An open letter to Baby-Boomer Managers from Gen X/Y Employees
Posted on September 26, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Today I’m in lovely Cocoa Beach Florida at the Young Professionals Summit. Last night, amongst many drinks, lovely food and with the beach as our background several of us “YP-ers” started talking about the troubles we’ve run into with our older managers, teachers, and even parents. I’ve summed up our discussion here in a letter.
Dear Baby-Boomer,
The economy is in crisis. Retirement is looming (if you can afford it) and as you look around your office at the people whom you will need to trust to take over, you probably wonder whether you’ll ever feel that these thirty-somethings and twenty-somethings are capable of running things.
Beyond acknowledging that each generation has the right to baffle, confuse, and frustrate the generation before just as you may have done twenty years ago, you may want to acknowledge that while you may think you have a thing or two to teach the “kids” in your company, there may be a thing or two that we can teach you if you’re willing to listen.
Here are eight little differences that may pave the path to understanding us a bit better.
1. We don’t expect to work here forever.
Our parents may have had one career and worked for the same company through their retirement but we may have also observed lay-offs, increasing health-insurance costs, and other signs that companies just can’t care for their long term employees the way they may have thirty years ago.
Additionally, more of us have college degrees than any other generation and yet our broad, mostly liberal arts based educations, are shoe-horned into ever more specific and siloed job functions leaving us dissatisfied, bored, and constantly on the look our for a new challenge somewhere in our lives.
2. We work to live, not live to work.
Dual-income couples, singles waiting longer to settle down and an ever-shrinking world with increased possibilitites for connectiton all make for a workforce who are unlikely to sacrifice quality of life for higher pay. Money is a perk of working but if you want a Gen X/Y employee to work harder or longer, think flexibility not funds.
Choosing our own hours, working remotely, or in a more casual office setting, putting our minds toward projects we care about and enjoy…these perks are more valuable than a pay increase in many cases.
3. We don’t confine “work” to 9am – 5pm, to an office, or even to a job function.
In many ways the connected generation is far more capable of longer work ours and increased responsibility than the generations before it. A cell phone in my pocket means I can field calls while out for a walk or watching the kids’ soccer game. My laptop enables me to work well into the evening while relaxing on my couch.
These extended hours are possible but they require change in mentality for employers: TRUST. I may put in a ten hour day from home but I might run errands in the morning or take a nap in the afternoon. I’ll work hard in exchange for that flexibility. But remember: workers who have flexibility can’t be micromanaged. Companies need to learn other ways to ensure accountability if they want Gen X/Y employees to make the most of their days.
4. We don’t respect titles; we respect people.
The internet has served as a great social equalizer. In most online communities your value (and therefore reputation and power) are based on what you contribute not who you are. A well-read 18 year old who knows his stuff and is constantly active in the editing process of a Wikipedia article may be revered more than the heavily credentialed professor who interjects, corrects, and condescends to the community of the page. These relationships break down entitlements and, instead, center on accomplishment and contribution.
So if you want to respected, simply play your part and contribute. You’ll be known for the actions you take that probably earned you that title in the first place.
5. We’re used to playing games where the rules are explicit and no one can break them.
Over 80% of Gen X/Y employees are digital game players from Solitaire to Warhammer Online. Games and the mechanics and culture involved with them are a staple of our lives. What this does to our work ethic is profound. We like clearly defined challenges, with established rewards. We don’t like office politics and other systems in which not everyone plays by the same rules or with the same resources. We see failure as an opportunity to learn and try again. And we’re well equipped for turning to resources outside the system if they’ll help us conquer a challenge.
6. Multitasking does not equal goofing off.
We’ve grown up in a hypermediated world with many channels of information flowing around us and many of us are well-acclimated to paying partial attention to many things in quick succession. In addition, the better acquainted with our own working style we are, the more likely we are to find that juggling several forms of information allows us to take mental breaks, socialize about a problem, or switch between menial tasks so we don’t get bored and can, therefore, work longer hours before mental exhaustion sets in.
7. We have extensive networks of people whom we share knowledge.
Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace may seem vapid from the outside, but when put to good use, they can help us connect to experts, colleagues, and friends who expand our network of information and collaboration exponentially. Our networking is not limited by face to face meetings or stacks of business cards.
8. Collaboration isn’t cheating or laziness. It’s how we work.
Crowdsourced projects like Wikipedia and Threadless have taught us that huge projects become easily accomplished if lots of people take on some small tasks tat come easily to them. Instant access to people and information make “reinventing the wheel” more preventable than ever.
Tools like wikis, Google Docs, and searchable discussion forums make collaboration and information access convenient and efficient.
Are you a Gen X or Y employee, employer? Are you a Baby-Boomer baffled by the “new employee”? Leave a comment! Let’s talk!
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13 Responses to “An open letter to Baby-Boomer Managers from Gen X/Y Employees”
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Great insights Sarah. You hit the nail on the head with this one!
9. Management and leadership style:
Management theory and practice has evolved greatly since you first joined the workforce. The original practices of classical and behavioral management are no more. Today’s successful executives and middle-managers must take into account that circumstances dictate the management approach needed to tackle individual tasks, projects, and problems. Globalization, increased communication and networking, and advances in technology all contributed to the need for a more holistic, adaptive form of management and leadership. Ignore the need for changes to the long-standing bastions of management “how-to” at your own peril.
6. Multitasking does not equal goofing off.
I disagree with this one. Multitasking frequently is an nice term for semi-tasking - where you are doing more than one thing at once, but not really doing anything very successfully. Concentrated bursts of focused attention still beats flittering about various things.
Geez… I need to stop this semi-tasking and get back to work now.
Of course, stereotyping of generations can go in both directions: not all Baby-Boomers (oh how I despise that term!) are hierarchical nine-to-five office-bound technophobic despots, either. And I know some Gen X/Y people who are quite traditional in their approach to technology and work, and their opposition to concepts like flexible time and telework.
While I’m not a fan of the Gartner Group, I do think they may be on to something with the characterization of “Generation V” as a group that transcends traditional generational concepts.
Recently read another article on a similar topic at Computerworld Magazine’s website:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9114866&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1
I am a Gen X’er, have a Baby Boomer boss, and manage Gen Y/millenials at the Help Desk here at Valpo U. I identify with quite a bit of the Gen X/Y style of working!
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“…I do think they may be on to something with the characterization of “Generation V” as a group that transcends traditional generational concepts.”
I hope that the concept of Generation V can be embraced by everyone as it holds the greatest promise for bridging the differences between those of us who cannot imagine or maintain our lives, both professional and personal, without our wired/wireless connections of all sorts. In reading the article, I felt discriminated against simply because of my age. Having purchased my first computer (PC clone) in 1985 for the purpose of typing my own doctoral dissertation, floppy disk by floppy disk, I see no positive value in making the kind of negative assumptions made in this article. If those of us in every generation from BB to X/Y can look for our commonalities rather than our differences and work together to bridge the technological divide caused by the huge economic inequities that only are growing more vast, as witnessed by this current economic crisis, we will be much farther ahead. From my vantage point I am far more concerned about the members of the X/Y generation who do NOT have access to the kinds of workplaces described above because their economic condition prevents them from purchasing and therefore, accessing the computers, iphones,ipods, etc. They do not have the opportunity to be fully engaged members of the generation you are describing and will not have the luxury of working in the ways that you describe. As time progresses, I believe that this issue will have a far greater impact on the X/Y generation than the differences between BB bosses and X/Y employees. Time will take care of that situation by itself while finding ways to bridge the huge gaps in access to technology will require teamwork by all of us.
Betsy:
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. There so much here I want to address.
First, I totally agree with you that differentiating between people based on age isn’t the most meaningful categorization. I certainly know BBs who embrace these kinds of workplace changes and I know millenials who don’t even carry a cell phone and are more than happy to work in very structured environments.
I think the reason I even use the labels is to define it in terms that most folks understand to simply get the conversation rolling so that the kind of details and complexities that you so aptly point out can be discussed.
I’m also very concerned with the technology gap (and thus the job skills and cultural implications etc) is a huge issue. I’m working with groups who are interested in making technology available to more kids and teaching the necessary skills to make the most of the connections and information that technology makes possible. I’m sure you’re doing the same.
We’re living through major economic shifts: financial economies, information economies, education economies. But we’re all in it together.
Sarah/Intellagirl
Yes, I agree with both of you above. And remember something. We baby boomers dreamed of what technology could bring us since we were kids watching science fiction movies on Friday nights….so we invented them. On behave of my *-ers (seems we have names for generations now..cool) I say you’re welcome. Now let’s see what can actually be accomplished with all these amazing tools that are getting better and better all the time…and I know I will be a part of the change ’till I die. The poverty issue has become the divider. That is what needs to be dealt with … but I will spare the speeches…
Sarah/Intellagirl
I have the pleasure of getting to work with those smart, capable, collaborative and fun Gen X and Gen Y in my role of a management professor.
The world of work is changing — and this is parallel and part of the change of the generations. Technology, connectivity, and how work can get done is a wonderous source of amazement to me…of course, since what I love to study is organizational behavior.
Your list of eight differences reflects both what some of the academics who study demographics have to say about differing generations in North America; and my own experiential observations. I have taught executive education short courses to Boomers and Gen X managers about working with Gen Y’s…and I would say the one different you noted, that gives many of the folks with whom I work - and me - heartburn is:
“5. We’re used to playing games where the rules are explicit and no one can break them.
…. What this does to our work ethic is profound. We like clearly defined challenges, with established rewards. We don’t like office politics and other systems in which not everyone plays by the same rules or with the same resources….”
In teaching project based courses, especially in situations where work is all about innovation, moving toward new product or services development — where work by definition is creative and ambiguous –having a Gen Y ask me for a detailed checklist of exactly what the parameters and outcomes should be, is…maddening.
Work where there has to be discovery [doing research, whether it is market research or competitor research] is not like a game…the “prize” outcome is not clearly specified. The distal reward is not possible to clearly specify.
I would very much like to engage in a discussion about “defining challenges,” and how to talk with Gen Y’s when the work truly is about embarking into the unknown.
Thanks for this post, and for your ubernoggin self.
OK, but please don’t assume that “I” don’t work the same way as those who are younger. I have literally “found” my identity in this polychronic, multi-tasking, socially flat world. If you see me, please don’t stereotype me as old or assume that I will devalue your expertise. Stereotyping and dismissive attitudes work both ways, and on occasion young people are patronizing to those of us who are open to working with all. (guess that pushed a button)
[...] Dear Baby-Boomer Managers, an open letter on Gen X/Y employees. Your mileage may vary, but … [...]