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Q&A: Advice for Boomer Working with Gen Y’s
Any experience counseling Baby Boomer managers in how best to motivate Gen Y new hires? Seems threats of loss of responsibility, demotion, and even firing does little to “affect” behavior. Seems Gen Yers feel “jobs are a dime a dozen,” and “...if I can’t work the way I want, I can go down the street and find another job.”
I teach marketing at the MBA level and find that Gen Y students are savvy team members, seeking to join groups of Baby Boomers beause they can get Boomers to do most of the work (they slack off with feigned excuses about “not enough time,” or “confused as to what’s expected.” Any experience with this?
Steve
Hi Steve,
Yes, I do a lot of work with managers and senior executives on how best to work with Gen Y’s. I agree that threats don’t work well with this generation.
My basic advice is to give them work that is both important and challenging—and let them figure out how to get it done. In other words, re importance, make sure they understand how the task they’ve been asked to accomplish contributes to the bigger picture. Don’t over-specify how to do the work; this generation doesn’t respond well to a 20-step process, with little room for variation. Tell them the end objective, and give them some flexibility to figure out the best way to get there, whenever possible. (I recognize, of course, that not all tasks allow this flexibility due to regulations, safety constraints, and so on.) I suspect the situations you’ve experienced, when Y’s try to shift their work to others, are indications that they’re finding the work boring and unchallenging.
There are several documents on my website that may be helpful to you. In addition, my book Retire Retirement, written to Boomers, includes advice on working with other generations in the workplace.
I hope this helps.
Warmly,
Tammy
Filed under: Generation Y | Published: 01/15/11
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