Blog Post: Generalizing a Generation

Through the process of understanding how best to help students through our experiences on the road I have become entrenched in a world of great concern and speculation.  Employers all over the country are concerned with how to deal with issues of “workforce readiness”.  The incredible number of articles and theories published concerning how best to exploit the varying talents of our millennial generation are astounding.

Conventional wisdom is that there are fundamental differences between the millennial values and those of their predecessors (and superiors) from generation x and the baby boomers.  There is a constant debate over how to diagnose the needs of an entire populous of people and deal with them through some type of broad sweeping initiative or gesture…

First of all, this type of generalized, populous driven initiative goes against the fundamental realization that understanding an individual’s specific needs can improve work performance, reduce attrition and help the bottom line.  Second of all, I disagree that, fundamentally, there is a big difference in the interaction that employees of any generation desire with their employers.  The workplace has become an incredibly diverse environment characterized by innovation and change.  Everything from the way employees are compensated, to the nature of their work and the technology they use has changed drastically in just the last 5 years.  

No one generation, let alone one person deals with these changes in identical fashion.  If employers want to become more adept at dealing with an environment characterized by growth and change, they need to work on their ability to remain flexible and focus on unique solutions.  I believe in the past there has been a focus on process to achieve a parody in results.  The problem is that this rigid structure has alienated a diverse working populous and made companies slow to react to industry change.

Managers now need to focus on the end, while adopting flexibility concerning the means.  By working in a results driven environment employers can allow their employees more flexibility in the way their job is performed.  This can foster a sense of ownership in ones job and assign personal responsibility to the outcome.  This will, ideally, promote a sense of personal responsibility for ones perpetual education and professional development, ultimately yielding greater innovation and involvement from employees at all levels.

In summary let’s work smart, not hard.  Rigid process and structural mandate doesn’t necessarily equate to better results.  Let us bridge the generational barrier with the one thing we all have in common, self interest.