Manager / Employee Sweet Spot
September 15, 2008
Clearly Gen Y’s and their managers need to cooperate to create a professional environment that works for both of them. If managers only looks at the work they need to get done and employees only looks at what’s needed to advance their career, the probability of an effective working relationship is pretty slim.
Manager vs Employee Needs
When looking for the right fit on either the manager or employee side, look for the intersection of position needs and employee interests. That’s the center of the sweet spot – the larger the center, the better the fit. No rocket science there.
The next step is a richer conversation between a manager and an employee (or prospective employee) that can go something like this.
“Look, no job will be a perfect fit. The good news is that what you’re interested in doing, and where your skills are covers most of what we need. But there are some things that need to be done as part of this position that may not be your first choice. Here are three reasons why you need to do it anyway:
- This needs to be done and it’s part of the role. (See “no job will be a perfect fit.”)
- I believe this skill / project will be important to your career growth.
- You might be surprised. Once you get into this, you may find it is interesting/fun etc. You don’t know until you really dig in.
On the flip side, there’s this other project/skill that is important to you. I understand why, but it’s just not part of what this department does. But, there is another area of the company that does that type of work. Let me talk to them and see if they can “borrow” you to be a team member on one of those projects. That will give you a chance to get the skill you want and see another side of our business.
What do you think? Is that fair?”
This approach shows attractive candidates or a new hire that you do care about their interests, career development and growth, but it isn’t summer camp. It’s a business and there’s some work that needs to get done, even if it’s not a particular area of interest or fun.
While some new-to-market employees will have a fairly clear idea of what types of projects they want to work on and where they want to grow, others may not. But just showing these candidates or new hires that this is the way career planning is approached at your company or in your department creates an attractive environment where employees will be inclined to stay.
On the employee side, showing your recruiter or new manager that you want to grow, but recognize that not every project or assignment will perfectly fit your aspiration, demonstrates a maturity and balance that will make you an attractive candidate and a welcome co-worker.
If it doesn’t work both ways, it doesn’t work.
Gen Y and Boundaries (or lack thereof) – Part 3
September 8, 2008
Last week I addressed how Gen Y’s have very broad boundaries around information sharing. This week marks the final “Gen Y and Boundaries” installment.
This week’s boundary focus: Relationships
PARENTS
For the most part, Gen Y’s have great relationships with their parents. Parents of this generation have included their children in many family decisions since their children were old enough to point. Teenage and young adult children communicate with their parents frequently and openly. And, while due to many factors, moving back home after college no longer has a stigma associated with it. From a roles and relationships standpoint, the boundaries where parents “say” and children “do” is not the way many current households are run. While this generation respects their parents enormously, for good and for bad, these parents and their children relate more as peers (much of the time) than a more traditional parent/child relationship.
FRIENDS
This is the generation that popularized the “friends with benefits ” phrase. I’m not implying that this type of relationship boundary jumping is new to this generation. But the fact that an acronym (FWB) is now associated with the phrase, certainly indicates increased frequency and acceptance of this type of arrangement. For many reasons, this makes me cringe, but I need to remember that I’m viewing it through, now failing, Baby Boomer eyes. I must look back and recognize the boundaries that my generation pushed in this area.
MANAGERS and EXECUTIVES
With delayed adulthood so ever present among Gen Y’s (more on that in a future blog) their first real manager may be subconsciously viewed as a transitional parent and, in part, a peer. Gen Y’s may assume that their manager’s primary concern be their growth and development as an end to itself, rather than a means to having a talented staff to accomplish necessary tasks. Gen Y’s will expect to be asked for their opinions on a broad range of issues. And their communication with their managers may be more informal than what is acceptable in the company’s culture.
Gen Y’s respect executives, but they are not intimidated by them. When I began my career, it would have been unheard of to contact the president of your company, and you certainly wouldn’t do it without your manager’s permission. Gen Y’s don’t think twice about it. Some managers have found that bringing their new-to-market employees to executive meetings can yield unpredictable results. Gen Y’s are generally comfortable speaking up and can offer creative, bold, new (though sometimes naive and unrealistic) ideas. In many ways, this level of confidence is wonderful and refreshing, but it can go against the culture of many organizations. Expect that these employees will be respectful of senior management, just don’t automatically expect that their demonstration of respect will conform to your demonstration of respect definition.
So, what’s a manager to do?
Managers must first recognize that when they hire a Gen Y employee, instincts around these boundaries will be different than the instincts of some of their older employees. As I discussed in the information sharing blog, there will be conversations you’ll need to have that you may not expect. Those conversations are important not only for your Gen Y’s ability to be successful, but also to growing your skills to effectively manage a range of employee types. Don’t avoid them. Get good at them.
If you have a corporate policy around office relationships, don’t expect that your Gen Y employees will find it in the corporate manual. You may need to include it in one of those, “by the way” discussions. If there is a policy, don’t expect this generation to abide by it. Far less boundary jumping generations in the past have ignored it. Policy or not, office relationship that go beyond a traditional friendship will impact the dynamics. There are conversations you’ll need to have. Have them and have them wisely.
Don’t be offended, if the tone, language and communications style your Gen Y employees use with you closely resembles the way they communicate with their friends. Pick your battles. Some things may just jolt you into saying “that was strange.” But others may really go against your grain or the grain of the corporate culture. Decide which approaches need to shift and provide constructive and good humored coaching around those. Present your coaching as helping them fit into the culture, not your lack of confidence in their ability to make good choices. If they have something they want to say or suggest to a corporate executive, encourage them to do that first interaction with your coaching in the background. Unless you strongly disagree, don’t alter, but help strengthen the message your Gen Y employee wants to communicate. Be sure they know that you want to be involved at first to help them and their message to be impressive. For many executives, unsolicited input from new-to-market employees is refreshing (as long as it’s done in a respectful way.) Coaching them to do this well will make them look good and make you look good.
Help your Gen Y employees make the shift from approaching you as a transitional parent to approaching you as a manager – they need to understand this difference to grow and be successful in the professional world. One difference may be in the way projects are assigned. This generations was not raised to purely “do as I say.” More conversational than dictatorial work requests will go a long way. Another difference is likely to be around how their personal growth ranks with getting the job done. A parent may view a task as a means to generate personal growth. A manager primarily views personal growth as a means to get the job done. To a parent, it’s “learn it, it’s important for you.” To a manager it’s, “I hired you to do a job.” That said, there may be times when it’s advisable to provide personal growth opportunities to your employees for their own sake, even if it’s not a skill you need them to have today. Helping your employees grow is one way to demonstrate that you care about them as people, not just employees, and that’s a big hot button for Gen Y. It will encourage retention and job satisfaction and that’s a big hot button for you.
As for Gen Y’s, remember that every interaction creates an impression. You will need to think consciously about things you may not have had to think consciously about before. Examples include the level of familiarity that is acceptable when dealing with your managers and senior managers, what is and is not an appropriate relationship with co-workers, and the right tone and medium to use for communication. Text messaging during a conversation with a friend may be completely acceptable, but text messaging during a meeting with someone in business is viewed as not giving them your full attention. It can be insulting. Remember that your manager is your manager, not your parent, not your peer, and not your friend. Your manager hired you first and foremost to do a job. Your personal and professional growth is critical to that end, and the best managers will view that broadly and through a long term lens. But your professional growth is primarily helping you to be more valuable to the organization, not first as an end to itself. Don’t lose or sifle your creativity, just be sure your actions fit the culture of the environment, so that you can be successful.
To wrap up the Gen Y and Boundaries discussion, it’s important to recognize that pushing beyond the established, accepted boundaries is always the role of the new generation. It’s part of growing up. The experiences, influences and tools presented to a new generation will impact which boundaries they, as a group, push. But, the bottom line is that this is nothing new.
What is new about this generation is how much they expect prior generations to accept their boundary definitions, rather than trying to fit into the tighter boundaries previously defined (first and boundary push later.) They are a defiant and confident group. They are not opposed to making waves, but remember that they also want to be successful. Some of the boundaries they are trying to expand may make a business stronger. Both sides need to be flexible and patient and willing to learn from each other in order for work to . . . work.
Gen Y and Boundaries (or lack thereof) – Part 2
September 1, 2008
Last week I addressed two Gen Y boundary issues that are often discussed and fairly clear: Time and Place. Much has been written about Gen Y and their desire, or rather, demand for flexibility, but perhaps not with the boundary umbrella.
I want to add one more “no boundary” topic to the list: Information Sharing
I’m sure Gen Y’s have boundaries around what information they are and are not willing to share, but I’m confident in saying that it’s far broader than my own and most of my generation’s (late boomer.)
I remember quite clearly my first attempt to establish a Facebook account. I was meeting with a Gen Y client who will be launching a wonderful new charity-based website, and asked for his help in setting up my Facebook profile. I was stopped cold to see that in addition to your gender, birth date and hometown, the template asked for Political and Religious views. My Gen Y client was perplexed that I was perplexed.
“Why would I want to share that information?” I asked him.
“Why wouldn’t you?” was his reply. “Don’t your friends already know your religion and politics?”
“Yes, but it seems strange to have those front and center,” I replied.
“Why?” he asked again and the conversation continued from there.
Whether it is my generation or my personality, I am clearly more private, by nature, than most of the Gen Y people I meet.
In many ways the individually, megaphoned platform created by personal web sites, blogging, social networking, YouTube etc. provides a wonderful way to share thoughts, insights and experiences with friends, family, colleagues and often a broader audience. Previously, if you had something you wanted to say or show somewhat publicly, you were at the mercy of the media, publishers and editors. These new(ish) platforms are the great leveler allowing anyone’s voice to be heard. I love that I can broadcast my thoughts without having to submit my work to a publisher, and hope and wait and likely, be edited. But whether Gen Y is using this opportunity wisely is another story.
Take YouTube as an example. You can find videos from broadcasting all forms of partying, to imitating celebrities in their less flattering moments, to showcasing cruel activities towards others. Many Gen Y’s appear comfortable in the exhibitionist role. I know this is not the majority of the YouTube content, but it is the content that seems to get the most public attention. I believe, that’s the point.
While these videos may be fun to share with a small circle of friends, I’m not sure Gen Y fully understands the more public impressions that these videos make. I’m all for everyone’s 15 minutes of fame. But is that what you want to be known for?
As a manager, here are some things to think about regarding your Gen Y employees and their potential lack of an internal editor when it comes to sharing information.
Think “loose lips, sink ships.” If Gen Y’s are willing to share such personal information so publicly, do you think they’ll, at one point or another, intentionally or unintentionally, end up broadcasting something about their job, the company, you, your clients or customers etc. that you’d prefer they not say? Bet on it. As an example, the Isareli army has clamped down on what its soldiers can and cannot share on Facebook. Some posts and photos had, I’m sure inadvertently, shared sensitive information.
Also think about the information Gen Y’s share about themselves. Just as people are measured by the company they keep, your business partners, clients and customers will measure your company by the employees you hire. Their profile becomes your profile. Is it possible that they’ll present themselves in a way that becomes embarrassing and you’ll find yourself concerned how your senior management, clients or customers may react? You can bet on that too.
The viral nature of the Internet is what makes all this information sharing so powerful and potentially more troubling. An innocent exchange with a friend can suddenly be forwarded along and then forwarded along until the number of people with access to it grows geometrically. The audience expands well beyond what was intended.
This is not to say that Gen Y’s won’t make you incredibly proud as well. These bright, creative, caring employees can showcase you and themselves in a wonderful light. But the risk of it going the other way is pretty strong.
So, what’s a manager to do?
Shutting off Internet access to social networking and broadcasting tools (my opinion on that will be in another blog) won’t help and won’t reduce your risk.
You need to impact the information they choose to share. When most new-to-market employees begin their first “real” job, there’s training on the hard skills they need to do their job. But there’s often little guidance regarding the general business life skills that they’ll also need to be successful. Your instincts may help you make good choices about the information you share about yourself and your company, but your instincts were honed in a more private time. You cannot depend on new-to-market employees to make the choices you’d hope they would make. You need to provide guidance, preferably in an open conversation rather than in a formal training class, regarding acceptable and desired boundaries around information sharing. I still have to remind career-launcher clients that their “black spider of death” web site may not make them attractive to a prospective employer. This generally comes after I suggest that the ringtone of someone throwing up may lose them credibility if their phone rings during a meeting or interview.
There are things they won’t think about, connections they won’t make, impacts they won’t imagine unless you spell it out for them and overtly remind them. These may be one of the awkward conversations you really don’t want to have with your new employees, but isn’t that better than the alternative?
As for Gen Y’s, remember that when you are looking for a job, any serious interviewer (and these are the ones you want) will do as much background checking on you as they can. They will use all the search engines to read and see more about you than is on your resume. Make sure you are presenting the image you want. I can’t tell you how many times a prospective employer called me to say, “the resume was great, but I dug a little deeper and . . . s/he’s just not a fit for us.” This can be before or after the interview. In many cases, your online profile can stop you from even getting in the door! But, it can also help get you in the door. Remember that these are tool and you can control your image. Post wisely.
That holds for employees as well. Think about what you say publicly about yourself and your employer. Think about what information should and should not be shared, and where it may end up after you post or send it. Once it’s out there, you can’t unring that bell. Be aware of the impact of your words and actions, and how this viral platform can help or hurt you. Information sharing cuts both ways and can get away from you quickly. Proceed with caution.
Next week, the last blog on Gen Y and boundaries.
Gen Y and Boundaries (or Lack thereof) — Part 1
August 24, 2008
One of the most interesting things to me about Gen Y is that they have no boundaries. OK, so maybe that’s a value judgement on my part. Perhaps they have boundaries, just . . . different boundaries.
Let’s take a look at some:
TIME
Gen Y’s don’t seem to have boundaries around time. If they’re at the office and get an email or text from a friend, they may spend 30 minutes or more “with” that friend. During business hours! They wouldn’t think twice about it. At the same time, if it’s 10:00 pm and they get an email or text from their manager about an upcoming deadline, they might work on this until midnight.
Gen Y’s don’t view their day in chunks titled, “work time,” “friend time,” “family time,” “me-time,” “sleep time” etc. They view their day as 24 hours in which to get everything done they need to do. They learned this skill early as they juggled school, activities, hobbies, family, friends, email, text, phone calls, Internet surfing etc. Juggling time is one of the best skills they’ve got!
What’s more important – That the work gets done, done well, and done by the deadline or that it’s worked on during a specific period of time? So, unless they’re missing a meeting or a deadline during their “interact with a friend during business hours” time, why do you, as their manager, care? That’s a typical Gen “Why” question.
PLACE
Gen Y’s don’t understand why work must take place on site. They do not need to be “at work” to be seriously doing work. If they can get their work done at home or at a local coffee shop, why should they face rush hour traffic and pay high gas prices to get to the office? They also recognize that not all work is done at work. Technology advances now enable people to always be online. How many have watched their parents continue working (email, completing a presentation, getting ready for a meeting etc.) after that parent has gotten home from the office. “So, if not all work happens at the office anyway, tell me again why I have to be at the office for my full work week?” There’s another typical Gen “Why” question.
Sure, some roles require an employee to be on site. They either have a coverage, interactive or collaborative element that creates a place requirement. And, I don’t believe that most Gen Y’s devalue face-to-face interaction as has been one of the criticisms about them. But they and their managers may have very different definitions of which interactions require and benefit from that face-to-face element.
The time and place boundary issues are linked. If Gen Y’s are the ultimate jugglers, requiring that all work needs to be done at a specific place during a specific time severely limits their ability to get all their stuff done within that 24 hour time block. They are less efficient because of the overhead created by time/place requirements that may or may not add value, in their opinion.
In addition to coverage, interactive or collaborative elements that necessitate on-site work, another reason many organizations are reluctant to institute more flextime arrangements are due to some level of trust (and probably also, habit.) The conscious or subconscious belief about seeing people work reminds me of something I read many years ago. (I’m fairly sure the concept came from Shoshana Zuboff’s “In the Age of the Smart Machine,” (1988) but allow me to paraphrase from memory) Suppose you’re in your office and are thinking about a really tricky business problem. You’re trying to balance the needs of your clients with the resources you have and it’s just not falling into place. You’re leaning back in your chair, your feet are up on the desk, and your head is back as you stare at the ceiling hoping that the solution will fall from it. Basically, you’re having a good, hard think. This is why they pay you the big bucks.
What’s the first thing you do when you hear your boss coming down the hall?
You bolt upright and start reading something the computer screen or typing on your keyboard. You try to “look busy” when, in truth, you WERE busy. So you’ve stopped doing what you were supposed to be doing to start looking like you were doing what you were supposed to be doing. Huh? You’ve also now lost your train of thought.
So does real work only happen when it looks like real work. And does real work only happen when someone is there to see it? Clearly, no. This, in part, is a reason for Gen Y’s request for more flextime and telecommuting options. Gen Y’s lack boundaries around time and place because they don’t see these boundaries (in many cases) as making them more efficient or effective.
Gen Y’s are not the only ones making these requests, although they may be more vocal and demanding about it. This is a very definite trend. An article entitled “Are Telecommuting and Flextime Dead?” by Ellen Gragg (Office Solutions Jan/Feb 2006) notes some differences over a 10 year period. “In 1994, one study, “Flextime: Myth or Reality?” published in Indiana University’s Business Horizons (Sept/Oct 1994), showed that flextime wasn’t available to many employees. According to the study, only 14 percent of employers interviewed offered the benefit at all, and some of those programs were quite limited.” She then went on to say, “As far as flextime, a 2004 study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) showed that 55 percent of HR professionals were willing to negotiate flexible work hours with interviewees and new employees. (For the purposes of the study, flexible work schedules included flextime, compressed workweeks, and telecommuting.)” I know this is not comparing apples with apples, but it does support the trend.
In addition to that, in a Computerworld Article “Get tough on telecommuting: 6 Questions to Ask Before You Say Yes” (8/20/08) Tam Harbert writes “According to WorldatWork, an association of human resource professionals, 40% more employers are offering telework programs this year than last.”
As an organization trying to recruit and retain Gen Y employees, flexibility about time and place will likely be a critical issue. As you think about your policies in these areas, ask yourself how much of your business’ time/place boundary requirements are about:
- the real need for full time, face time,
- the fact that, in your mind or in your organization, that’s the way work is. It’s a given.
- that you don’t trust that work is getting done if you can’t see someone working?
Implement what changes make sense for your business. Also be sure you can answer these questions to your own satisfaction, because your Gen Y employees and recruits will surely be asking.
As a Gen Y considering accepting or staying in a position, be flexible with your managers around this issue. It’s truly easier to manage an organization when the time and place boundaries are fixed and predictable. While flextime and telecommuting may add efficiency for you, it makes managing you and your colleagues more complex. It may take some time to figure out how to make it work in their environment, with their projects, and with their people. This can have a large ripple effect as some employees’ roles and personalities lend themselves to flextime and telecommuting more than others. They need to figure out what will be fair to all their employees, not just what works for you. They will need to tackle questions around whether they are paying for work or paying for time. Be patient with them and trust them, just as you are asking them to trust you.
Next week, Part 2 – More Gen Y boundary issues.
Introduction to Onboarding Gen Y
August 16, 2008
I taught at the University of Washington for eleven years. As much as I treasured watching students succeed in my classroom, I reveled most from seeing them succeed in their first “real” job.
The concept for Onboarding Gen Y was born out of listening to the changing tenor of applicant and new hire stories from my corporate contacts. These stories include tales of text messaging during job interviews, leaving positions after a few months because of an inability to get time off to go to Europe, and new hires needing much more feedback and project-starting guidance than new hires of the past. My corporate contacts were seeking advice on how to work with these new hires.
I noticed changes in my students as well. They were not only more accepting of feedback, both praise and constructive, they were requesting more of it. They were more assertive about asking for and getting help with their projects. They were more active communicators, mostly through electronic means. Technology was not an “add on,” it was in their blood. They had longer and more varied lists of volunteer work to include on their resumes. They had a more innately global focus. They were more creative and collaborative. I needed to alter my teaching style and content to match their interests and temperament. It made my teaching better.
But the most startling change was in some of my brightest students’ attitudes towards professional work. Those students in the past would have known what they wanted to do, where they wanted to work, and what they expected from their professional future. I was now seeing students of this caliber unsure of what they wanted to do and where they wanted to work. The thing that amazed me most is that this didn’t seem to bother them. While they were requesting more feedback on their work in my class, I was the one asking them about their professional hopes and dreams, not them asking me for career search guidance.
I thought it was a blip, and then started researching this new generation . . . Gen Y (also called Millennials, Echo Boomers, iGen, The Internet Generation etc.) By profile they are technical, global and have amazing skills at multi-tasking and prioritization. They are also delaying “adulthood” and insisting on more work/life balance than previous students demanded or even seemed to want at that point in their professional life.
To make the transition from student to business professional smooth and successful, they needed more career counseling and general job search prep assistance. They also needed more guidance in how to independently take hold of a project, how to communicate effectively across organizations and other generations, and business life skills in general.
The challenges that organizations are experiencing in managing this complex generation are understandable. Gen Y’s don’t innately have the organizational loyalty and stick-to-itiveness needed to work through a professional rough patch and come out the other side stronger and more experienced. They need more feedback, guidance, and coaching particularly in the areas of project planning, business communication, and business life skills. They need mentors to support them, and help them see parts of the organization they may not otherwise see. And managers need to understand this new generation and readjust their own thinking and approaches to attract, retain and get excellence from these new hires. Gen Y has great potential to bring a strong technical fluidity, global focus, multi-tasking, creative, collaborative, caring, energetic and fresh perspective to the workforce.
So, why should organizations make changes to attract and embrace this new generation of employees?
Two reasons: First, they’re the only game in town. Second, they’re worth it.
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