I haven’t seen any data that shows dramatic differences between these two ages groups.  Older Gen Y’s (those, say, 25-29) do have different technology use patterns—surveys have shown that they’re less likely to use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and less likely to send text messages than those under 25.  Anecdotal evidence would lead me to believe that the major difference with the youngest Y’s will be an intensifying use of those technologies.

The biggest inflection point—in fact so big that I believe it will mark the beginning of a new generation—comes with those around age 13 or 14 today.  Individuals this age and younger formed their conceptual models of how the world works over the past several years.  They’ve been heavily influenced by the recession, resource shortages, and concerns about the environment.  They’ve come of age doused with a cold bucket of reality.  I believe this age group will approach the world with an emphasis on renewal and conservation, and have suggested that we call them the “Re-Generation” or “Re-Gens,” for short.

Filed under: Comparisons Among the Generations | Published: 05/11/09

Hi J—

There are two messages that you need to help your colleagues to hear—

One is the context:  why different generations tend to approach workplace tasks in different ways.  Once people get past interpreting different approaches as signs that “the other guy” is perhaps not as dedicated, hard-working, or whatever other judgement might be applied, and recognize that our different formative experiences have conditioned us to approach tasks in different ways, I find it becomes easier to listen to new ideas.  Could you perhaps give them something to read?  Most people enjoy learning more about the generational perspectives—and ones around scheduling are particularly interesting.  I write about this in Plugged In, as well as in my blogs.

Second, is experimentation:  ask colleagues if they would try a new approach once.  Most people are willing to try something, if they don’t feel they’re buying into a long-term commitment to a different way.  Select a specific task and ask the group if they’d be up for experimenting with a different approach.

There’s a section in Plugged In that discusses presenting ideas in terms of the Return on Investment that the new approach could provide.  That’s also likely to be helpful here.  Presenting your proposal as a way to do something faster or at less cost, strengthens the likelihood of acceptance.

Good for you for looking for ways to do things better.  I hope you have great success!

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Workplace Strategies | Published: 05/11/09

Hi Greg—

I do have an account, although I confess I’m not very diligent abut Twittering yet. 

I’d love to have you follow me, though, and will do my best to provide some interesting updates.

I’m @tammyerickson.

Thank you for asking.

Tammy

Filed under: Information on Tammy | Published: 05/11/09

I’m quite certain that there will be a shortage of Gen Y knowledge workers as the economy rebounds over the next several years.  In fact, even now, with over 13 million people out of work in the United States, there are 3 million open jobs that organizations are struggling to fill.  Most of these are knowledge jobs—in health care, education, professional services and other fields that require specialized skills.  The gap will widen over the upcoming years.

The economy has, in fact, changed forever.  The percentage of knowledge jobs continues to increase, while the percentage of manufacturing jobs, declines.  One of the implications of this shift is that many of the jobs that are and will become available cannot be filled by everyone who would like to participate in the workforce.  Unlike a manufacturing economy that is able to absorb almost all skills levels, knowledge jobs carry many more prerequisites.

There’s no question that this has been a difficult year for everyone—including members of Generation Y.  However, I’m confident that Y’s will have many positive career opportunities ahead.

Filed under: Surviving in Today's Economy | Published: 05/11/09

Hmmm.  That’s not easy.  It’s hard when any colleague—and particularly a boss—approaches work from a fundamentally different standpoint than you do. 

In this case, your boss’ behavior is consistent with the normal way businesses operated when he was a young employee.  He undoubtedly experienced an extended period of having to learn the ropes and follow the rules before he was allowed to offer any input.  And he probably turns to other old timers for feedback, since he feels comfortable that they share his values, understand his perspectives, and operate using behavioral norms he understands.

I know that this doesn’t make your situation immediately better—but I hope it makes it a little easier if you keep in mind that he’s not behaving in an unusual way—and would probably be very surprised to learn you view him as “hostile.”  As a general rule in life, whenever you meet someone who’s mental model of how things (should) work is very different from yours, start by understanding all you can about where they’re coming from—and develop your strategy from there.

Since he’s the boss, you essentially need to play the game by his rules.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t play to win—believe me, he understands wanting to “win”—but you need to figure out how he judges success.  What are his metrics?  And what do you want?  Think in terms of creating a very professional win/win “contract”—you’ll exceed his standards, with the expectation of gaining (more responsibility, more latitude, more money, or whatever you value) in return.

Good luck!  And remember, he undoubtedly values loyalty and company commitment, so maintain an upbeat attitude through it all.

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/11/09

Hi Ed,

One possibility, depending on his interests and yours, would be to evolve into even more of a teaching role—about the business broadly, as opposed to the specifics of his current responsibilities.  For example, you might have some sessions on how your company makes money—how the business model works—including reviewing the Annual Report and other financial documents, explaining relevant terms, and thinking together about how the department your mentee works in affects the firm’s performance.  Perhaps you can invite him to spend some time with you in your department, learning more about the work there.  You might bring in articles written about your company, industry or issues that impact your business for discussion—or maybe an article from a management journal or book.  A number of business books today include discussion guides, (including Plugged In, the book I wrote for Gen Y’s—you can download it from this site.)

I hope that helps.  He’s lucky to have you!

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Generation Y | Published: 05/11/09

Hi AS,

How frustrating!  I’m sorry that your talents aren’t being tapped more fully.

Let’s jump in.  I would guess that you’re in a role that the company simply needs someone to fill—and clearly you’re performing well. The company’s incentive to make you happy by moving you into a broader role is not as great as the need to get the specific work you perform well done.

First, look at the structural options in the company: Are there other people who could move into your role?  Could you offer to train someone?  Is there a logical new role you’d like to take on?  Can you begin developing the skills required to do that well?  In other words, try to make any transition easy for your boss and the company—a “safe” alternative to take on your work and an option for you to move to that you are ready to do well.

Second, look for ways that you can make your current role more interesting.  Is there some type of added value that you can offer?  For example, one summer I had a job in a book bindery—a pretty unchallenging manual assembly-line set of tasks.  But I spent a fair amount of time thinking of ways we could improve the process—making it either easier, faster, or cheaper.  I ended up learning a lot and making a contribution that went beyond what the company had hired me to do.  The key is that I didn’t ask permission to do this; I just did it.  Are there dimensions you can add to your current role that would be interesting for you—and beneficial to the company?

Threatening to leave is not a great strategy, although I think it is important to communicate clearly with your boss and the company more broadly.  Regarding the latter, you may want to talk with your human resource representative, to make sure that your interests are understood by others.  Your tone should be respectful, helpful, and focused on finding a win-win solution:  “I feel ready to take on a more challenging role as soon as the timing is right.  I understand the importance of performing my current role well, and am committed to doing so, but would like to understand your views on when a change might be possible.”  Any smart boss or human resource executive will understand that this sort of discussion also serves as fair warning that you won’t wait forever.

Good luck—I hope you have an exciting career ahead.

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/10/09

Dear Dengjing,

Thank you for reading my blog and writing from China.

It is a harder time for even Gen Y’s to find jobs than we’ve seen for many years.  Here is some advice:
If the Gen Y has some financial flexibility (that is, does not have large loans or family support responsibilities), they might look for jobs that are interesting and challenging, but pay less than the salaries older workers may need.  Even if the jobs are not posted, Y’s should still approach companies or organizations that they admire and propose a way they could contribute to the company, at a modest compensation.  Remember to express your proposal in the language of financial returns, as I suggest in Plugged In.  For example, you might propose that for a fee of “X” you would produce results with a value of “Y” for the company.
Alternatively, if the Gen Y has significant financial flexibility, this may be an excellent time to go back to school, perhaps to obtain a masters degree, or to travel, or to do charitable work—in other words, recognize that the next several years are likely to be difficult, and spend them doing things now that you were planning to do at some later point.

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Surviving in Today's Economy | Published: 12/05/08

Dear W.,

First, congratulations on realizing one of the most important truths of career success—you have to do well what you’ve been specifically charged to do.  I’ve seen so many people make the mistake of jumping into a new project and falling short on their assigned quotas or objectives.  Ironically, even if the same human being “tempts” you in the new direction—let’s say the head of sales asks if you want to sit in on a marketing strategy meeting—you always need to assume that the invitation includes an explicit “and”—that is:  “would you like to sit in AND still meet your sales quota.”

So, that’s the first step.  Knock the ball out of the park in terms of your sales responsibility.  Think of it like collecting chips in the poker game—the better you do at meeting your sales responsibilities, the more chips you have to play with down the road.  Once you’ve proven yourself, I think its completely appropriate to discuss your shifting career interests.  But only after you have a pile of “chips” on your side of the table—chips earned through strong performance against your initial task.

If you were in the tough position of not being able to accomplish your assigned task and wanting to change into something else, that is, frankly, much more difficult.  I guess, in some ways, you would have little to loose in that situation, since one way or the other, you’d be headed for a tough conversation.  It would probably make sense to raise the issue yourself—“I recognize that I’m not excelling at X, but I think I can do Y well”—but the outcome of that move is far from certain.

By far the best bet is to earn the right to ask for something new and different, by doing the first task well.

Good luck,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 12/05/08

Dear King,

I’m delighted to hear that you love your work.  Coming to the U.S. to work can only further your capabilities.  Consulting firms in general are terrific career stepping stones because you have the opportunity to work on a variety of projects across many industries.  You get to see which approaches are most effective in various environments.

First, recognize that there are many consulting firms—of all sizes and specialties.  McKinsey is a wonderful firm, but if you are not able to get a job there, there are many other options.  Think hard about the type of work you’d like to do—lots of data analysis, lots of interviewing or focus group facilitation, teaching, writing—each firm will require a slightly different mix of skills from its new associates. 

Two sources of additional information on the types of firms out there are:

The Association of Management Consulting Firms:  http://www.amcf.org/
The Vault:  http://www.vault.com/nr/consulting_rankings/consulting_rankings

Be sure to do the background research that will allow you to approach each firm with enthusiasm specifically for their type of work.  Provide examples of things you’ve done in the past that are relevant to their type of work.

And enjoy the experience!

Tammy

Filed under: Surviving in Today's Economy | Published: 12/04/08

Hi A—

I’m a strong believer in the “a good offense is the best defense” strategy for any generation in the workplace today.  That is, do the very best work you can.  A few specifics for early-career workers:
* Do your assigned task thoroughly and well, before you volunteer to get involved in other special projects.  I know someone recently who was contributing in major ways to a number of very interesting special initiatives for her company, but when the time came for lay-offs, she wasn’t viewed as integral to the core activities of the firm and was among the first to go.
* Help others.  Look for ways to lighten the load for a colleague—quietly, perhaps with no attribution.  Pitch in and word will get around that you are a solid team player.
* Stay heads up on trends and issues potentially affecting the business.  Bring new ideas to the table.  (But avoid being a “Debbie Downer”—no one wants to work with someone who only talks about problems—bring solutions and ideas, as well.)

In many ways, Gen Y is, by temperament and habit, very well suited to the rhythm of this economy.  Your ability to “go with the flow,” to coordinate in the moment, rather than rely on long-term schedules and carefully constructed plans, are all good philosophical traits to bring to an unpredictable situation.  Use them to your advantage.  This is a great time to stay flexible, think near-term (“what can I do for the next year that is challenging,” rather than “how do I launch the long-term career of my dreams,” for example).

What you lack is experience navigating through a tough economic patch.  Only the Boomers have had a significant dose of that—and most Boomer managers have a bag of tricks that are helpful at a time like this.  Some of my favorites:  focus on cash (as a metric and as an operational priority) and favor agility over low cost (i.e., rent instead of buy).

Good luck—your generation has a lot to contribute to helping firms through this tough economy.

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Generation Y | Published: 12/04/08

Hi Susan,

That is a great question . . . and I don’t have a quantitative answer.  I’d love to do some research to pin that down some day. 

Here are some thoughts:  First, we’d have to agree on ways to judge “return” for various activities.  What’s the return on an executive who guides others vs. a call center rep who handles direct customer inquiries, for example?  The theoretical answer would be that, in a perfect world, we pay people commensurate with their contribution, meaning that the “return” from each individual would be equal to the “investment” we make in them.  If you believe this, then the ROI for everyone would be the same. 

But, at a generational level, I do think the overall contributions have been a bit different.  There’s no doubt the Boomers have been a highly “productive” generation—Boomers were in leadership roles when we saw some of the most significant increases in productivity rates in the U.S. economy, as the technology was first substituted for highly labor-intensive tasks.  Boomers have also put an extraordinary amount of time into work—leading the increase in hours worked.  So, on a time-based return for the company’s compensation investment, Boomers have been a great deal.

X’ers arguably have worked smarter—and have been more concerned about balancing the time spent at work with that spent with family.  In that sense—including time as one of the investments—I’d have to give them the nod over Boomers.  And, in another possible generational measure of contribution, X’ers founded many of our most innovative and successful (and highest market value) companies today—including Google, YouTube, Amazon, and Wikipedia.

Y’s are just getting started.  There is anecdotal evidence that they are able to perform many tasks faster than any generation yet.  Managers tell me stories of hiring a Gen Y for a 10 week internship and running out of work for them to do after only 3 weeks, for example, because they are so speedy.  The jury is still out on this, but Y’s may up the ante on ROI still further.

Thoughts?

Thanks for asking such a provocative question.

Tammy

Filed under: Comparisons Among the Generations | Published: 12/04/08

Hi Katrina,
Thanks very much for your note—I’m delighted that you’ve found the posts useful!
Your question is great, because too few people (especially women, I’m afraid) fail to think this through.
Here’s the bottom line:  it is completely normal, acceptable and desirable to pass along this type of feedback to your manager and, depending on its significance, to others with influence.  It is not boasting.
Here are some guidelines:
1.  Email is a good way to pass along the info, whether you received it by email or orally.  If the latter, you should write a brief email, along the lines of “I heard from Joe today that he was really pleased with the results of the analysis.”  If you have details, I’d add one or two sentences, like:  “He found the customer interviews particularly useful.”
2.  Keep it brief and matter of fact. Don’t write a long cover email detailing how hard you worked, the sacrifices you made, etc. 
3.  It is okay to show some emotion.  “I was so happy to get the attached feedback from Joe!”
4.  Mention others who were involved, emphasizing their contributions.  “The team really did a great job on this one.”  “Kary really came through with some great insights!”
5.  If its important feedback on an important issue or project, its fine to send your note to a broad group.  If its routine, day-to-day feedback, I’d confine it to my direct boss.
6.  Don’t hide the bad news.  If you get some negative feedback (particularly from a customer), you should send your boss a quick, matter-of-fact note, including the remedial steps you have taken.  “I heard from Ron that he was not satisfied with the response time.  I’ve spoken with him and committed to putting two people on the next project.”
In business, you have to be a good self-advocate.  It’s not like school where someone will eventually see the test results and realize how good you are.  The onus is on you to communicate your accomplishments in ways that are professional, informative, and fair.
Good luck, Katrina.  Thanks again for writing.
Best,
Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 10/17/08

Get good at project-based work. Figure out how to use contractors, how to let employees work 3 months on and 3 off. Our research shows that that’s in more demand than, say, a 4-day week. And both young and old—over 55 and under 35—are demanding it. Make sure you’re able to make the smartest use of people who want to work differently—because there’s no escaping that many are going to work differently.

Filed under: Talent Management Approaches | Published: 10/17/08