Make Their Day Blog

Getting back from ASTD ICE has left me in an information overload!

The first among several things I would like to share is a blog all about employee engagement.

Cindy Ventrice is the author of the book Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works. She also has an interest in Generational Differences. Please visit Cindy's blog and take a survey that will help quantify the differences in what each generation wants from employee recognition.

Click HERE for the link to her survey.

Coming soon - instructional design and generational differences.

To those just joining

I want to take a second and say WOW - what a week huh?

Thank you to everyone that I met at ASTD ICE, many of whom gave me awesome ideas to blog about. I would also like to remind everyone that I am slowly moving posts over from another blogging platform that recently closed down.

Keep reading and sharing your questions, comments, or suggested post topics. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks!

Christopher
cdraven@gmail.com

Say What? Dealing with a blunt and expressive Y’er.

As a Y’er, I can tell you that I have found myself letting slip a few comments during business meetings that turned the mood from cordial to ever-so-awkward. Experts of childhood development tell us that since Nintendo and other forms of instant entertainment were developed, they steal a child away from using imagination. This drop in imaginative play, games like Simon Says and Mother May I, will cause a developmental lapse in a child’s executive control functions.

"As a result," Professor Deborah Leong says, "kids aren't developing the self-regulation skills that they used to."

To a Y’er self expression is favored over self control. Making a point is most important.

In a time where advanced technology turns a 14 year old girl’s personal diary into a website with animated graphics and fans from Japan, we lost that sense of poise and mystery.

Y’ers grew up in a society where mo-hawks, piercings, and freedom of speech became a common place reality. Mothers started to look like Desperate Housewives with their Coach purses, Gucci shoes, and designer colognes. Fewer are those June Cleavers of the world vacuuming an already spotless living room carpet.

The Desperate Housewives and their male counterparts raised their children to have a voice and an opinion; pandering to self-esteem.

So how does a business professional or a trainer deal with the bluntly expressive nature of a Y’er? First, determine if the behavior is out of bounds.

At the 2007 ASTD International Conference and Expo, I was in a session where Generation Y was the topic. One Gen Y’er took the floor during the Q&A session and stated that she hated when “older professors come in and don’t believe I am a professor just because I don’t have wrinkles.” The statement set off a groan from the older generations (boomers, x’ers, second wavers) in the crowd. She had simultaneously insulted all of the older professionals in the room and complimented herself; age can be a touchy subject for those with more of it.

While this comment wasn’t well received, it warranted no corrective action. If the comments become inappropriate or intolerable, try using the following model to rein in your Y’er.

Just add S.A.L.T.

State the comment or behavior that was inappropriate.

This will align your conversation so that both parties understand what is being discussed.

Allow the Y’er a chance to respond.

The interaction will give you a chance to see what the Y’er is going through or thinking. This will also help to clear up any misconceptions about the comment or behavior.

Lead the Y’er to understand the impact.

Explain what caused the social or emotional tension and the impact of the behavior on the team.

Tell the Y’er your expectation for the future.

Give clear expectations to the Y’er so he or she will know how to improve. “Just fix it” won’t be good enough for Generation Y. It is apparent in the name or our generation. WHY? Give the why along with the expectation and you will see a vast improvement.

After all, no one likes to be punished and a hostile or heavy-handed approach will seem like punishment.

Interesting Y'er Statistics

In their recent book, Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa (2007) conducted a survey of 7,705 college students in the US and found that:

97% own a computer
94% own a cell phone
76% use Instant Messaging.
15% of IM users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week
34% use websites as their primary source of news
28% author a blog and 44% read blogs
49% download music using peer-to-peer file sharing
75% of college students have a Facebook account
60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an iPod.

Y'ers are as comfortable with technology as your mother was with canning jars; a nearly lost art.

Needy Y'er?

It is true that we Y’ers are used to our helicopter parents flying in to save the day. Some ‘self-reliant’ observers may look at Y’ers as needy; incapable of fending for themselves.

An informal poll of several direct supervisors of a Gen Y’er produced the following statements:

“He would send me text messages well into the evening, even after we had both gone home from work. Even weekends!!”

“He would constantly come to me and ask for me to review his work before he would turn it in to me. It made no sense for me to review the work before I was asked to ‘review’ the work!”

“They think that since mom and dad would make time to praise every little accomplishment that I should take time out to do the same!”

The last quote seems to drill down to the core of the problem. Gen Y’ers grew up in a “Child Centered” parenting trend. The days of “Get me a switch!” have given way to time-out and discussions about inappropriate behavior. This focus on the child has fostered a healthy dose of self-esteem.

To compound the problem, media and marketing firms came into power with the digital age. Painted billboards along the road were replaced with house-sized LED televisions broadcasting a picture of perfection that anyone could achieve. I recall, as an elementary student, being told that I could do or be anything I wanted. College recruiters tapped into this resonating voice and offered the world to newly graduated high school students.

Here are a few tips to use when speaking with a Gen Y’er who seems needy.

Give them what they want!
Spend the time to offer constructive feedback. They thrive on this!

Show them how.
If a project comes and is not what you were looking for, don’t just send them off with a scolding. Communicate to the Y’er about what is wrong with the product and give suggestions on how to improve the end result.

Do not treat them like your child.
It is easy to fall into this trap, especially with the behavior we sometimes exhibit. Instead, take a few breaths and remember that they are a member of your professional team.

Set boundaries.
If a Y’er is texting you over the weekend or calling you at home, when you see them at the office the next day, tell them that you are not normally available after a certain time. Keep in mind that Y’ers become used to instant gratification and communication.

It's My Generation

Y’ers - Generation Why - Millennials - Newbies

Many names are used to identify this new age of working professionals. Y’ers are a phenomenon that has spawned countless books, articles, essays, blogs, and podcasts regarding the best way to understand the new kids on the block. Generation Y seems to be a complex and undefeatable beast; warring with the corporate world.

*fanfare*

Well, worry no longer my friends. I come bearing gifts and words of wisdom.

As a member of Generation Y, I offer the following tidbits to describe who and why we are. I offer advice from the front lines and not prose concocted by consultants hoping to jump on the next bandwagon of money-making ventures *cough*six sigma*cough*.

Gen Y’ers are characterized with the following stereotype: Narcissistic young men and women who are needy, lazy, and selfish while demanding constant feedback, a relaxed dress code, and an entire corporate restructuring for their convenience.

My, we are a handful.

Generation Y, as we all have heard, is defined as those born after 1980 (or 1981, or 1977, or 1978 depending on the author). As heirs to a world most recently run by Traditionalists and Baby Boomers, Y’ers have shaken up the land of Business!

Born into an age of technology and fast answers, Y’ers are graduating from college at a higher percentage than their predecessors and entering a workforce that is comfortable with a mentality of “because I told you so” and not the Millennial thought process of “Why should I care?”

There are many theories on why Y’ers are the way we are. Specialists, PhDs, Gurus, and others have written countless books and thesis papers that determine we are an overly protected generation that relies heavily on our tools. Those in-depth studies don’t help the front line manager or trainer however.

Over the next few weeks I will submit blog posts that will explain the Millennial’s point of view and help you understand what best approach you might take to improve your interaction with that Y’er in your ranks.

Please feel free to comment, email me, or submit post ideas. I am really rather interactive; being a Generation Y’er and all.