Recently I read this essay by fellow New Englander and Blogger Dave Ursillo. The point of his post for those who don't hyperlink, is that because of the current great recession the Gen Y/Millennial group will start their careers in an impaired position. As a result of starting so far behind, they will face a leadership gap as too few Millennials will be able to rapidly ascend to the highest ranks in an organization, where "leadership" is supposed to happen. His essay and my immediate response along with a this post on my "Professional blog" got me thinking about Millennial Leadership and my thoughts led me to one macro-level question...
What will Millennial leadership look like in the future?
Leadership in the future will look a lot like what it does today. A few people at the top making decisions and choosing the direction for the masses. As it were humans have been plagued by this irrational need to have someone tell them what to do for a long time as Thomas Paine points out in his essay "Common Sense" (A must read for all generations, but Millennials specifically). Millennials for all their spunk and "never-trust-anyone-older-than-30" Planter of the Apes type bravado will still continue to look to others for direction and leadership. As a result leadership will look much like the same as it does today, on the surface. However below the surface, leadership will be like nothing we've ever seen before, because it will become transparent.
In the world of today leaders are allowed to be mysterious because we assume decision makers have more or better information than we do. As a result we assume that their choices in leadership reflect that they have more information or a part of the story we aren't privy too. However there is tons of evidence to suggest that just isn't the case. Right off the top of my head, and I will attempt to be extremely bi-partisan here, I can say that Obama's handling of the current oil spill shows he doesn't have any more information than the rest of us. The same way W. Bush had no more information about what was happening post-Katrina than we did. Now while we can all blame the MEDIA for a lot of things. The oil gusher video-feed and 24hour news during Katrina tell us all the information we needed to know... The situation is/was bad and not much leadership is/was taking place. However the fact remains that in these scenarios we could all see how leaders weren't getting the job done, hence leadership transparency. As technology continues to push us more towards "INSTANITY" (my term to describe the fact that I can't go 2 minutes without checking, Twitter, FB, the news, or my e-mail), the role and effectiveness of leadership will become crystal clear.
Now the question transitions from what will leadership look like, to where will leadership come from?
Well the simple answer is leadership will come from everywhere. In my thesis on leadership, yes I wrote a thesis on leadership, I argue that anywhere strategic resources are being used, there you have leadership. Today we define strategic resources quite basically as people and money. Gen Y however is making it more than evident that information is the resource that links the other resources of people and money together. However technology makes everyone both a creator and miner of that information even if they have no clue what to do with it. For example, Paul Sparrow writes a lot of scholarly articles about information overload, that too much information is coming in and clouding our ability to sift through and drowning leadership. I argue that is only true in as much as the current crop of Baby boomer leaders were not raised in an overloaded environment i.e. have no no clue what to do with it, where Millennials have been immersed in information all their lives. Think about it, the interweb, e-mail, smartphones and constant connectivity are all products of Boomer innovation, but utilized and improved to perfection by Gen X and Gen Y. Which brings us to how crowd source, "the cloud", and social media are streamlining and filtering the information for future leaders, creating an encyclopedia of leadership. Therefore allowing leadership to come from all over. However, while leadership will come from all over, true Millennial leaders will be the ones most adept at using the transparent information for the betterment of others. Essentially they will become the embodiment of Umair Haque's Efficient Community Hypothesis, and Betterment theory, and I for one think that could be a great thing!
The Millenial Resource Network
Welcome to The Millenial Resource Network, an online resource for people of all generations to learn about the Millenial Generation.
Millenials will find links, articles, and blog posts mainly written by other Millenials which will show them how to get along in a work place still dominated by older generations. Non-Millenials will be able to use those same resources to gain insight into the mind of a Millenial and the best way to deal with them in the "real world."
Millenials will find links, articles, and blog posts mainly written by other Millenials which will show them how to get along in a work place still dominated by older generations. Non-Millenials will be able to use those same resources to gain insight into the mind of a Millenial and the best way to deal with them in the "real world."
Showing posts with label Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Management. Show all posts
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Reconsidering the differences... and fixing the problems.
Initially, and I mean as it relates to the inception of this blog, there seemed to be a white wash of anti-Millennial/Gen Y sentiment in the world. However, at present there seems to be substantial and growing opposition to the anti-millennial sentiment. More importantly the blog-o-sphere and Twitterverse are facing a deluge of blogs and articles making the claim that the generations aren't that different at all. Just this morning I read a blog post titled The Gen Y Myth and it got me thinking if this whole Gen Y being different is really real?
To answer my own question, I have to say No. Gen Y isn't that different from any previous generation. I mean when you sit down to read the general complaints about Gen Y, as the author of the Gen Y Myth did, you start to see commonality not uniqueness. More over when you look at the survey response from Pat S. that was the subject of my previous post and the incredibly data/information rich white paper by Millennial Inc it seems that the needs, wants, and motivators of Gen Y aren't really that ground breaking. Good jobs, stable jobs, and bosses who care about them sound less like generational issues and more like professional and managerial issues we all deal with, which clearly echoes the sentiments put down in the Gen Y Myth. Most importantly those are the very same issues that many in corporations have been reluctant to address because there hasn't been the level of disruption in the status quo that there is today. Thanks economy!
So what should happen next, how do you fix it?
When I was first asked that question on Twitter I was flippant in answering. I believe my exact response was, "If I knew I would have a job, or at least be rich." However what should happen next is that HR should take up the job. HR professionals should strip away the generational stereotypes and demographic grouping (which for a unit that is supposed to celebrate diversity, they seem to not handle this wrinkle very well) and get at the root of the problems. I argue that once they do they will find that the problems of the generations clashing, as I like to call it, are really problems of corporations not being sure how to handle: innovation, management, talent management, employee engagement, diversity, and the list goes on and on. However it isn't that HR can't handle these problems, and I am by no means suggesting that since academic HR has been tackling these very topics for decades. Where HR really has a problem is that now the academic theory of these topics has to be put into practice at EVERY corporation and not just at the limited few that have been progressive already(e.g. Google and Best Buy). Additionally even for the progressive HR companies, it is no longer functional to be progressive in one area, HR has to be progressive in all areas. Compound that with the idea that while the stereotyped differences between the generations may not exists, the technological and communication differences between them are real. Now also complicate it a little more and consider that HR is responsible for the least predictable type of corporate capital there is, the HUMAN BEING, and it is easy to see that this isn't going to be an easy climb.
Many companies will try and fail to blend these elements together, many more won't even try and will just fail (Big Finance Banks, I am looking right at you). However a select few will try, and fail. Then try again and fail again, and so on and so on until unbeknown to them they succeeded, but they will continue to try and continue to fail even after success. Why? because that is the mission of HR. In order to succeed, they have to constantly manage talent, be innovative, ignite and manage change, handle diversity and engage the workforce. However until everyone in the corporate world from the CEOs on down figures out that is how you ensure success, people will just keep blaming Generational differences!
To answer my own question, I have to say No. Gen Y isn't that different from any previous generation. I mean when you sit down to read the general complaints about Gen Y, as the author of the Gen Y Myth did, you start to see commonality not uniqueness. More over when you look at the survey response from Pat S. that was the subject of my previous post and the incredibly data/information rich white paper by Millennial Inc it seems that the needs, wants, and motivators of Gen Y aren't really that ground breaking. Good jobs, stable jobs, and bosses who care about them sound less like generational issues and more like professional and managerial issues we all deal with, which clearly echoes the sentiments put down in the Gen Y Myth. Most importantly those are the very same issues that many in corporations have been reluctant to address because there hasn't been the level of disruption in the status quo that there is today. Thanks economy!
So what should happen next, how do you fix it?
When I was first asked that question on Twitter I was flippant in answering. I believe my exact response was, "If I knew I would have a job, or at least be rich." However what should happen next is that HR should take up the job. HR professionals should strip away the generational stereotypes and demographic grouping (which for a unit that is supposed to celebrate diversity, they seem to not handle this wrinkle very well) and get at the root of the problems. I argue that once they do they will find that the problems of the generations clashing, as I like to call it, are really problems of corporations not being sure how to handle: innovation, management, talent management, employee engagement, diversity, and the list goes on and on. However it isn't that HR can't handle these problems, and I am by no means suggesting that since academic HR has been tackling these very topics for decades. Where HR really has a problem is that now the academic theory of these topics has to be put into practice at EVERY corporation and not just at the limited few that have been progressive already(e.g. Google and Best Buy). Additionally even for the progressive HR companies, it is no longer functional to be progressive in one area, HR has to be progressive in all areas. Compound that with the idea that while the stereotyped differences between the generations may not exists, the technological and communication differences between them are real. Now also complicate it a little more and consider that HR is responsible for the least predictable type of corporate capital there is, the HUMAN BEING, and it is easy to see that this isn't going to be an easy climb.
Many companies will try and fail to blend these elements together, many more won't even try and will just fail (Big Finance Banks, I am looking right at you). However a select few will try, and fail. Then try again and fail again, and so on and so on until unbeknown to them they succeeded, but they will continue to try and continue to fail even after success. Why? because that is the mission of HR. In order to succeed, they have to constantly manage talent, be innovative, ignite and manage change, handle diversity and engage the workforce. However until everyone in the corporate world from the CEOs on down figures out that is how you ensure success, people will just keep blaming Generational differences!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
5 simple rules for understanding Millennials...REDUX
Recently there have been a spate of articles and blog posts highlighting that the workforce now contains 4 generations, Boomers, X-ers, Y's, and Millennials. I consider Gen Y and Millennial to be virtually interchangeable so lets just cut the number to three for the sake of our discussion. As I stated in my inaugural blog post, I foresee a workplace culture clash of epic proportions looming on the horizon. It is also interesting to note that since I did my first post on my other blog and Tweet that more people are starting to post on the topic of working with the Millennial generation. Maybe it is because I am looking for the information but I suspect the timing of Spring Graduation is the explanation. In any event One post in particular stood out to me. I applaud the authors intent of helping everyone understand the different generations, although I didn't agree with the connotation of describing how he had to "infiltrate" the Gen Y/Millennials. His choice of words got me thinking about how little older generations know about the youngest generation, even though one of the biggest complaints about them is how "transparent" they make themselves online. I mean, it isn't surprising since a lot of times you hear parents complain that they don't know how to "connect" with their children, but that same complaint has been made by parents since Egyptian times.
This got my train of thought flowing back into the workplace and what follows are 5 hard and fast facts about the Gen Y/Millennials.
1) Millennials know that they don't know everything, but they do know more than you think they do.
2) The old ways of workplace motivation don't work for them. Money matters, but they have seen how much it corrupts and they don't exactly want to get too close to that slippery slope.
3) Millennials love what money can buy so they do expect to be paid well. I know what you are thinking, you're think wait a second he just said money doesn't motivate, what gives? What gives is that once Millennials are in the workplace and happy with their salaries, if you want more from them don't just throw money at them, it won't work. They know what their effort is worth and they know what their extra effort is worth. See every article on work-life balance ever written for a better motivator for better ways to motivate or see also #4.
4) Millennials just want to be recognized. While undoubtedly they are victims of "everyone-gets-a-trophy" syndrome, companies should trip over themselves to give praise because it is FREE and everyone wants it, not just Millennials. Besides older generations, you raised them like that (I know, not my kid, but YES your kid got a trophy too...) so keep it up. However make sure it is genuine despite their assumed lack of "EQ" they know when someone is being fake.
5) Millennials are loyal, you just can't automatically expect it from them. According to what you read online Millennials have no interest in loyalty, they are job-hoppers and career changes just chasing money or title. While sure that may take place, I argue that if they feel the company will be loyal they too will be loyal. Remember that they have all witnessed how "corporate loyalty" screwed over their parents and they want no part of that.
In order to move forward in workplace interaction with Millennials everyone should know these 5 rules. I encourage everyone from every generation to comment and add to the list.
This got my train of thought flowing back into the workplace and what follows are 5 hard and fast facts about the Gen Y/Millennials.
1) Millennials know that they don't know everything, but they do know more than you think they do.
2) The old ways of workplace motivation don't work for them. Money matters, but they have seen how much it corrupts and they don't exactly want to get too close to that slippery slope.
3) Millennials love what money can buy so they do expect to be paid well. I know what you are thinking, you're think wait a second he just said money doesn't motivate, what gives? What gives is that once Millennials are in the workplace and happy with their salaries, if you want more from them don't just throw money at them, it won't work. They know what their effort is worth and they know what their extra effort is worth. See every article on work-life balance ever written for a better motivator for better ways to motivate or see also #4.
4) Millennials just want to be recognized. While undoubtedly they are victims of "everyone-gets-a-trophy" syndrome, companies should trip over themselves to give praise because it is FREE and everyone wants it, not just Millennials. Besides older generations, you raised them like that (I know, not my kid, but YES your kid got a trophy too...) so keep it up. However make sure it is genuine despite their assumed lack of "EQ" they know when someone is being fake.
5) Millennials are loyal, you just can't automatically expect it from them. According to what you read online Millennials have no interest in loyalty, they are job-hoppers and career changes just chasing money or title. While sure that may take place, I argue that if they feel the company will be loyal they too will be loyal. Remember that they have all witnessed how "corporate loyalty" screwed over their parents and they want no part of that.
In order to move forward in workplace interaction with Millennials everyone should know these 5 rules. I encourage everyone from every generation to comment and add to the list.
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