My son is 21. He was born in 1989, which squarely places him in the middle of Generation Y, also known as Millenials and Nexters. He and his fellow Millenials represent the fast moving, up and coming portion of our workforce. With my dad’s generation, the Baby Boomers, now going rapidly into retirement, Generation Y is in the office, on the sales floor and gabbing around the proverbial water cooler. Although, I must say, I have been in the workplace for 30 plus years and have never worked where they had a water cooler. I feel slighted. Maybe tomorrow I will place my CamelBak water bottle on my desk and ask my brother-in-law to come into the office so we can properly chat. Anyway…
Generation Y is different. Cool. So is my generation, Generation X. My goal is to have a series of blogs on Gen Y; what makes them “them”, important considerations about “them” and how we can interact best with “them”. The objective is to give a little insight, some awareness into what we do when working with them, either as their manager or if they are our manager. I won’t be giving away all my secrets or best practices. I do have a business to run. I will also use two resources I find to be very credible and relevant; Bruce Tulgan and Jason Dorsey. Please note, this will not be the definitive word on your “Skippy”. There are no formulas that fit every situation. There are no easy answers when it comes to behavior. Regardless of who you read or what you read, every person you manage or lead is unique and the context of situation will dictate your next step. These blogs are intended to stimulate awareness.
The next blog will explore all the generations currently involved in the workplace. It will detail the years they represent and some of the characteristics of each. Then I will go on my rant about generational studies to set the stage for all of the subsequent posts.
My son is 21 and coming back from his second tour in Afghanistan. When he comes out of active service with the Marine Corps, he will enter the job market. Therefore, he is a Millenial and a Marine…that employer had better had their “stuff” squared away!
Cheers