 Dennis Lyon |
Do you feel the best decisions are made by getting everyone together, gathering everyone’s input and then collectively making a decision? Or, as an employee, do you roll your eyes when you hear your supervisor is setting up another one of his team meetings to get everybody’s input before he can make a decision? Welcome to “Baby Boomer meets Generation X.” Sociologists have lumped today’s work force into four generations or “cohort groups.” The characteristics of each cohort group are largely determined by when they went through their formative years. According to the book, “Crossing the Generational Divide,” author Robert Wendover says the four cohort generations are:
There is a good chance you have all four generations working on your course right now. There is also about a 100 percent chance you are a member of one of these cohort groups. So how do these generational cohorts differ from each other? According to experts, Matures and Baby Boomers live to work. Their self-identity comes in large measure from their employment. They expect loyalty from their employer and expect to be long-term employees. The Matures expect to earn an honest day’s pay for putting in an honest day’s work. They expect strong leadership from their managers and prefer the status quo to change. Boomers, once they got through the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll phase (on that part of my past I plead the 5th), are very hardworking, dedicated company men and women who also created the first generation of latchkey children. Boomers are big into team building, quality circles and participatory management. Generation X and Millennials work to live rather than live to work. They view employment as a contract rather than a long-term mutual commitment. Generation Xers came home from school to empty houses. Their fathers and mothers were most probably either dual-career parents or divorced. Generation X is independent and entrepreneurial. They prefer efficiency to group participation and resent it when organizational indecision negatively impacts their work. In contrast to their parents, Generation X places a high value on work/life balance, with work often coming in second place. They will sacrifice pay for additional time off and are the first generation to come of age in a computer-centric world. Millennials represent an even larger cohort than Boomers. They are the future work force. They grew up in a high-tech world where the decision-making process involved clicking through various “windows.” Gratification was instantaneous and multitasking was the norm. A job needs to be stimulating and fun and is something you do between weekends. Long-range planning does not extend beyond tomorrow. Punctuality at work can also be a big interference with their personal life. Millennials need to understand company rules on day one. On the positive side, this group is motivated and wants to make a difference in the world. They also willingly embrace diversity. Assume you are the superintendent at XYZ Country Club. You are a Boomer, very loyal to the club and a long-time employee. Your assistant is an Xer with a consistently-updated resume. He feels most meetings are a waste of time, is willing to share his opinions but wants decisions made on a timely basis. He also resents your “helpful” tendency to provide detailed instructions on how to do his job. Your equipment manager is a Mature and considers himself “old school.” He can’t figure out this younger generation and feels they have no loyalty. And finally, you have a couple of twentysomethings who seem to spend half their time at work on their BlackBerry. They appear smart, but they don’t seem to have much common sense and their commitment to the job does not extend beyond today’s work assignment. Does this sound familiar? How then do we deal with different generations and still get the job done? Here’s my advice:
A better understanding of generational differences can prevent a collision of cohorts in the workplace. Good luck, and let me know how you do with your cohort groups. |
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