought about it, was that this family member had been with people in his own age range from kindergarten through college. For the first time ever, the “old” people were the majority.
This could be considered a shock, especially if Gen-Yers are going into the workforce hoping to work for a fun, laid-back company like Google. It turns out, that even if your company does something cool, the headquarters could still have a very traditional environment.
During the recruitment process, companies might be battling unreasonable expectations. Ok we’ll admit it, they’re being plummeted by demanding Gen-Yers. I remember when I went to Career Fairs, I always asked about the other people in the work environment: Are they young? Fun? Do they go out for Happy Hour?
After hearing this story from my family member, I realized that I had forgotten about the question not asked: What is the proportion on Gen-Yers to the rest of the office?
I lucked out and ended up on a pretty well-blended team when I first started working. I also happen to like adults of all ages, and actually I like kids too, so we’ll just say people are cool in my book. Anyways, I wasn’t that worried about needing a cool gang of hip young folks to have my water cooler conversations with.
But there are people who do worry about that very thing. There’s a sense of comfort from being around people your own age, in the same life stage, doing the same things on the weekends, and having the same goofy pictures on Facebook. It’s a big safety net for the transition from college to the real world.
So what does that mean? Should companies be worried about Gen-Yers who can’t grasp that they have to deal with people over 25? Or should Gen-Yers suck it up?
I would say it’s a little of both. The population isn’t going to drastically change overnight, and in fact, with 401Ks tanking right now, the workforce will remain “old” for a while. So how do you meet in the middle?
The power of coaching or mentorship seems to have a calling here. And it’s not just mentors older to younger. This is a great opportunity for the Gen-Yer to walk the Boomer through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Or for the Xer and Yer to learn how to cook something (and get past the microwave phase of one’s life). Have a water cooler club about the latest on Grey’s Anatomy.
There’s so much possibility. And then when asked at a Career Fair about the “youngness” of your company, you can talk about the things your people do together, young and old. Trust me, Happy Hour is fun with fellow Gen-Yers, but even more fun with the rest of the office having a blast, too.
*From US Census Bureau Report
The views expressed in my blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
The first thing I did when I got my employee ethics manual at my company was to look and see if there was a dating policy. I was new to the area and figured meeting someone at work might be safer than meeting someone at a bar.
Now, I don’t know the history behind office dating rules, but my observations lead me to believe that we have to change the way we think about interoffice dating.
Employees spend an obscene amount of time working. It’s just not always in the office. If you are a frequent traveler, there’s the number of hours spent in airports. If you own a Blackberry, you know they don’t call it a Crackberry for nothing. If you socialize with coworkers, you’re probably talking about work at Happy Hour.
If it wasn’t for sleeping, we could probably work 24/7.
Now imagine being a Gen-Yer in a new city. You may not have the funds to join dating services, bars start becoming too expensive, you like sporting events but who would you go with?
So we automatically turn to the group of people we spend most of our time with. Coworkers.
The problem with having a No Dating Policy is that it is seen as a rule, probably a wiggly one, and most people would ignore it. What that Policy doesn’t tell you is that it might be for your own good.
See, dating anyone is sticky. It’s a lot easier to casually date people you don’t know because you can walk away if things don’t work out. But if you have a hard time meeting people you don’t already know, that might not be a viable option.
One day you notice there’s a cute guy on your floor. Maybe he’s single. You don’t work with him directly, but could find ways to socialize. And then maybe you go out, and then out again. And then he doesn’t call you back. And you get all obsessive about the situation, which results in a lot of stress in your work. You even increase the amount of time you work from home.
That situation is probably why the Policy was in place to begin with.
Another scenario that is just as bad is dating the close friend of a coworker. If you break up, it will still come into your work life through the coworker. And be just as awkward, if not more so.
All of the above does not mean that someone couldn’t find a Happy Ending with someone at work. It just means you need to be smart about who you date. Period.
Here are some suggestions to perhaps make life a little easier if you chose to pursue a coworker:
-Don’t get drunk and sleep with him/her. Have some pride!
-Like it or not, have the DTR talk (Defining The Relationship). You’ll have a chance to come to some understandings and set ground rules.
-You should probably avoid making out at work during working hours, no one wants to see it.
-Be an adult. If things don’t work out, you still have to do your job. It was there first. And if things do work out, still do your job. Your new honey isn’t going to pay your bills.
There’s something about going out on the town that every Gen-Yer loves. Most of your new Gen-Y hires have just come into the workforce from college, where you can party 24/7. If they have moved to a new city, there is the added element of building a social network. Face it, life can be pretty lonely for a twenty-something on their own in a new place.
So when your office announces that there is a happy hour this Friday to celebrate (fill in the blank), your Gen-Yers get really excited. And they should…with the traditional golf games and steam rooms being taken over by happy hours and white water rafting, these outings are the new means for building rapport on a personal level.
But happy hour is also something Gen-Yers do best, and perhaps the rest of the office may be taken aback by behavior. See, there isn’t that hard-fast line between the professional and personal life.
With Facebook and MySpace allowing everyone to find out everything about a person, many young people would consider life and work to have blurred boundaries. “Anna’s 22nd Birthday!” picture albums are the norm, and they don’t include just pictures of Anna blowing out the candles. There’s lots of hugs and smiles, and almost always a glass in hand.
Add to those the photos from Halloween, Homecoming, Blowout, and You-Name-It parties from college, amazing memories for your Gen-Yers, the content could be considered shocking. Sure, you may have burned your bra in the past, but you grew out of it. Shouldn’t these kids catch up to the times?
They have. Gen-Yers have grown up with more danger in their lives than most of their older colleagues. It’s normal to see young women with rape whistles and mace on their key chains, to have young people tested for HIV on a regular basis, to have a Gen-Yer professional be the victim of identity theft. Not to mention 9-11, Iraq, and Virginia Tech.
All of these things happened in your lifetime too, but you might have had the luxury of a bubble growing up. Most of the Gen-Yers haven’t.
So they work hard to party hard.
And yes, they will grow out of it. Usually it only takes a few months for Gen-Yers to figure out that bars are more expensive than dorm parties. But what will happen is that the social aspect that many of these young people desire has to be met in the workplace. Why not? We spend most of our waking hours working. Thanks to technology, we can be responsive to the office any time, day or night.
Gen-Yers shouldn’t be punished for social networking. Some may stick to the idea that their Facebook profile is considered private, but often it’s really more of a matter of private from certain people. Most Gen-Yers are connected with peers, but perhaps not with bosses. Again, it is a fear of being punished and disrespected.
But that is who they really are. And at the end of the day, that should be what matters. Because understanding who your Gen-Yer really is means that there is a chance you might actually engage him for the future good of your company.
Let them have a few too many cocktails they’re first few times out with the office, be sure they get home safely, and really only start worrying when they show up continually hung over. Because that is a performance issue. Celebrating for the good of the office isn’t.
And remember, you’ve been there before. Like it or not. It’s all about thinking on the bright side of life.
A “Do Gooder” has started to look very different among the generations. Contributing to the community might mean writing a hefty check at a charity gala to one employee, while another might consider building houses in Guatemala. It appears that the younger you go, the more “active” the contribution.
So organizations are grappling with this idea of how to attract “Do Gooders” by being Good themselves.
Most recently the major argument has been about going Green. Movement has been made in large organizations to slap a sticker on its brand, “We’re Green!” or to put as a major differentiator during recruitment the Greenness of their offices/products/people.
Not all companies can compete with the IBMs of the world, creating campaigns highlighting the company's involvement in green technology…and actually having the money to play in that space. Not everyone can be Clorox and develop entire lines of Green products that will eventually replace the standard.
So how can you compete?
It all goes back to tapping into what might motivate one of your Gen-Yers. Part of their “active” contributions to the Earth usually involve their own participation in some way, shape, or form. So a Fortune 500 supporting research foundations might be impressive on the brochure, but behind the gloss it may only mean that someone from Accounting writes a check every quarter. Companies might attract a Gen-Yer that way, but you certainly can’t keep him when he finds out he won’t have any hands-on involvement.
Organizations looking to attract and engage the “Do Gooders” should think of the total attraction. Gen-Yers have been involved in philanthropic efforts since kindergarten: everything from bringing in cans for food drives to establishing African AIDS foundations on college campuses.
If there is pressure to Go Green, use the Gen-Yers you have to figure out how to attract new talent.
Your office might have to start small: Have everyone decorate a Nalgene so you can stop purchasing bottled water; re-use materials for events instead of creating new ones; have everyone contribute $5 for “Go Casual to Go Green”, pooling the money for a foundation of your choice.
Then make bigger steps: Have a team day at a recycling plant to learn about and help the community’s recycling efforts; host contests about how many miles have you biked this week to ease motor commuting.
Some of these are the simple things that kids did for Science Fair projects. Some of this is common sense. Even the fashion industry realized that creating elaborate sets for individual fashion shows was creating tons of waste.
Additionally, tap into the Gen-Yers in your office to lead the charge. They can start the team, collaborate with everyone in your office, and strive for impressive results. As contributing members of the company’s vision, in addition to his or her personal goals, you have then created a walking billboard for your company’s Greenness.
That’s much better than a glossy brochure, even if it was printed on recycled paper.
Disclaimer: I am a Navy Brat…I have moved LOTS of times…so, I get a sick joy out of packing and unpacking my stuff every three years. Not everyone is like me.
For the rest of the world, a relocation is a big deal. Families have to take children into consideration, couples have to think about the other S.O., and some young people just don’t have the money.
So why do it? Not everyone can be adventurous and say, “I haven’t seen Houston yet, I’ll go there!” Often there needs to be a pretty compelling reason. But regardless of the reason, Gen-Yers are the perfect people for moving around…they just don’t know it.
See, Gen-Yers might be ready to pick up and ship off to some new destination if there were good reasons, but the ones that might keep them in one place are the same as why someone might choose to college close to home. In fact, one could say it is a continuation of that college choice that impacts whether someone relocates.
Young people in the workplace are barely having a chance to prove themselves in their current situations, so it is very scary to think of relocating, even for the same company. Fear of the unknown can keep people in a situation in which they do not fit.
Case Study: A young woman has spent a year becoming an expert at her job, but had a hard time of gaining any kind of influence in her office. There’s an internal job posting in another state that sounds attractive, but in a much bigger office. She’s also just started seeing a guy, her parents are within an hour of where she lives, and all her college roommates live within a 15 mile radius.
Even if she was the perfect fit for the new role, she’s probably not going to move. She may not even apply. She’s comfortable. Her time is being invested in her friends, family, and potential BF. Also, if she’s having a hard time being at the bottom of the food chain in her current office, what will it be like in a newer, larger one?
Case Study: A young man has rotated through a few roles in his field office and is ready for the big time. While corporate would love to take him on, they can’t offer a relocation package due to the current economic conditions. He could stay in the field and be remote…or…ask his parents to help with the re-lo to get better visibility at the corporate office.
This one is a trick question: It has nothing to do with the job, and everything to do with the parents. It’s a whole other element that requires consideration. Again, he could be perfect for the role, but money is a big concern for young people…mostly because they don’t have any. So if he needs to find it to move, he might be limited on options.
Above I said that young people are the perfect people for moving, yet it doesn’t seem like that is true at all. What is required is that the company comes up with a strategy for relocating young employees.
As in Rotational Assignments.
Gen-Yers are famous for multi-tasking and learning jobs quickly. While they may want to be close to family and friends, that need to succeed can be an even stronger motivator. Companies just need to tap into that. Also, it is a lot cheaper to move around and develop a single twenty-something, than a family of four. Especially if twenty-somethings are used to living in studio apartments vs. McMansions.
How can organizations start attracting young people willing to relocate?
Stop asking “Are you willing to relocate?” Often the answer is a “yes, but…” and there’s no line for the “but” part. These offers need to have some really attractive qualities, and they all don’t require money.
Some things to consider in attracting a mobile Gen-Yer:
-Offer a mentorship with a senior leader…a.k.a. grooming for future leadership
-Support higher education programs, either by tuition assistance or flexible time-off
-Add on some vacation days
-Draft a career path, instead of expecting Gen-Yers to figure out how to move about the company on their own
-Have a Gen-Y High Potential program, that includes networking opportunities
-Include responsibility in a special focus group as part of the new role, a Gen-Yer could change the face of your company with one idea
And if you start including these with your Gen-Yers, along will come employee engagement, willingness to take new initiatives, a deeper group for tapping future successors, and best of all: retention.
For those of you who have missed my entries, they will be back. Like many Gen-Yers I have moved into another new role (3 in 3 years)...bringing more stories for you!
There are moments when young employees realize that no matter what they bring to the table, age will always trump value.
Not to be pessimistic…it is becoming more and more common for age to no longer matter. Hence the generational studies…
But back to the earlier point, it is still quite common in many organizations to still retain a strong sense of hierarchy based on experience and tenure. It is assumed that the longer someone has been in a role, company, industry, the better he will be at his job.
What companies are seeing today is a break in that assumption. Mike could have been in his role for eight years because he doesn’t want to be promoted. Sally is a loyal employee of twenty years but brings no outside perspective. It takes Joe twice as long to accomplish his tasks than his twenty-something team member.
There is something to be said that as one spends time in a role or at a company, one learns the political ropes.
Gen-Yers want to know why the ropes are even there…especially if they get in the way of completing the task at hand.
A young employee at an organization may walk in one day and tell the CEO if she would like to learn about practices in the government, give us a call. Politically, it could be seen as an implication the CEO knew nothing about working with the government. To the Gen-Yer, it probably was an innocent offer to provide information to someone without the bandwidth to become an expert in that field. Very different perspectives.
Something else to consider: young employees fresh from college worked in teams of peers. There isn’t much hierarchy instituted at the college level, and even professors sometimes are seen as peers. If the team is responsible for a deliverable, everyone got the work done. If someone didn’t pull his weight, you can bet the other people let him have it.
So why is it different in the workplace? Why can’t senior leaders be held accountable by direct reports?
It seems to keep going back to hierarchy.
So how can Gen-Yers battle the age issue and gain further credibility on a team eager to do things how they’ve always been done?
First: Leverage your strengths with confidence. For example, I am a creative individual. If my team is presented with a problem, I take an “outside the box” approach to finding a solution, no matter how crazy the ideas. If I question my approach, I will lose credibility.
Second: Think like your team. I may be able to come up with crazy ideas that “just might work,” but I also know that my team expects that for every idea, I provide the process for implementation. I have to bring it down to a real level for them.
Third: Discover quickly what your team expects from you. Your team could have a number of individuals who prefer to think logically and with a factual perspective. They may expect the same from you, even if you have a more holistic approach. As you gain buy-in for your ideas, consider the packaging and be sure it is appropriate for the audience.
Fourth: Don’t fall into age traps. These include: being considered a processer instead of a coordinator; becoming over-emotional in your dealings; cracking under pressure; or having unrealistic ideas or expectations. Take some personality inventories and learn about how you think and perceive, and how to leverage that with others.
Spending the first few months of your new position gathering this kind of information will place you in a place of influence much sooner than the years it could take you to earn the age right. You can then break the entry-level mold, and go on to do the things you know you are more than capable of handling. Before you know it, you could be a major driver in your organization.
We have already looked at abbreviations in communications thanks to texting and instant messenger. The other side to this story is that of the abuse of the language itself. One could say young people today can’t say a sentence without using a four-letter word.
This idea that “Language is dead” is probably up there with the obituary of Romance: it’s not actually dead, we just chose not to use it.
For young people today, they grow up learning hundreds of SAT words they assume they will never use again. They spend months cramming these words and how to use them in a sentence into an already full brain space.
And in all that SAT prep, many would argue those sample sentences aren’t very good, they can’t possibly be something someone would say in real life…so why remember the words?
Enter in our best friend: Reality TV. Our days have been filled with shows where “beep-my-beeping-sorry-beep-can’t believe you-beep-beep-beep” is normal background noise. My mother used to tell us, “People don’t talk like that in real life.”
Actually, they do. It’s figuring out when it’s not appropriate that’s the trick.
So blending these to perceptions of language becomes thorny when in the work place. Chatting with peers about that f*&$@!%g awesome touchdown might be ok around the water cooler, but perhaps leave the expletive out when asking your boss if he saw the game.
When speaking with coworkers, apply the same rule of thumb as you would with Reality TV: You probably assume that a person with a four-letter-word-vocabulary is uneducated and unprofessional. You can bet your coworkers will assume the same of you for a similar behavior.
But wait, doesn’t being a smarty pants hurt your relationship with your peers? Not really.
It isn’t always necessary to break out the Thesaurus and use 15-letter words in daily conversation. Reading (newspapers, journals, books, blogs) will naturally increase your vocabulary, and coming up with “that” word will be easier than grasping into thin air.
You might also find that you will not need to jabber for five minutes trying to articulate something. Your point will be much more concise and people will be appreciative.
Consider modeling the language behaviors of your leaders. This might include not only the types of words they are using, but the topics they discuss as well. “How I Got Wasted Friday Night” is probably not the topic of Monday’s first discussion.
There is a warning when it comes to modeling, however. One of the big things to think about is when a boss –gasp!– cusses in front of you. Don’t always assume that just because your boss dropped the F-Bomb on you, that it’s bombs away in future conversations. You will always look more professional with a clean mouth. Think Orbit gum.
Finally, enunciation will always win. If everyone can understand the words you are speaking, you will also gain credibility. Mumbling only portrays that you are unsure (of the topic or yourself), and your audience may be confused or tune you out altogether.
So stand tall, take a deep breath, and speak your f*&$@!%g heart out!
