Managing the Millennials? Wait… What’s a Millennial?
By Brooks Group on 28 Mar 2008 at 01:35 pm
Whether you are consciously aware of this or not, there are some things going on in the workplace and your environment that just tick you off. Know why? Because there are four generations in the workplace today each with their own “correct” points of views, their own sets of values, their own levels of achievement, and their own needs to succeed.
Back in the 60’s, we called it the “Generation Gap.” But today, there is a true generation gap in our world. In the 60’s, my parents thought our generation of Boomers would never “amount to anything. You’re lazy and don’t want to even hold down a job.”
Granted, the Boomers thought our parents were from another planet and were “The Establishment,” and we wanted nothing to do with their backward ways. I personally remember thinking I would never judge a younger generation because I hated to be judged in my teens and twenties. But that has all changed with the Millennial Generation (born 1980-1995).
In this high-tech world of little face-to-face interaction we have created a new generation of self-absorbed, chronological adults who are still living in their adolescent behavior through their thirties. Am I judging them? You better believe it!
Imagine trying to motivate a group in the workplace to just well, work! It’s tough to even understand their point of view or their motivation.
Watch this clip from 60 Minutes and you’ll see the huge challenge employers are facing. We need to act now on changing our approach to managing our future employee pool.
Our March newsletter also covered this topic and can be viewed by clicking here
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Hi Laura! This is great stuff. May I please offer a couple of additional observations.
One of the greatest challenges for my clients is to enable their millenials to communicate with non-millenials. Because the former have seldom participated in business as the latter know it, marketing and sales phone calls (my area of expertise) often sound like people speaking different languages. My advice for millenial callers: ask before telling and learn before selling.
Second, the non-millenials who have built their careers in sequence (worker, then manager, then director, then executive) have a really hard time interacting with millenials who often achieve those phases “out of order.” And the millenials communicate in new media. My advice for non-millenials: accept that the medium is NOT the message (sorry Prof. McLuhan). The message is the message. Cut the youngsters some slack.
Michael A. Brown
Business To Business By Phone
http://www.michaelabrown.net