I was recently in a good debate and discussions on Linked-In about Gen-Y - the similarities and differences accros culture and how to deal with them.  It triggered me to think about how to bridge the gap between the different generations.

Sometimes I do keep wondering why we often see programs, articles, workshops focusing on “how to manage Gen-Y” or “learning about Gen-Y behaviours” or “Building an environment for Gen-Y”. We might have been knocking on the wrong door.  I guess the other method to bridge the gap is to capitalize on the Gen-Y’s inclination for “knowledge and education”.  Revamp the strategy and turn-it around!Some food for thought:

• These programs (on bridging generation gap) are tailored to Gen-X or Baby Boomers (both of which are much longer in the industry, it’s hard to change - knowledge and awareness is one thing, but ability to change is another).  These may have been written in such directions because of the view that management and influence goes top-down; and therefore it’s the manager’s responsibilities to bridge the gap.  Why can’t we think of bridging the gap as a shared responsibility?
• All these articles and programs painted the picture that all that Gen-Y wants are the rights they deserves, thus when read by a Gen-Y it further amplifies to them that they are right! Gen-Y will start thinking “yeah, that’s the way I work, even those magazines says so! and continue behaving as if it is their rights.”  Shouldn’t what Gen-X or baby boomers wants be perceived as their rights too?

What we could have done:

• Be fair to all generations, educate Gen-Y about how Gen-X or baby boomers behaves.  Then educate them on how they could adapt to the environment and slowly influence the other generations to their way instead. Being relatively new to the workforce, and as we all recognize that Gen-Y is the least change adversed, it’s easier to get Gen-Y to do the adapting.  It could also go to influence the Gen-Ys that their behaviours are not “rights” but they should care about the “rights” of others too.  Gen-Y being the most “team-focused” of all generations should have not issues understanding this.
• The trick is this, it takes a very understanding Gen-X or Gen-Y themselves to deliver this message. Phrases like “we’ve been there done that”, “this is the right way to do things”, “you must do it this way” … etc will not be acceptable.  But it’s rather about educating Gen-Ys on how to socialize with other generations (for their own interest) … WIIFM!

I realize that many of the blog readers here are Gen-Ys as well.  What do you think?

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Tags: Culture, generation gap, Generation Y, hr, Leadership, millenial, youth

This entry was posted by Clayton J.C Tan on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Culture, Generation Y, Human Resources, Youth Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.