Some wanted specific skills and word tracks that would work with younger people, others wanted more of a mindset shift in their leaders. One company point blank asked me to help them deal with the “snowflakes” and “curmudgeons.”
What I shared with them was that to make any kind of significant change in the way people behaved, it was going to require their managers to:
- Shift their mindset
- Grow their skillset
- Get off their ass-ets!
Before we dive into how to do this, let’s first address an often-debated question, “Is the new generation really that different than previous generations?”
ARE MILLENIALS AND GEN Z’ERS DIFFERENT?
Just like every topic one can think of, there are very different perspectives as to the distinctions between the generations. Let’s look at a few.
YES, THERE ARE DIFFERENCES
⮚ They grew up with a device in their hands. In generations past, when you showed up for work, you were the least skilled and knowledgeable and had no choice but to learn from the older generations. Now, at least when it comes to technology, younger workers are often more advanced than their older coworkers.
⮚ They do not expect to work for one employer their entire career. The average tenure at a company for Baby Boomers is seven years, for Gen Xers it’s five years compared to Millennials which is only two years. This expectation in the past may have kept the previous generations patient for advancement. If I was going to be with XYZ Corp. for 40 years, I may not have been a Director or VP for another 20 years and that was okay. Nowadays, coupled with an instant gratification culture, patience for upward movement is at a minimum. And the “I can’t leave, it will look bad on my resume,” belief is almost a thing of the past.
⮚ Millennials are the children of Baby Boomers. Baby boomers often raise their kids with the mindset of “We want it to be easier for our children than it was for us.” And they succeeded giving rise to a whole new term for coddling; helicopter parenting. It’s probably for this reason that millennials garnered the unfortunate reputation of being lazy and overly sensitive. (Oh the irony of the Baby Boomers complaining about the slacking generation which they themselves spawned!!)
Of course, Baby Boomers were the children of previous generations who raised their kids with the mindset of “Children should be seen and not heard.” So can we really blame Baby Boomer’s for wanting to raise their kids differently? Doesn’t every generation believe that they will be better parents than the one that came before it? Perhaps in this way, we are similar.
NO, PEOPLE ARE JUST PEOPLE.
⮚ Older people have been bemoaning “kids today” for generations. Specific to the workplace, managers have always worried about their younger employees’ levels of motivation, skills and maturity. The Traditionalists worried about the “hippies” entering the ranks in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Baby Boomers called my peers “slackers” and lazy (according to my father, I was “Living the life of Riley”). And today’s Boomers and Gen Xers complain about the “entitled” Millennials.
There seems to be a tendency to believe we were smarter, harder working and more humble when we began our own careers, and to feel like today’s kids have it easier and don’t work as hard.
⮚ Grunt work is always boring. While of course every job should be approached with a positive attitude, even the brightest, most ambitious person will get bored with tedious, repetitive tasks with no understanding of 1) how it fits into the bigger picture, 2) what their next assignment is and 3) when that will happen.
⮚ Judge not lest you be judged. How many of us were so mature at 20 that we had great judgment and made good decisions? Given that our prefrontal cortex (the rational part of the brain) doesn’t fully develop until age 27, it would be a rare young person that wasn’t processing information with their amygdala (the emotional part of the brain).
Perhaps in this way, we are different.
No matter what side of this topic you fall on, you may find the three strategies in the next article helpful.
~ Nancy Roberts
The DISC Wizard
