Although a lot has been said about Generation Y in recent years, much of the discussion regarding this young group has stopped at simply describing what they are like and how motivate and engage them. Behind the symptoms, however, what is really driving many of the conflicts and misunderstandings between different generations in the workplace today?

In this revealing presentation, bestselling author and social researcher Michael McQueen will explore some of the reasons each generation (not just Gen Y) see the world so differently. In addition, Michael will outline a series of practical strategies for HR professionals who are looking to get the best out of the various generations within their organizations and work teams.

Bio

Michael McQueen CSP, is an Australian-born speaker, social researcher and business owner. Graduating from university in 2002, he is the founder of a training and consultancy company called The Nexgen Group. Nexgen’s mission is to help generations better understand and connect with each other. Over the past 6 years, Michael and his organization have presented to and worked with over 100,000 people across 4 continents.

Michael has written three bestselling books. His first book, “The ‘New’ Rules of Engagement” focuses on demographic trends and strategies for engaging with Generation Y, while his more recent releases “Memento” and “Wisdom” are designed to help parents and grandparents pass on their stories and life lessons as a legacy to the next generation.

Michael is a sought-after keynote presenter and features regularly on Television and Radio programs. In addition to his work in the government and education sectors, Michael’s corporate clients have included Vodafone, Pepsi and GIO Insurance.

Please please join us for this event on Wednesday 20th April, 2011 at 5:30pm, at Level 7, 68 York Street, Sydney. In conjunction with the hosts of the event (yes you will indeed get to sample some tasty Lion Nathan beverages), Rookie Recruits is our sponsor for the evening- so do me a favour and check them out.

You must register for the event on LinkedIn and while you are there, if you haven’t already- please visit the HR Club Sydney Group page (over 800 members and counting!). I look forward to seeing you there!

In creating HR Club Sydney, I’ve been very fortunate to be able to meet a number of very amazing and passionate individuals. I also regularly get invited to events that are happening in Sydney, and am free to write my thoughts on these topics. After all, I don’t make any money from HR Club Sydney, I’m not reliant on boosting traffic to my site and I don’t get paid to say certain things. It’s great because I feel that gives me the ok to say when I think something or someone has done or is doing something cool.

With that said, the week before last I was invited to the Proteus Leadership Networking Breakfast where HR Club Sydney was fortunate enough to be given a table.

I got the opportunity to sit with some of my favourite HR Club Sydney people and it was fantastic to see so many cards being swapped and potential career opportunities being discussed.

I also wanted to write about the presentation because well I thought it was fantastic, and apologies it’s a wee bit later than I would have liked but I wanted to do it justice.

I attended this seminar at a time where I was thinking very much about leadership and what it means to be one. Within HR we know the difference between leadership and management, but it’s important to remember our friends in the business don’t always see it our way. This presentation hit the nail right on the head and I’m hoping many of us can use some of these ideas to create change in our organisations.

These are some of my key take outs (and you’ll probably be nodding your head or shouting hallelujah with me lol!).

Richard started off by talking about how people normally fall into management roles, rather than being selected for their people management skills. Familiar story particularly in areas of technical skills or ability. What happens then is that people with bad managers either leave or try to wait for them to leave. We all know about how employee engagement impacts upon people and the business- so why is it still happening?

I love the Peter Drucker quote that was used, “The only definition of a leader, is someone who has followers”.

It’s so true. Being Gen Y, I have often got the attitude from Managers that I should do exactly what they say because they are the Manager/Senior Executive/Partner/Director/Been here a really long time etc. And that’s not to say that being young means you can walk around doing what you like or thinking you know everything- but it begs the question: without people actually wholeheartedly following what you are doing, how effective are you as a leader anyway?

Richard also mentioned the work of Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones who are Europe’s leading experts on organisational culture, leadership and change.

They are past winners of the prestigious McKinsey Award for the best article in the Harvard Business Review, entitled, “Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?” The huge interest the article generated led to a five-year journey exploring authentic leadership and their book is the culmination of that research.

Just because you have the title or “authority” it doesn’t mean you will have people onboard. It’s not an entitlement- it’s a privilege to be a manager or a leader but some people these days just don’t get it. Some even believe that that is the way people should be treated because “they were treated that way” or “that’s how it is in X industry”.

4 words.

Doesn’t make it right.

Source

Richard talked about how autocratic leadership may have worked in the past, but that Gen Y just simply won’t put up with it. Will they complain? Probably not. They’ll just vote with their feet.

In looking at a definition of an autocratic leader, the wikipedia machine says that:

Under the autocratic leadership style, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader, as with dictator leaders.
They do not entertain any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates. The autocratic management has been successful as it provides strong motivation to the manager. It permits quick decision-making, as only one person decides for the whole group and keeps each decision to himself until he feels it is needed to be shared with the rest of the group.

In the great words of Dr Phil “How’s that workin for ya?”

So now that we are all nodding our heads in unison, the real challenge is to get this message across to the decision makers of the business. Would love to get some discussion happening in this, and let’s keep it on topic. It’s not Gen Y versus Baby Boomers/Gen X etc.

It’s about leadership and what’s going to be effective.

Also- Richard was a fantastic speaker so check out his presentation here
Breakfast Followrship NSW

Over the past year, I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in the IBM “Smarter Work for a Smarter Government” Future Leaders Forum.

The last session I blogged about included a combination of Government execs and their Gen Y representatives, talking about how it is that we can improve collaboration, productivity and efficiency in the government. In this time we talked a lot about social media and how it could help governments communicate with the public, although it was noted that government agencies would need to enhance communication with its staff as a key starting point.

In order to get this moving there would need to be a significant cultural change occur, which as we know in HR; is difficult almost everywhere and particularly so in the Government.

Upon reflection of this talk, I came prepared this time to not only talk about the tools but in fact the change that would be required to use these tools. After all, the tools might make things easier- but if the leaders in government are unwilling to communicate now I doubt they are going to change their mind if we tell them to use a social media tool like twitter.

After all, “Government 2.0 is not specifically about social networking or technology based approaches to anything. It represents a fundamental shift in the implementation of government- toward an open, collaborative, cooperative arrangement where there is (wherever possible) open consultation, open data, shared knowledge, mutual acknowledgment of expertise, mutual respect for shared values and an understanding of how to agree to disagree. Technology and social tools are an important part of this change but are essentially an enabler in this process.” HT @trib aka Stephen Collings (get the whole thing here).

So imagine you are a young/junior person in Government, with many levels of hierarchy and bureaucracy above you. You have all these wonderful ideas, yet you are just finding it so hard to create an impact.

How can young leaders effect culture change within Government?

There is no easy answer, it’s a tough road. But one of the key takeaways for me out of the IBM conference was when we started talking about how we could break down the barriers using “reverse mentoring”.

According to Charlie Wonderlic in an article on HR.com, Jack Welch (former GE CEO) ordered his top executives to find a new or young employee to form a mentoring relationship with. However it wasn’t as you’d expect.

“Welch knew that the youngest people in his organization had grown up using the Internet — in fact, they didn’t know life without it. GE’s youngest employees were far more tech-savvy than their more experienced managers. He wanted those older employees to benefit from that expertise. The experiment was a success, and the term “reverse mentoring” officially slid into the corporate lexicon. It’s simply the process of passing ideas, expertise and experience up the corporate ladder, instead of the other way around”, says Wonderlic.

What a simple, cheap and effective way to make an organisation smarter.

Photo Source

My better half actually spotted this article for me in the Business Spectator and there were a couple of things that I loved about it.

1) The fact that I have now trained my better half how to spot articles that include terms like ‘talent management’.

2) That flexibility in the workplace is no longer a luxury or for those who have ‘done their time’. I have experienced this. We allow more senior workers to come and go as they please but place pressure on the younger generation if they aren’t there sweating it out from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Unless there is a reason for these time mandates- lose them!

This is particularly important because Dianne Jacobs (The Talent Advisors) says that “Three dominant demographic groups – women and the two ‘Bookend Generations’ (Gen Y and Baby Boomers) – are redefining what is expected from an employer of choice”.

get with the times!

Photo Source: Stock Expert

3) No longer are we thinking that we can be the career woman or man OR be the perfect wife/husband/mum/dad. These generations are full of talented people who are challenging previous notions of what you could or couldn’t have. People aren’t forced to make a choice and many are making both work because a healthy balance of both is what they seek to be happy.

4) Career development/management is now the responsibility of the employee. To be honest, being in my twenties these whole concept seems completely normal. Actually… to charge someone else with my own career seems insane!

5) Performance will be based on results not how much time you spend in the office. I love this concept and ROWE principles. Mainly because I like to stay long in the office when I’m really onto something or just call it a day and take a break if I know I’m not being productive.

All positives- bring it on now I say!

Generational differences- is it something we should be focusing on now?

There is a lot of talk about the different generations these days and how we in HR manage the situation. Previously, when employees held the power in the market we witnessed organisations scrambling to train their boomer and even Gen X Managers on how to manage Gen Y. Now since the GFC people are wondering whether all those boomers will be heading on out the door as soon given that their retirement funds have suffered, and others are talking about how Gen X is going to step up to the plate as the new leaders.

Recently I was asked my opinion on this and at first I found it difficult to comment given that I am currently working in a public sector organisation that has staff with long tenure and low turnover. Moreover, what they do is their life- it’s not something they just turn up to everyday because it pays the bills.

When asked about the gaps between the generations I initially thought (as a Gen Y)- wait a minute- I’m nothing like my parents! Don’t lump me into the same pile! I’m cool; I like to go clubbing and I like the internet and wear bright colours just because I can. My parents are anything but that.

Grampa Simpson rants again..

Quick run down on the generations:

Boomers (Born 1942-1960)-

• Competitive, hard workers (strong work ethic); also workaholics
• Career-focused, driven
• Work ethic is based around time not necessarily results
• Status is important; respect hierarchy
• Wary of authority
• Team orientation
• Value personal growth
• Prefer face to face and more formal communication styles
• Loyal to a job
• Strong core values are important
• Value creativity
• Like to take risks

Gen X (Born 1960-1980)-

• Self-reliant and independent
• Egalitarian
• Entrepreneurial
• Cynical and outspoken
• Work hard, play hard
• Think globally
• Creative, fun, and informal.
• Value flexibility- work life balance and diversity is important to them.
• Value team work and network of friends
• Results orientated
• Don’t see things in black and white

Gen Y (Born 1980-2005)

• Autonomous
• Constantly connected; communicating and networking with other via technology.
• Very techno-literate
• Bored easily- require stimulus
• Optimistic; have a positive outlook
• Close with their families.
• Socially conscious
• Risk-averse.
• Expect to change jobs frequently
• Unimpressed by authority- respect still needs to be earned
• Team players who are goal-orientated
• Respond to humour but look for the truth
• Want to make a difference

Source: McCrindle, M. ‘The ABC of XYZ: Generational Diversity at Work’, McCrindle Research Pty Ltd.

So many comments I hear are around Gen X & Y versus the Boomers. Honestly though, it’s not what I am experiencing here. It feels more like Gen X and Boomers versus the new kids on the block, Gen Y.

What I mean by this is (and again talking from my current role in public sector), the boomers and Gen X here have worked alongside each other for such a long time now (remember long tenure and low turnover). They’ve worked out a way to get along despite some of their difference in opinion.

Suddenly the Gen Yers appear on the scene and want to do things differently and use technology to do everything. They have their iPods going and appear relaxed and casual in the workplace. I agree there are indeed similarities between Gen X and Y, but then again there are similarities between the boomers and Gen X. Also, there are Gen Xers who are more ‘boomer’ in nature due to their personal preferences and others who are more like Gen Y.

There is no doubt that a lack of understanding about the differences can lead to unproductive, inefficient workplaces which may be hostile and conflict-ridden.

However, should we in HR be focussing on educating people on the generational differences or behaviours we want to see from everyone in the workplace?

Professionals in the advertising and marketing world also think about consumer behaviour and at times look at generational difference (see McCrindle Research). So in thinking about this, I posed the question to twitter and one of the response I thought was spot on.

What are psychographics?

From Wikipedia:

In the field of buzzwords, marketing, demographics, opinion research, and social research in general, psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (for Interests, Activities, and Opinions). They can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), behavioral variables (such as usage rate or loyalty), and firmographic variables (such as industry, seniority and functional area).
Psychographics are often confused with demographics. This confusion can create fundamentally flawed definitions. For example, historical generations are defined by psychographic variables like attitudes, personality formation, and cultural touchstones. The traditionally defined “Baby Boom Generation” has been the subject of much criticism because it uses demographic variables where it should be using psychographic variables. While all other generations are defined by psychographic variables, the old Boomer definition is based on a demographic variable—the fertility rates of its parents.

A great perspective on things from another discipline.

I think instead on focusing on demographics in the workplace HR would be better to focus on something like psychographics; that is things like values and attitudes in the workplace. This is where work on culture, values and employee engagement comes in.

What do you think?

Last week when I was chairing the Australian Employment and Workplace Relations Summit, the very last panel featured Pete Williams from Deloitte Digital and so the conversation skewed towards social media and what companies allow employees to access.

I mentioned that in my workplace, I have access to everything. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube- the lot- and I know it may sound silly, but I honestly don’t think I could work somewhere that didn’t allow me access to these sites. One of my friends can’t even look at this blog. Why am I so passionate about it? Because it helps me do my job.

Twitter- is awesome. It has allowed me to meet so many fantastic people (in HR and other industries) located in Sydney, greater Australia and across the world. Some of these people I’ve met in person, others just online- and others have become really good friends.

If I have a question about something, it’s a great pool of resources to draw upon. Invaluable to my work and mental sanity as the rest of my team is located in Melbourne. I also get access to so many fantastic articles and blog entries this way.

Facebook- I don’t use facebook as much for work, but in saying that I don’t spend very long on there each day. I have it as an app on my iPhone so I do the check-ins on facebook when I’m bored.

LinkedIn- another fantastic way to meet people that share the same interests as you, and share articles, information and personal experiences.

Youtube- an excellent resource for training, learning and creating entertaining presentations. We all know its important mix up the media you use (in order to escape death by PowerPoint), and it gets people engaged and sometimes excited about what they are seeing. Video has the power to invoke an emotional response- which is great for HR.

And as Laurel Papworth (Australia’s foremost social media expert) said recently in HR Monthly, “Anyone who would waste a huge amount of time on Facebook at work would only switch to email, internet surfing or playing solitaire online. Timewasters waste time. Don’t blame the tool!”

So what is your stance on this, or what does your organisation allow you to access at work? I know I’m Gen Y, and that is my perspective because it how I work- but I’m keen to hear a range of other perspectives.