Cheryl’s Blog- Leadership, Trends and Generations in the Workplace » Gen Y

Open Sharing a Natural for Gen Y’s In the Workplace

cheryl — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:08:49 +0000

In a recent posting on Harvard Business Review the author Andrew McAfee asks if the ‘open sharing’ tendencies of Generation Y is going to go away.

For the full story click here

The answer quite simply is “no”. Where Baby Boomers or Zoomers (baby boomers who refuse to age) have worked in private, alone or in intimate project groups to achieve their results their Gen Y counterparts are using open space, online forums and Twitter project progress with their work.

This begs the question, “are baby boomers too private when it comes to their projects and work in progress”?

Where baby boomers do not want to deliver a work outcome until it is near ‘perfect’ or refined a Generation Y sees their work as a work in progress that could benefit from outside input, peer critique and opinions. Best Buy has an opportunity for its employees to rank or rate ongoing projects through an online portal and it encourages group mind sharing. Other sites that Best Buy uses for sharing that benefits customers and employees are: askablueshirt.com, at15.com, forums.bestbuy.com, geeksquad.com/news, iambestbuy.com, wolfinspires.com and of course, the famous blueshirtnation.com.

To me there are two distinct differences in the model of the 90’s and early 2000’s and those of the last few years as Gen Y’s have infiltrated the workplace.

Those differences are:

Baby Boomers worked to perfection and for recognition of a project well executed

Generation Y don’t care so much for perfection as they do for innovation

Baby Boomers have pride around a projects outcomes

Generation Y have pride around getting input, including multiple viewpoints and producing a superior solution

The practical opportunity is for Baby Boomers and Gen X to shift to an open and sharing workstyle and project focus. The internet and new technology is making it easier than ever before to gather data, input and challenging opinions that contribute to innovation.

Global Economy Confidence is Up According to Gen X and Gen Y

cheryl — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:40:57 +0000

The YPO (Young Presidents Organization) is a well known global leadership group that provides education and resources for entrepreneurs 45 and younger.

The criteria to be a member is a minimum of 50 employees with minimum revenues of a million or more. This group is comprised mainly of Gen X and Gen Y and recent survey results posted in April 2010 show that global economic confidence is up 3.2 points.

This latest information is quite valuable as it applies to global views with specific countries showing slight drops in confidence.

How does this information affect our businesses?

I think if there was ever a time to look at global business the recent recession shows that thinking global with business is the key to future success.

The survey highlights are:

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

Looking ahead 12 months, nearly 70 percent of CEOs who responded to the April 2010 survey expect future sales to increase with non-E.U. Europe, Latin America, Asia and MENA anticipating the most widespread growth. The majority expects employee counts to remain roughly the same, with the most widespread increases expected in MENA, Africa and Asia.

For the full details of the survey check out the link below:

http://www.ypo.org/globalpulse/

8 Ways to Get Gen Y’s Engaged With Their Workplace

cheryl — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 01:03:27 +0000

Generation Ys were born into technology and grew up with it as part of life. Most Gen Ys have more than one TV and two computers per household. Their preferred communication method is instant messaging, and their preferred way of learning is through video games or computer games. This is quite different than the “lecture” style of learning that Zoomers and Gen Xers became accustomed to.
Gen Ys are not loyal to a company; instead, they are loyal to their friends. If they feel their bosses or co-workers are like friends they will stick around. If they dislike their boss they will quit with little concern.
On average Gen Y does not leave home until they are thirty-five years old! You might be thinking, not me—ours are away at college. Well, guess what? They are coming back! If a Gen Y is still living at home and a Zoomer or Gen X boss tells them to do something or they are fired, Gen Y has no survival issues. Why? Because they still have a roof over their head.
So how do you lead Gen Y?
1.Be up front with them. You know they want to learn as much and get as much from the company as they can before moving on.
2.Increase technology and knowledge of technology in the workplace. Gen Y expects to have the best technological tools available to them.
3.Give them what is important to them to get them to stay (such as paying for their education and providing social, fun activities) and support them as people.
4.Set them up with a guide who can support them to succeed. If Gen Ys feel they are failing, they will give up quickly and become apathetic.
5.Show them how their work affects overall company goals. How does what they do as people affect what the company does in the marketplace?
6.Involve them in a company charity event or environmental cause. Generation Y is the most humanitarian generation.
7.Allow them to have a life. Give flex days off, and be flexible with start and finish times.
8.Treat them as friends. Gen Ys will not automatically respect authority or leadership, because they feel respect is personally earned (not given based on a title).
We need to look at what we can shift or change the rules that have been in place for the working lifetime of a Zoomer. With Gen Y in the mix, things aren’t just changing, they are transforming.

How A Gen Y Leads

cheryl — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:48:30 +0000

Gen Y’s typically do not seek leadership the way Zoomers (Boomers who refuse to age) did or do. Many Zoomers felt that positions of leadership were signs of progress in their careers.
Gen Y’s see leadership as something extra that is added to their work load and they don’t want to be in charge the way it has been done by their Zoomer counterparts.
A Gen Y Leader looks at leadership as follows:
* Provide me with the training and skills to be a good leader I don’t want the job if I can’t be set up to succeed
* Don’t expect me to work as hard as you have or long hours in the office- I will get my job done and lead by using media, technology and I don’t need to be in the office to do this
* I don’t want to ‘boss’ people around- we are a collaborative team and I will be a interactive team leader
* We are solution oriented and we don’t always look to the past for the answer- please allow us to find new solutions that may require changing how we have done things

As you can see Gen Y sees leadership as a team effort not a hierarchical top down role. Gen Y is not impressed by seniority – they do not equate time on job with being highly efficient and productive.
We are seeing more Gen Y leaders and they are creating interesting dynamics for organizations acrosss North America.

Motivating Gen Y, X and Zoomers

cheryl — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:06:35 +0000

I am often asked how do we motivate the different generations.

Motivating a Gen Y is like having to be a cheerleader- whether we like it or not! They only respond to praise and when giving feedback they are very sensitive to language- as soon as you use the word ‘criticism’ to a Gen Y they stop listening! An example script to a Gen Y to motivate would be:

“Hey Jordan, excellent job on answering the phone for that client- really well done. Hey next time you would increase your closing ratio if you used this tried and true technique I learned years ago.”

A Gen Y responds to this because you are supporting them not ‘dissing them’.

A Gen X is much tougher and can hear the feedback but wants you to make sure you don’t blind side them. So you could say to a Gen X

“Tyler, you know how your quota this month was to book 3 meetings? Well you are at 1 meeting and it is the 28th of the month- I have taken a look at your best months and it struck me you could take a stab at the client from 6 months ago to see if that gets you to quota.”

This motivates a Gen X because they can tell you have done your research and that you are helping them to win.

To motivate a boomer is much more about recognition and WIFM (what’s in it for me?) so if you say to a boomer the following:

“Cheryl, I dont need to beat around the bush with you- you know what you are doing. I noticed you seem a little stressed or overwhelmed lately and this is affecting your results. What ideas do you have that can solve this? I have some thoughts too I just thought we could brainstorm.”

Another question I am asked is “ How to you motivate them when they are all together?

You have to ensure you are speaking to each demographic and honoring the values of each demographic. For example when I speak to a group I will put in language that the Gen Y understands such as LOL on a slide or when I am talking I will also put a tech question out to a Gen Y and their simple answer usually blows both the Gen X and the boomers away.

To honor Gen X I recognize them as the squeezed generation managing up and down in age groups and that their ability to deftly manoever between these generations is a valued skill.

The boomers have worked really hard to get where they are and they are really looking for confirmation that they efforts have not been in vain- so I will honor their hard work ethic and encourage them to share their knowledge rather than to hoard it.

A successful meeting to meet the needs of each generation would have the following:

1. Music/pictures for Gen Y

2. Handouts with supporting data and charts for Gen X and Boomers whereas Gen Y does not want handouts but they want a post meeting email, intranet post or text.

3. Opportunity for them to hear from each demographic- include 20 somethings to present on tech topics to your meetings. The Q and A sessions are nothing short of incredible!

4. Team discussions with mixed ages to solve challenges and come up with ideas

5. Recap of success of meeting, follow up with an email, a post on Facebook, a cheer on the Intranet, a blog post by the company President etc.

Are Gen Y’s More Optimistic Than Zoomers?

cheryl — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:44:59 +0000

I recently spoke at the MPI Mid America Conference in Lexington, KY and one of my presentations was on working with the generations in the workplace in turbulent times.

I was in the elevator coming down to set up for the presentation and I was joined by a gentleman who would be considered to be a Zoomer ( a modern Baby Boomer). I introduced myself and told him I was going to be presenting on the generations. His immediate comment was:

“Those Gen Y are having a reality check right now aren’t they? Now they know what it feels like to be in a recession.”

It got me to thinking and asking myself, “Is it possible that because Gen Y has not had experience with past recessions they do not have a context for this one?”

That thought then led to the next question to myself which was, “Is it also possible that the fear and cynicism of those of us who have been through previous negative experiences is causing us to ‘project’?”

We simply cannot compare ‘recessions’ and we also cannot ‘project’ our fear of past experiences on to the current generation. First of all they don’t believe the hype. Yes some of them may have lost their jobs and yes that is a wake up call at any age- but their concerns are not about the same things that would concern a Gen X or a Zoomer.

Gen Y’s have a natural born social structure supported by social media that as quick as they may have lost a job they have a friend who is telling them about another opportunity!

Zoomers who are using social media (FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo etc.) at varying levels are recognizing the benefits of being ‘connected’. If as a Zoomer you are choosing to remain a lone wolf or to figure things out for yourself then indeed YOU are in for a harsh reality.

It is easy to be more optimistic when you are connected and socially supported. It is also easier to be pessimistic when you are disconnected, wishing for things to return to the way they were and unwilling to change.

So in the end are Gen Y’s more optimistic than Zoomers?

Well the next time you drive by a high school, college or university take a look at the ‘mood’. You will likely see fist bumping, hugging, laughing, texting, and talking on cell phones.