This Months Guest Blogger: Todd Cherches
Todd Cherches, business trainer and co-founder of Big Blue Gumball invited me to explore and dispel some of the common – and
counter-productive – myths that Baby Boomers and Generation Xers often
have about Millennials. Being the global generational expert that I am, and a card carrying Boomer, I said "Heck yea!"
I hope this offers a breath of fresh air. This series was originally posted on The Hired Guns website.
Todd decided to ask me about 5 Myths. Below are my answers;-)
Myth #1:
Millennials are entitled, and have a bit of an attitude
One of the most common complaints
Baby Boomer bosses have about
Millennials is that they have a sense of entitlement, resulting in some
part from a co-dependency with their
“helicopter parents.” There are tons of (humorous, and even ludicrous)
stories
floating around online regarding Millennials bringing their parents
along on job interviews, or having mom contact HR to negotiate a better
benefits package. Boomers, can you imagine your parents coming to your
office in your mid-twenties and making a scene like that?
And the frustration is not just between Boomers and Millennials, it’s
between Millennials and Generation X as well. Gen Xers, the
often-overlooked generation which shares characteristics of both Boomers
and Millennials (though tend to be more similar to Boomers), showed up
on time, wore a suit, and waited 5 years before asking for a raise, only
to now see Boomers tripping over them in a race to shake hands with
these upstart Millennials!
So who raised Millennials to be the way they are?
Baby Boomers!
You’ve raised your kids to be confident adults who know how amazing they
are.
You’ve encouraged them to express their feelings, to follow their
passion, and to speak up and speak out – even with those more senior to
them. If they don’t like the grade they received on a midterm, they’ve
been encouraged to question their teachers. And now they have entered
the world of work, and
Baby Boomers are mystified by Millennial
behavior?
Time to face facts: Millennials have been raised with a new set of
rules (some might say “no rules”), without traditional boundaries,
resulting in a generation of
young adults who are extremely independent
in their thinking, and have little interest in honoring the past or
preserving the “respect your elders” meme that we grew up on. (Did we
even know what a “meme” was back then?). In most cases, Millennials may
not realize they are breaking any rules at all.
*And we apologize if this sounds like generalizations. These are only clues. There are MANY Baby Boomers that act like Millennials, and Millennials that act like Baby Boomers.
So we may complain about this generation’s sense of entitlement and
expressions of empowerment, but if you think about it, isn’t that
exactly what we would have wanted when we were their age:
Respect for
our work from our elders, and the freedom to tell them what we’re really
thinking? In essence, because of how they were raised and trained, in
many ways Millennials are doing the things and acting in ways we wished
we could!
In his book,
“Drive,”
Dan Pink talks about how people are primarily motivated by three key
things:
Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. And while Boomers and Gen Xers
want these things,
Millennials demand and expect all three.
So the next time a Millennial asks a question in the middle of your
presentation or interrupts you during an interview, rather than seeing
it as an act of insubordination or disrespect, consider that you may be
judging things from a Boomer perspective. Instead, see these acts as
engagement, curiosity, self-expression, and a
desire to make a
contribution.
When typing on a phone, tablet or laptop while you’re
talking, they’re (probably) not ignoring you –
they’re multi-tasking:
taking notes, Googling information, and texting or tweeting you a
response to the question you just asked. All in 60 seconds. Rather than
being unfocused and disrespectful, they’re doing the opposite by being
proactive and productive in the most effective way they know how.
So if you’re willing to alter your mindset and expectations regarding
“the rules” and what constitutes appropriate behavior, you may find
that different is not bad…it’s just different. And maybe, in some ways,
even better. So why not take that difference and leverage it to your
advantage…because many of your customers are probably Millennials who
think and act – and prefer to communicate and interact – in that very
same way.
Myth #2:
Millennials have no clue what hard work looks like, and are unwilling to pay their dues
Unlike Boomers who were educated in a factory-like school system to
prepare them for either office or manufacturing jobs in the industrial
complex, Millennials have been raised and educated to be independent,
entrepreneurial, information-age thinkers, devoid of hierarchy and
traditional industrial-age rules. That doesn’t mean they all want to go
out and start their own company, but it does mean that without any sense
of protocol or “chain of command,” these Digital Natives are more
likely than we were to just go ahead and take action without checking
with anybody. And if you’ve ever managed a team of strong-willed,
highly-independent thinkers, you’ve probably found it to be like herding
cats.
What happens in childhood, prepares us for adulthood. Though Boomers
grew up with lots of
rules and restrictions, we were independent in our
own way: riding our bikes all the way to school, maybe working a
part-time job afterwards, and often coming home for dinner after
sundown.
We grew up in a world where it was perfectly fine to disappear
all day long without needing to let anyone know where we were going or
having to check in to confirm that we were ok. It was just assumed that
we were.
Millennials, on the other hand, grew up in a very different and more
complex world of helicopter parents, cell phones, and continuous
connectivity. They had coordinated and supervised “play dates,” were
driven to soccer practice and dance lessons, and Mom and Dad
micromanaged everything like personal assistants to their wunderkinds.
This created a shift in the role of parenting; from authority figure to
friend and adviser…and chauffeur. In brief, parents became peers to
Millennials.
On top of shifting parenting roles, Millennials grew up looking at
multiple screens and doing multiple things at the same time.
They
learned to work in bursts. To work smarter, not harder. To binge in
order to meet deadlines. And to not strive for perfection, but for
happiness. In the way that we crammed for midterms and finals while in
college, Millennials have been doing things this way their entire
life…and continue this way of being at work. It’s gotten them this far.
And, regardless, they don’t know any other way.
But here’s the big surprise:
Contrary to what many Boomers or Gen
Xers might think, Millennials ARE willing to work hard. It’s just that
they hate inefficiency, and they have no tolerance for waste,
bureaucracy, or outdated processes or technologies. So it’s not that
they’re unwilling to work; they’re unwilling to do busy-work, or the
mindless, monotonous tasks that so many jobs (especially entry level
jobs) entail.
General Patton once said,
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell
them what needs to get done, and they’ll surprise you with their
ingenuity.” This is a great mantra to keep in mind when hiring
Millennials. What we may consider the best way of doing something may
not necessarily be the best way for them.
If we want an engaged and
empowered workforce, the best way to manage and lead a Millennial may
simply be to get out of their way, and let them spread their wings and
fly.
Myth #3:
Millennials are too casual and informal
As we pointed out in our previous post, Millennials have been raised and taught by parents, teachers, and coaches
who encouraged them to speak up, speak out, and treat the authority
figures in their lives as mentors or even equals.
This has flattened the
hierarchy in their minds. And, in many ways, this is a good thing. As a
Boomer who, earlier in his career, once got disciplined for
“leapfrogging the chain of command” by talking to his boss’s boss
without his boss’s permission, Todd experienced first-hand the wrath of
overstepping his bounds and was severely chastised for his faux pas.
Millennials don’t have these boundaries and find them absurd. To most
Millennials, there’s nothing wrong with popping your head into the CEO’s
office just to chat…or even friending him or her on Facebook. And why
not? They’re just people. What’s the big deal?
So, as a Boomer or Gen Xer, we may sometimes think to ourselves,
“These Millennials have no respect for authority, title, or position.”
But even though this is how WE were brought up, if we put our egos aside
maybe there’s actually nothing wrong with this mindset. Do we really
need (or want) to be called, Mr. So-and-so (the way we were brought up
to address our superiors) rather than just being called by our first
name? Millennials were raised to be friends with adults, and to speak up
and say whatever is on their mind regardless of status. Perhaps we
should stop fighting it and just accept this as the new reality. As
discussed in
Liquid Leadership,
top companies like Cisco and FedEx have
intentionally flattened their
hierarchies and modified their processes and technologies in order to
improve communication, remove bottlenecks, and speed up decision-making –
and perhaps we need to rethink how we do things as well.
So if a Millennial pops into your office to say hi – putting aside
all the hierarchical assumptions of the past – maybe instead of being
offended we might see it as an opportunity to learn. And if your
Millennial assistant “friends” you on Facebook, don’t be appalled by the
brazenness.
You don’t have to accept the invite if you don’t want to.
In fact, you might just take as a compliment that a hip, young
Millennial even wants to be your “friend”!
Myth #4:
Millennials need to be told how awesome they are all the time
In his 1969 treatise,
“Freedom to Learn,” psychologist Carl Rogers
suggested that schools should become self-esteem-boosting
personal-growth centers where children were encouraged to be spontaneous
and free. Instead of competition, it was all about collaboration. And
moral judgments like right and wrong were to be abandoned. The result:
Gen Y Millennials are the byproduct of this type of schooling and
parenting. And this is the root of the “everyone gets a trophy”
mentality that everyone talks about.
But what’s the impact of this upbringing when those raised with these
values and expectations enter the workplace? One outcome is
organizations desperately over-doing it to try to keep their Millennial
workers happy. One of the hottest business buzzwords of the past few
years is “employee engagement.” It’s not enough that people be paid to
do a job as Boomers and Gen X were; we must now worry about how to keep
everyone engaged as well.
That’s not a bad thing: It’s obvious that if people are engaged they
are more likely to do their work with commitment and a positive
attitude, to be happier and more productive, and to be more loyal to
their job and to their company.
Like anyone else, Millennials simply
want appreciation and recognition for a job well done. And they are
willing to work for it. But unlike Baby Boomers or Gen X, they will not
sit silently at a desk for 10 years, giving up vacations, and awaiting
that promotion that may or may not come. Especially after seeing their
parents do just that, only to get unceremoniously laid off. Nowadays if
you stay at a company for 15-20 years, rather than seeing you as
dedicated and loyal, headhunters, HR recruiters, and hiring managers are
more likely to see you as lacking in ambition or the flexibility to
take risks, adapt to change, and to grow. Todd points out how due to the
number of jobs he had earlier in his
career
he used to be negatively labeled a “job-hopper”; now people look at his
resume and say,
“Wow, it’s amazing how many different things you’ve
done!”
The bottom line is that Millennials don’t need to receive pats on the
back every single day, or to be constantly presented with awards and
trophies. They do, however, want regular feedback and need to know how
they are doing. And they want to feel like they are continuously – and
rapidly (though somewhat impatiently) – moving forward.
Myth #5:
Millennials don’t take work seriously
As mentioned previously, Millennials not only want work that matters,
but demand and expect it. Like all employees, they are motivated by
Autonomy (the ability to do their jobs in a way that works best for
them);
Mastery (to be continuously learning and growing); and
Purpose
(doing work that matters and feeling that they are making a
contribution). So Millennials do take work seriously, if it is work they
enjoy and that makes them feel productive and fulfilled.
While Boomers and Gen X were taught to look busy or get fired…and
spent a lot of time watching the clock, Millennials want to work only
when they need to work, and to not have to pretend to be working when
they are not. The management guru Frederick W. Taylor said that
“People
do best, what they like best to do”…and, while true of all people, this
is especially true of Millennials.
But, you may be thinking, what about entry level jobs? People need to
start somewhere. And aren’t there times that you need to take a job
just to pay the bills while you’re building a career or discovering your
calling?
And aren’t there tasks in any job – the less exciting and glamorous
chores like making copies, filing, data entry, etc. – that SOMEONE has
to do? The answer is yes, and these jobs typically fall to the lowest
person on the totem pole…which, in many cases these days, is a
Millennial.
The generational difference is that when Boomers and Gen
Xers were first starting out, they accepted that starting at the bottom
came with the territory. It wasn’t demeaning to take a job in the
mail room; it was a proud and much-appreciated way to get a foot in the
door. But Millennials, due to how they were raised, often struggle with
accepting this concept.
The reality is that every task is a learning experience, and Boomers
and Gen X bosses may need to put on their leadership hat and demonstrate
to Millennials that every new opportunity is a chance to learn, to
grow, to build your network, and to show what you can do.
And in the
world of gamification that Millennials grew up in, if you can present
work (even menial tasks) as a stimulating challenge, find a way to keep
score, and recognize success, that is one way to engage Millennials in
the process.
The bottom line is that times have changed, and if Millennials, Gen
Xers, and Boomers can find a mutually-beneficial way of working together
to create a win-win-win scenario, organizations will get the best and
the most out of all their people, regardless of generation, and create a
happier, more productive work culture and environment for all.
---------
We hope you found these myth-busting tips to be valuable. Again, as
mentioned in our
first post, this is coming from the perspective of two
Boomers; if you have other thoughts or something to add, please just let
us know!
Next post we’ll turn the tables and talk about the following
increasingly common scenario:
What happens when the “natural order of
things” is flipped on its head and it’s the Millennial who is in the
position of power?
Original Blog Post at Hired Guns: http://www.thehiredguns.com/blogs/2015/07/07/5-myths-about-millennials-that-boomers-and-gen-xers-need-to-let-go/
Thank You Todd for our discussions on this matter...
Brad Szollose
Bridging The Generational Divide: Multigenerational management expert, award-winning author, business consultant and keynote speaker
Brad Szollose is a global business adviser and the foremost authority on
Generational Issues and
Workforce Engagement Strategies.
Author of the award-winning, bestseller
Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia,
Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he
cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three
years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His
company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a
unique management style that won his company the
Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.
Known for his humorous and thought-provoking presentations, Brad’s keynotes and workshops are
highly interactive, heart-warming,
and
filled with high-content information that challenge
assumptions and help leaders and managers
create a better work
environment for innovation to thrive.
Today,
Brad helps smart companies like Dell and MasterCard, understand just how much
technology has transformed a new generation, and how that
impacts corporate culture, management interaction, expectations, productivity and
sales in The Information Age.
* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership
* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author
"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York
Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores
and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published
in India and S. Korea.
Brad
Szollose (pronounced zolis), is a globally recognized Management Consultant and the
foremost authority on Millennials and Cross-Generational Leadership Development
Strategies.
