We know that Generation Y – people born between 1979 – 1991 – are our leaders of the future, but too many businesses and organisations are still failing to recruit, engage and retain them.
A clash in attitudes and outlook between older (the Generation Xs and Baby Boomers) and upcoming generations has created a divide in the workplace, making it difficult for organisations to connect with, inspire and motivate younger workers.
A fundamental change is therefore needed to ensure we provide a robust and talented workforce for the future – and this has implications on bosses today, and how they manage and develop people.
Much of the change that needs to take place is in how employers become ‘magnetic’ to workers in their 20s. Understanding what motivates Generation Y will mean you are one step closer to keeping them engaged with your business or organisation.
They are described as the generation that believes they can have it all – and will ask for it.
This generation has grown up in a period of stability with no serious economic uncertainty or war. They have lived in a highly sociable, collaborative environment with the latest technology at their fingertips. Generation Y are independent, innovative and creative, and are used to constant contact.
As a result, people in their 20s like to work as part of a team, to solve problems collaboratively, and to have fun and make new friends. They want more flexibility than their parents in how and when they work, and the lines between social and work life are more blurred.
So when they step into business they’re expecting a collaborative working approach, which often isn’t there. Instead the management style is dictatorial – and this is where we’re seeing a clash in attitudes and minimum employee engagement.
Employers can’t expect people in their 20s to lead and advise others if all they’ve known is team working and shared problem solving.
Managers should therefore be moving from a dictatorial style to a nurturing / coaching-based role, which gives support as well as help in learning and understanding the benefits and tools of leadership and management.
Generation Y will feel more engaged with managers who listen and set clear, open objectives that are time-bounded, but do not dictate how it should be done.
Getting on with the boss and communicating regularly with them – at least once a day – is key to Generation Y, and managers should be building in strategies that allow them to stay in regular contact with team members.
The latest technology and tools to communicate can also be used to give young workers an environment they feel familiar with and can be used in ways that benefit the business. Organisations could look at open forums to share ideas and solve problems, or allow young workers to use social media to talk and engage with customers about their products or services.
‘Magnetic’ companies also reach out to potential young employees by having a good presence on the web that engages with people – for example, forums such as Facebook and Twitter are the fastest growing ways to find jobs.
Retaining young employees involves giving them flexibility, freedom and support. Traditional one-job, life-long careers are not relevant to them. They want to work for companies that allow them to switch jobs, continue to learn new skills, take sabbaticals and build a portfolio career.
Part of any engagement strategy should also include the use of coaches and mentors. Younger employees ask for coaching and mentoring support much earlier than previous generations because they’ve seen successful older managers benefit from it.
Coaching and development for Generation Y has evolved and needs to be more flexible to meet the needs of young people’s personal timetables and requirements, and have regular reviews built in to monitor success.
In my opinion, becoming a ‘magnetic’ employer that engages young workers is about developing an environment of total transparency with people that take personal responsibility through fully understanding themselves. It’s a place where managers and leaders are authentic and who embrace new forms of technology and communication.
HR, Learning and Organisational Development professionals will need to lead the way and will be required to help deliver a new and different working environment that engages the youngest employees.
If businesses and organisations can offer an environment in which young workers thrive, then they will keep the very best talent in the Generation Y pool.
Tim Hawkes is managing director at Unlimited Potential, a coaching and leadership development company that specialises in coach training for managers and implementing a coaching culture. Visit www.unlimitedpotential.co.uk
One Response
New Generation, new thinking
A company is no longer a static set of boxes or lines on an organisational chart, or simply rows and columns of numbers on an excel spreadsheet. The economics of the fading 20th Century seemed so comfortable compared to this unknown jungle and having to organise and manage Generation Y continues to to be a challenge for so many. Generation Y is getting on with the job of building its own paradigm. Empowered by the internet, social mobility and connected networks, its members are creating whole new business models, brand communities and consumption patterns. They aren’t so much deliberately subverting the 20th century model – rather they are just ignoring it. Whilst it would be easy to fall into misconceptions and generalisations made about this emerging 21st Century tribe, what is clear is that it is more critical than ever before that the individual and the organisation where they work are matched in terms of culture and attitude in order to ensure success and arguably this momentum will only accelerate in the next decade. Responses to this “dawning of a new era” will be different for each and every enterprise. The days where off-the-shelf, Six Sigma, catch-all certainties are over. The future might be bright, but it is not going to sit around long enough for anyone to draw out a perfect template or case studies which can be passed around and copied. In any event, the “wicked problems”of the 21st Century will not be solved by 20th Century assumptions that answers lie in mimicking the specific experience of one or two companies. If you’re interested see some of the research on Generation Y conducted by Ashridge Business School at http://www.ashridge.org.uk/Website/Content.nsf/wFAR/Key+Messages+from+Gen+Y+Research?opendocument
Ebenezer Banful – Director, New Brand Tribalism-www. newbrandtribalism dot com