So, put yourself in my shoes as I was asked this question last week:
"The culture at my company doesn't really work for Gen Y kids. When we give feedback, most
times it's direct and to the point. We tell you what's wrong or what needs to change, and then people go and change. Now we have younger employees who want more when you give them feedback, and they ask, 'How do I improve or change? What do I need to do differently if I'm not doing it right?' And we don't know how to respond. We've never had to dig that deep. We've always just been critical and then moved on. Why is Gen Y so demanding?"
Sigh. And, to boot, it was an HR pro who asked me the question. To be fair, at least he asked, right? And it was in a safe setting where we were all learning – he asked in a roomful of other HR pros as I was presenting at an onboarding seminar for IQPC where I was specifically presenting on strategies for onboarding Gen Y.
Back to the question though – how would you have answered that? Before he could even finish, I wanted to scream, "Dude! You've got a culture problem on your hands! The issue isn't with Gen Y!" Yet, I smiled, and nodded as he finished up his question. But before I could even open my mouth, a fellow Gen Y HR pro attending the seminar spoke up and asked how else is he, as a Gen Y person, supposed to become better at his job if he's not provided specific guidance? He said that he and all the Gen Y peeps he knows are really open to change and want to improve and become better at their craft – because after all, we're goal-oriented suckers. And we're not foolish enough to think we can just do it on our own or find the answer on Wikipedia.
A boomer HR pro at another table jumped in immediately thereafter. She asked the man who raised the question whether he had kids. He said yes. And she asked him to think about it from a parenting perspective… if you told your kid, who just started playing basketball a year ago, that he needed to work on his layup – would you just leave it at that? Or would you help him practice? Would you give him hints and tips and advice on how he could get better?
Ladies and gentleman… two lessons from this little anecdote of mine:
1. The issues a lot of folks peg onto Gen Y - they aren't necessarily just unique or specific Gen Y issues. You may think we're needy, demanding, or that we have high expectations… but some of this boils down to creating a culture around performance, and good, solid management skills. Really.
2. The wisdom of the crowds, it's a beautiful thing and our collective knowledge is amazing. Sometimes Often when presenting, I find that turning it over to the audience is as effective, if not more effective, than me just "lecturing." Say what you need to, teach the lessons you feel are important, but know when you need to move from behind the podium and into the crowd to become a facilitator.
The deck I presented from is below for your enjoyment. Holler with questions if you've got 'em.
PS: One of the joys and benefits of blogging is brand building – and that brand, it would be you. Or me. Thanks to my blogging here at Fistful of Talent, the kind folks at IQPC found me and asked me to present at a seminar focused on onboarding. What a great professional development exercise for me, but also an opportunity to share with my fellow HR cronies about my views on the world. The power of social media and the blogosphere is well and alive, folks.
Jessica:
Nicely done. Both the blog post and your presentation. Talent, talent, talent…
I really enjoy your posts, especially this one. As basically the only Gen Y member of my HR department, I’m often the “spokesperson for the generation”. So it’s nice to hear others going through the same type of thing.
Keep up the good work, I’ll keep coming back!
-Dan-
Jessica – I totally agree that Gen Y is too often taking the rap for things that just aren’t their (ok our!) fault. The fact is that organizations need to focus more on ensuring that there’s value put on timely feedback and development and that managers have the tools and skills to make this happen. Yes, maybe Gen Y and millennials want more feedback, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most Boomers and Xers would also be happier and more engaged with more coaching and mentoring.
Who’s your daddy?
Kidding… I think the idea of “parenting” applies whether young or old – it’s not a Gen Y thing.
It’s the fact that managers and parents have similar jobs… get the youngster out from under your wings, safely and better than you are.
Don’t we all want that for our kids?
Don’t we all want that for our employees.
I teach talent management classes to HR professionals and always start my class with the question – what is your greatest talent management challenge? Invariably someone will shout out…those pesky Gen Yers! At some point in the agenda, there is time to address these challenges and when it comes to the Gen Y issue, I go into my little spiel about the pros and cons of this group and how in fact Gen Ys are making the workplace a better place for everyone. Hat’s off to you for putting together such a succinct, useful and entertaining presentation. I particularly liked slide 7 that visually shows how the pluses far outweigh the minues of this generation. I hope you don’t mind my using that slide the next time someone in my class starts to whine about Gen Ys. : )
@mike – thanks! not bad for a gen y, eh?
@dan – cool. ha… keep on demystifying our gen.
@sean – ha… who raised us anyways? we didn’t get “that way” on our own… that is, if you wanna keep generalizing about us.
@paul – managers and HR… much like parenting. of course i say this without having any kids. or ask mike haberman sometime… he used to study monkies before entering into HR. managing and HR might be more like zoo keeping…?
@marty – feel free to use the slides. happy to share.
thanks for swinging by all!
J-Leezy, I’ll be talking about this more when in a blog post on Tuesday, but as you noted, most of the “Gen-Y” likes stuff are really things that everyone likes.
Engaging, meaningful work? Not just for Gen-Y. A challenging (but not overwhelming) workload? Not just for Gen-Y.
Why not call it “strategies for onboarding.” period.
@chris – thanks for swinging by… um, yeah. that was the whole point of the preso and where i steered folks. stuff that gen y likes/needs are good, sound basics for everyone. it’s not about just catering to gen y. it’s good for all… and i think people got that.
@Jessica – gotcha. Love the anecdote at the beginning of the article by the way. Including personal stories into your writing is definitely one of your strong suites!
Chris
One of the most brilliant things that I have read on blogs recently and I think that you touch on in this post is the idea that Gen Y is not just an age group, but rather a new mindset. They represent a new way of thinking, a lifestyle, and everybody can benefit from their ideas. Millennials represent what older generations have long wanted: control over their schedules and a work environment where both junior and senior professionals work collaboratively.
There is an interesting book that you might want to check out called Talent by Edward Lawler. It discusses how corporations are making a transition towards what he terms a human centric organization that focuses more on the performance of individuals and on developing long term talent. With regards to Gen Yers I think that managers must realize that when their young professionals ask for feedback they are not trying to be annoying. Instead they are looking to constantly improve, and managers should actually worry when they stop asking questions.
By the way I really like your presentation…Too often people fill their presentations with a ton of text; you had a good use of images as well.
thanks, brent. i’ll check out the book. it sounds interesting!
It is a great injustice that such busy, successful and intelligent people should spend so much money and precious time attending events organized for profit by a group of incompetent and ignoble people. IQPC is an absolutely despicable organization that operates on tenets of dishonesty, nepotism and ethics beneath the dignity of worthy business leaders, yet they masquerade behind contrived banners of “better business.”
Without enumerating upon the details, I implore you to digest some insider opinions from many who have worked at the company long enough to understand the ways in which its directors’ conduct is simply inexcusable. The many testimonies at the link below corroborate these assertions.
http:// http://www.jobvent.com/companyBrowse.php?CompanyID=4910
Do not support this company in the future. Your business travel budgets will be much better spent elsewhere.
Jessica, I agree with the last message — stay away from IQPC. Show some solidarity with their mistreated workers.
IQPC is the 6th worst company to work for according to JobVent’s rankings. Stay away from their events.
IQPC, IDGA and HRIQ are every bit as bad as the overwhelming number of negative posters on JobVent.com say they are. IQPC is bad in exactly the way JobVent posters say it is…Equally bad for customers and employees.