Managing Generational...

Managing Generational Differences

Lewis Bender, PHD P.O. Box 330

LeRoy, MI 49655 231-797-5536

lewbender@aol.com www.lewbender.com

HIGHLIGHTS:

Behavior and attitude differences

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Workplace traits most likely attributed to:

Veterans

¡  Plan to stay with the organization over the long term.

¡  Respectful of organizational hierarchy.

¡  Like structure. ¡  Accepting of authority

figures in the workplace. ¡  Give maximum effort.

Source: Generational Difference Survey Report, SHRM Research, 2005

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Baby Boomers

¡  Give maximum effort. ¡  Accepting of authority

figures in the workplace. ¡  Results driven. ¡  Plan to stay with the

organization over the long term.

¡  Retain what they learn.

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GenXers

¡  Technologically savvy

¡  Like informality ¡  Learn quickly ¡  Seek work/life

balance ¡  Embrace diversity

Source: Generational Difference Survey Report, SHRM

Research, 2005

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Nexters

¡  Like informality ¡  Embrace diversity ¡  Learn quickly ¡  Need Supervision.

Source: Generational Difference Survey Report,

SHRM Research, 2005

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Workplace traits least likely attributed to:

Veterans

¡  Embrace diversity

¡  Like informality

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Baby Boomers

¡  Like informality

¡  Respectful of organizational

hierarchy

¡  Need supervision

SHRM Research, 2005

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GenXers

¡  Respectful of organizational hierarchy

¡  Like structure ¡  Plan to stay with the

organization for a long time.

Source: Generational Difference Survey Report, SHRM Research,

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Nexters

¡  Respectful of organizational hierarchy.

¡  Like structure. ¡  Plan to stay with

the organization over the long term.

SHRM Research, 2005

Would you like to be the boss?

Don’t know

Yes 26%

No 71%

Source: Office Team survey of 972 respondents age 18 and older. Margin of error +/- 5%

Complaints older managers have about younger workers.

¡  They work harder at avoiding work than at doing the job.

¡  They always ask why about every job assigned. ¡  They don’t want to pay their dues. ¡  They are into things – materialistic. ¡  They don’t finish the job – no extra effort. ¡  They miss work and don’t call to say why. ¡  They are only committed to themselves, not

the job, or the organization. ¡  The don’t respect authority. ¡  They want everything now.

As an Older Manager, I’m Most Concerned About my Younger Workers’:

Inappropriate Clothing

Poor Work Ethic

Excessively Informal Language. Behavior

Need for Supervision

Inappropriate Use of/Excess Reliance on Technology

Older managers drive younger workers crazy because:

¡  They don’t give regular feedback for performance. ¡  They lack sincerity when they recognize achievement. ¡  They do not connect pay to performance. ¡  They ignore bad behavior from team members. ¡  They demand employees to do jobs they are not qualified

for without providing adequate training. ¡  They micro-manage in a negative way. ¡  They have an authoritarian approach: “Do it my way or

hit the highway!” ¡  They don’t listen to opinions and ideas of their

employees.

As a Younger Worker, I’m Most Concerned About my Older Managers:

Resistance to Change

Low Recognition of Workers' Efforts

Micromanaging

Rigid Expectations of Following Authority

Aversion to Technology

Highlights and ideas about:

Motivation: Do’s and Don’ts

Actualization Needs

Esteem Needs

Belongingness Needs

Security Needs

Physiological Needs

Organizational Examples

Challenging

Job Title

Friends in Work Group

Pension Plan

Base Salary

General Examples

Achievement

Status

Friendship

Stability

Shelter

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

1986 Houghton Mifflin Company. Source: Adapted from Abraham H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation, “Psychological Review, Vol. 50, 1943, pp 374-396. Copyright 1943 by the American Psychological Association. Used with permission.

Qualities of “Generation Y” workers

¡  High expectations of self: They aim to work faster and better than other workers.

¡  High expectations of employers: They want fair and direct managers who are highly engaged in their professional development.

¡  Ongoing learning: They seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as vast resources from who to gain knowledge.

¡  Immediate responsibility: They want to make an important impact on Day 1.

¡  Goal-oriented: They want small goals with tight deadlines so they can build up ownership of tasks.

Source: Bruce Tuigan of Rainmaker Thinking

Millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers

¡  Higher pay – 75% ¡  Flexible work schedules – 61% ¡  A promotion within a year – 56% ¡  More vacation/personal time – 50%

Source: Survey of hiring managers and human resource executives by CareerBuilders.com.

Best way to reward Millennials

¡  High-quality colleagues ¡  Flexible work

arrangements ¡  Prospects for

advancement ¡  Recognition from one’s

company or boss ¡  A steady rate of

advancement and promotion

¡  Access to new experiences and challenges.

Source: “How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda,” Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug 2009

What younger workers want from older bosses:

¡  Appreciate us

¡  Be flexible

¡  Create a team

¡  Develop us

¡  Lighten up

¡  Walk your talk

Highlights and ideas about:

Leadership

Teach younger workers to micromanage themselves

¡  Stick to the principle that all work should be divided into clearly delineated tangible results.

¡  With new employees, assign 100 % ownership for solid results that are smaller in scope.

¡  Attach a firm deadline to every assignment.

Teach younger workers to micromanage themselves

¡  Spell out any parameters, guidelines, or specifications at the time of the assignment.

¡  Require an action plan for large projects.

¡  Encourage the monitoring of change.

¡  Be prepared to adjust goals and fine-tune plans.

How to manage a younger worker:

¡  Accept them ¡  Care about them ¡  Support them ¡  Don’t baby them ¡  Hands off but be there ¡  Discuss your methods ¡  Train and orient ¡  Set specific standards ¡  Make work fun

Training and retraining younger workers

¡ Think Visually��¡ Use lots of white space

¡ Use large and different fonts

¡ Beaucoup pictures

Training and retraining younger workers, continued

¡  Provide immediacy ¡  Use bullets – no massive paragraphs ¡  Train on the job – not in classrooms ¡  Replace phrases with symbols ¡  Training materials should include

space for taking notes.

¡  Emphasize fun (They need to be entertained at times.)

¡  Performance based exercises and projects (not tests)

¡  Employee drawings often depicts information

¡  Train/play/exercise to retrain

¡  Leverage Benefits Use as a form of recognition. (Ten years at Hard Rock Café gets a Rolex watch!)

¡  Emphasize benefits that have a unique features.

Best ways to lead younger workers

¡  Show them authoritative expertise.

¡  Invest in their outcomes.

¡  Celebrate their victories.

¡  Don’t micromanage, let them get

the job done.

Younger want:

¡  Challenging work that matters and that is goal driven

¡  Personal relationships they want to be connected.

¡  Technology encourage technological solutions

¡  Show me the money! ¡  Recognition – know what they are

doing and acknowledge it.

Six recommendations for supervisors

Managing Generational Differences

1. Divide work into trainable/supportable and accountable segments.

¡  Don’t assume problem solving abilities or inclinations are the same as yours.

¡  Use visual and action engaging examples and demonstrations.

2. Create and reinforce the team approaches.

¡  Discuss roles and expectations 1. What should the team expect of the team

leader? 2. What should the team leader expect

of each team member? 3. What should all team members expect of

each other? 4. What are the ground rules that all

members of the team must obey? 5. What should the team do differently to be

more effective? ¡  Periodically revisit these

3. Use “Ask – Discuss” to expand participation and ownership in the outcomes.

¡  Teams and Individuals ¡  Scenario based training ¡  Ask-Discuss

Team Leader l  Ask and Discuss l  Decide l  Give Reasons Team Member l  Give 100% Follow Through

4. Don’t lower the bar, accommodate or enable lower performance.

¡  Be clear about the standard. ¡  Be prepared to mentor, coach and guide. ¡  Be prepared to offer praise and sanctions.

5. Re-examine your recognition and reward approaches.

¡  Are they based on “your” generational assumptions? Ø  Frequency of recognition may increase

with younger people. Ø  Time flexibility may be more desired by

younger workers.

6. Lighten up!

¡  Don’t make it a zero sum game

¡  Play with it!

Structural Suggestions for Managing Generational Differences

Suggestion One: Get the management team on the same page.

¡  Identify the differences and issues and determine why they exist

¡  Examine organizational assumptions. ¡  Examine supervisory assumptions. ¡  Agree on standards and don’t waiver. ¡  Create a cohesive strategy.

Suggestion Two: Create a stronger connection between the first line supervisor and the employee.

¡  Closely examine duties and responsibilities of 1st line.

¡  Reduce paper work. (To the degree feasible.)

¡  Increase guidance, instructional and feedback contact.

Suggestion Three: Create meaningful opportunities for inter-generational contact.

¡ Work Assignments

¡ Project involvements

¡ Ride together

Suggestion Four: Re-examine feedback and performance appraisal processes.

¡  Make appraisals job relevant.

¡  Seek input from staff in creating the appraisal instrument

¡  Increase feedback and mentoring frequency

¡  Link performance appraisal to employee development and training

Suggestion Five: Training and personal development

¡  Have the first line supervisor be in charge of employee training and development.

¡  Create training and development plans to fit organizational needs.

¡  Create training strategy that is focused and deliberate.

¡  Follow through.

Suggestion Six: Examine the rewards system

¡  Boomer oriented?

¡  Use of time as a carrot/stick.

¡  Create shorter reward milestones.

Suggestion Seven: Re-examine and clarify promotion and special assignments

¡  Qualifications, qualities and timeframes should be very clear and communicated.

¡  Consider shorter time assignments for some special assignments.

¡  Involve the management team in all changes with in put from staff.

Highlights and thoughts about:

What the experts say about families.

Don’t over schedule

¡  Limit activities. l  Think before you sign up

for something new. ¡  Make family a priority.

l  Spend more time alone as a family

¡  Be unproductive. l  Kids shouldn’t be judged

on everything they do.

More suggestions for families

¡  Be skeptical of the latest parenting advice.

¡  Childhood is a preparation, not a performance.

¡  “Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.” Dr. Benj. Spock.

Boomerang Kids “They’re Baaaack!

Suggestions: ¡  Set a move-out deadline

l  Before the move-in date ¡  Share responsibilities

l  Don’t be perma-parents l  Identify/share household chores

Boomerang Kids “They’re Baaaack!

¡  Stay busy l  Boomerangers get active in local activities l  Parents carry on with normal day-to-day life

¡  Set Goals l  Discuss and set goals with each other l  Save for house, business, etc.

¡  Pay rent l  Pay something – no free ride l  Parents (if guilty) can set aside

Linda Waacyk, “They’re Baaack!” in Michigan Country Lines, May 2008 www.countrylines.com

Understanding Gender Differences in the Workplace

Men and Women: Maybe we are different

She’ll have 11% more neurons in her brain centers for language and hearing than a man.

She’ll use on average 20,000 words a day.

He’ll use 7,000.

She’ll think about sex once a day.

He’ll think about sex every 58 seconds

Her space devoted to the sex drive will be 2 ½ times smaller than his.

¡ Her brain will be 9% smaller than his but will have the same number of brain cells, just more tightly packed.

¡ Her principle hub for emotion and memory formation, the hippocampus, will be larger. ¡  His processor at the core of the primitive area of the brain that registers fear and triggers aggression, the amygdale, will be larger. Source: The Female Brain

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Gossip as a Behavior Changer

“Gossip shepherds the herd” Ralph Rosnow, Ph.D.

Generally, it dictates:

The Boundaries

The Rules

Very Effective in Managing Morality in Small Groups

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Women Do It! (So Do Men!)

¡  Women probably do it better and they do it differently.

¡  Content tends to be different from men l  Men are more interested in who is up and who is

down (sports). l  Men predilection for competitive game playing. l  Women tend to gossip more about:

¡ Social inclusion (who is in and who is out)

¡ Moral alignment (who is good and who is bad)

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Women Do It! (So Do Men!)

¡  Sexual Selection (Darwin) l  Men compete to be chosen – control l  Women control through intimacy,

emotions and social relations.

Recommended Reading ¡  Rick and Kathy Hicks, (1999) Boomers, Xers and Other Strangers ¡  Marc Muchnick, (1996) Naked Management: Bare Essentials for Motivating

the X-Generation at Work St. Lucie Press ¡  Ron Zemke, Clair Raines and Bob Filipczak (2000) Generations at Work:

Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers and Nexters in Your Workplace Amacom

¡  Bruce Tulgan, (1995) Managing Generation X: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent Nolo Press

¡  The Institute for Play www.instituteforplay.com ¡  Why Gender Matters (Leonard Sax, MD, Phd.) www.whygendermatters.com ¡  Scott Beale and Abeer Abdalla (2003) Millenial Manifesto Personal Press ¡  Neil Howe (2000) Millennials Rising:The Next Great Generation Vintage Press ¡  Hyperparenting, Dr. Alivn Rosenfield www.hyperparenting.com ¡  National Family Night www.nationalfamilynight.org ¡  Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. & Bruce Tulgan(2002) Managing the Generation Mix ¡  Lynne C. Lancaseter and David Stillman (2002) When Generations Collide ¡  Jean M. Twenge, (2006)Ph.D. Generation Me ¡  Jason Ryan Dorsey (2007)My Reality Check Bounced ¡  Verhaagen, Dave (2008) Parenting the Millenial Generation ¡  Furman, Elina (2006) Boomerang Generations: How to Survive Living with

Your Parents

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