Google ‘millennials’ and you’ll find quite a few articles on the differences and difficulties in managing this generation. Most of which is about how they are an instant gratification culture that dislikes being denied anything and whose ambition is suspect. Especially for the Gen-x-ers or Boomers amongst us, managing and leading this group seems to frustrate, confuse and annoy us more then we want to admit.
The truth is that they are frustrated, confused and annoyed by us too.
I recently read an article in the Globe & Mail by Merge Gupta-Sunderji, entitled “Four things millennials hate about us”. What? Hate about us? What is there to hate about? We’re so ambitious and kind? We set the path for grand scale change in business and leadership? We work hard and have earned our right to the top? All true, but is our way the only way? What about viewing this generational-gap from their perspective? Here is a highlight of what Gupta-Sunderji reports that they say about us:
1. “There’s all this talk about work-life balance, yet no one actually seems to live it.”
- For millennials work IS play
- They see us paying lip service to the ‘balance’ concept between work and play
- For them there is no separation between work and play, simply a different side to the same coin
2. “Older employees still view technology with suspicion”
- The time we take to vet new technology to millennials is very slow
- If your millennial is walking around with more technology in his backpack than he has at the office, then perhaps he has a legitimate point that boomers and Gen-Xers should consider.
3. “They don’t ‘get’ that our goals differ from theirs”
- Millennials are not thinking about a long and successful career with one company - they expect and want to work for several companies
- Be careful about the value proposition that espouses that your place of work is great – millennials will use social media to find out if you’re telling the truth
- Promising promotions every 3 or 4 years is ridiculous to them – they expect to be CEO by then
- ‘Paying your dues’ is a phrase we invented and is irrelevant to millennials
4. “The mistaken belief that what you see is what you get”
- Millennials just don’t understand why people make such a fuss about how they look, dress and behave. “Body piercings and faded jeans – how does that impact the quality of my work?”
- Watching the clock to them, also doesn’t make much sense - “Why do you think that sitting at my desk from 8 to 5 means that I’m working effectively?” - “I can get just as much work done from 10 to 1 at night working from my couch at home, yet my supervisor gets all twisted up if I come in 30 minutes late or leave 15 minutes early.”
In the end, I think we’re more alike then we want to admit. We both see the world in a different way then the generation before us. We both behave in the workplace in a way that makes the generations before us shake their heads. And we both are defining success for ourselves, in ways that differ from generations that preceded us.