by Sally Bibb on April 25, 2008
How to capture and manage knowledge is something that organisations have long been struggling with. Expensive IT systems often disappoint because no matter how good the system is it will not yield any benefit if people don’t use it. A common objection to using such systems is the time it takes to enter in the data. I remember when I was at The Economist Group and we installed salesforce.com, one of the toughest challenges was finding ways to encourage busy sales people to use it.
A few years back, looking for ideas and inspiration, I visited Euan Semple who was at that time leading knowledge management for the BBC. He was doing some very inspiring and impressive work including introducing wikis and blogs. At that time use of these technologies was uncommon in business. His advice to me however was that unless you could be sure of having enough of a critical mass of people to engage with these new ways of working it was pointless. Three people in the editorial department may well be excited by this (then) newish technology but only three people in an organisation of 1000+ would do nothing to help with knowledge sharing and ‘management’. I remember leaving my meeting with Euan feeling disheartened that this exciting technology would probably stay exciting but be absolutely useless because of the difficulty in convincing people to use it.
Five or so years later I am heartened. My friend, a 26 year-old high flyer started a new job in January in a medium-sized consultancy. I saw him last week and he has already been promoted and was telling me how much difference he has been able to make already. ( I smiled at this, he is a Gen Y and making a difference if something that is very important to Gen Ys). So I asked him to show me what he had been doing that was making such a difference. He showed me a wiki that he had designed to capture data about problems reported by customers and solutions to those problems. There was masses of content in there. "When did you introduce this?" I asked. "Two weeks ago" came the reply. And already a huge amount of valuable data had been captured and was being used.
Let’s just have a think about this. In the space of two weeks, a new employee of less than 4 months has introduced a new system that has transformed the capture and use of valuable data. Not only that but everyone is using it and it is improving the quality of service to customers and shortening response time. What are we to deduce from that? Well, having questioned my friend closely on this, here’s what I conclude:
- The (Gen X and Boomer) leaders in his company are committed to promoting people on merit and supporting them to do whatever needs to be done to make a difference.
- The interests of the customer take priority.
- The workforce are predominantly Gen Y and therefore took no persuading to use wikis.
- A good idea is a good idea and will be listened to irrespective of the length of service and seniority of the person who comes up with the idea.
- This company gets it. The leaders in this company clearly see Gen Y as an opportunity and not a threat. My friend had tried to introduce a wiki into his last company. He told me he gave up because he got fed-up of trying to convince his colleagues (aged 35 to 70) that it was a good idea. This talented young man eventually got fed up himself and looked for a company that would "appreciate and use his talents".
Gen Y vote with their feet. If they are not being appreciated they will leave. Contrary to assertions that Gen Y are flighty and don’t want to stick at a job, our research shows that if they are getting what they want they will stay, and they will be loyal. My friend has every intention of staying in his company, he has had a flying start there and in a short period of time has been recognised, valued, been given the freedom to contribute and show what he can do. Other organisations would do well to take a leaf out of this company’s book.
Sally Bibb
by Sally Bibb on April 20, 2008
I have become increasingly aware of a number of different mind sets that are emerging around Gen Y in the workplace. They broadly fall into the categories of those that will move organisations forward and those that won’t. I have observed three predominant mind sets:
"Gen Y are a pain and they ought to change their ways"
This is the ‘I don’t see why we should change for them folk’. It’s the recruitment manager who has experienced much more demanding Gen Ys in the last couple of years who want to know what the company can do for them as much as what they can offer. It’s the HR manager who has a view that Gen Ys should have more realistic expectations towards work life. And it is the manager who is resentful that when they were in their 20s they knew their place and would not have dared challenge their employer.
I have noticed a certain amount of anger and resentment amongst this group. They are stuck in complaining mode and struggle to understand the underlying motivations to the behaviour let alone want to respond to it in a way that is useful to all concerned.
" Gen Y are the future opportunity and must be embraced or there will be big problems"
This attitude resides at the other end of the spectrum. It is those who feel that Gen Y are the answer to all organisational problems and that things should change according to their view of the world. This view is held mainly by the supremely self-confident Gen Ys who know they are talented and have a lot to offer and feel that they are the ones with all the power in the employment relationship.
"I struggle with some of Gen Ys attitudes but want to understand them and find a way that works for all of us"
The individuals and organisations who are making the most effective steps to attract and retain Gen Ys fall into this camp. They are the ones who realise that we all see the world through our own particular generational lens and that gain is to be had by understanding the others perspectives too.
Most of us do struggle with difference, whether the difference is generational, gender or whatever. The trick is for all parties to understand the others. With understanding comes the creation of possibilities. Possibilities give us choices.
A refusal to consider other possibilities of ways of working is a core barrier to positive change. For example, working time. The 9 to 5 culture only exists because in the industrial age factories had to be run on schedules that meant workers had to be at work between certain hours. There is no reason for that rigidity today, especially in the knowledge sector. The third category of mindset: "I struggle with some of Gen Ys attitudes but want to understand them and find a way that works for all of us" is the most productive one. If I were to give any piece of advice to companies about how to tackle the challenge of Gen Y in the workplace, my starting point would be to be clear about your mind set first. Change only happens when you really want it to.
Sally
by Sally Bibb on April 12, 2008
This is a question that we get asked time and time again. Our Gen Y research tells us that there are some clear and distinguishing characteristics which are mainly to do with the fact that Gen Y are much more driven by self development and growth eg opportunities to be mentored, doing work that plays to their strengths. Whereas Gen X were/are much more concerned with security-based motivators ie secure job, salary, status, career ladder.
However it is also true that Gen Y is demanding from work things that Gen X would have quite liked too but we were not bold enough to demand.
I like this blog post from Ryan Healy. He is talking about the USA but what he says is applicable elsewhere. He says that Gen Y have the opportunity to make the workplace better for all of us for these three reasons:
Y Has Better Demographics
Generation X was simply too small to force any kind of change. There are about 50 million Gen Xers in the United States compared to nearly 76 million baby boomers and 77 million Millennials. When Gen Xers graduated college, the jobs were not there. With only 50 million people to fill the positions, and plenty of boomers around to fill the middle management jobs, companies had their pick of candidates. Employers took advantage by hiring only the top candidates and paying them as little as possible.
Generation Y is 50% bigger than Generation X, and with Xers dropping out of the workforce to take care of their children, employees, not management, have the power and even a recession won’t slow down the job market. Generation Y has the same confidence, the same ambition and the same savviness as Generation X had in their twenties, but the demographics are in Gen Y’s favor. Y can ask for change and actually get it.
Y Has Better Technology
Generation X came of age when the internet was just coming into common, public use. There were great new technologies and plenty of opportunities to strike it rich in Silicon Valley, much like there are today. But the 90s were still a time of traditional media and marketing to the masses. So if you wanted to make your voice heard, you had to pay thousands for a TV commercial or somehow become a celebrity. Today, anyone with a bad job can start a blog and tell the world why work should be better. Plus, where there was no easy way to create a collective Gen X voice, the Web is now all about community. And Generation Y embraces the idea of community like no other generation.
Y Has Better Teamwork
Generation Y is the ultimate “team” generation. Despite what the media says, it’s not about us versus the rest of you. It’s about how can we all work together? How can we all be happy?
We’re not competing now and we never were competing with the Baby Boomers. We’re the entry level grunts and they’re the big shots in the corner office. We don’t threaten their jobs and they don’t make us work long hours because we don’t report to them. But Gen X hated, and still hates, the Boomers. It makes sense. The baby boomers were directly managing the Gen Xers, and because of the demographics I pointed out above, the Gen Xers had to work the long hours or risk being fired and (easily) replaced.
Ryan is right. Unfortunately, some employers are still thinking of Gen Y as a problem/risk/challenge. Wrong. Gen Y presents a fantastic opportunity for positive change in the workplace: they are great collaborators, they are prepared to challenge the status quo, they have passion and they won’t put up with some of the nonsense that people like me (I confess I did!) did when I started out.
Sally
by Sally Bibb on April 7, 2008
At talentsmoothie we have reciprocal mentors: young people who mentor us on exciting subjects like how to think like digital natives, and we mentor them on things like how to navigate the alien worlds of Gen Xers and Boomers.
One of the things that Shaun, my mentor, does is gives me what he calls ‘inefficiency alerts’. That is, when he watches me using my mobile phone or computer he notices when I am doing things the long way (usually the only way I know how) and shows me how to do things faster/more efficiently. Thanks to his teaching I can now post my blog entries in less than half the time. It’s great.
I came across this service in Holland where teenagers are giving mobile phone workshops to adults. It’s a good idea and something that maybe companies could take onboard. Wouldn’t it be great to have a young colleague show you how to use your Blackberry, iPod, a social networking site maybe…… It would save so much time and would be much more fun than reading a manual.
Sally
by SimonWalker on April 3, 2008
One of our mantras at the moment is that when it comes to work, Gen Ys appear to be demanding what most Gen Xers and Boomers have always wanted but were ’conditioned’ not to expect.
It would appear that being free from the ‘leadership’ of David Brent type characters comes into this category.
We came across a great quote last week from one of our Gen Y panellists at a conference we were presenting at. Talking about ‘The Office’ sit-com, she commented that when she first saw the programme she really thought it was a joke…
Sadly, now she has worked in a few organisations, she knows it is far to close to reality.
Why on earth do Gen X and the Boomers put up with such nonsense? Thank goodness it looks like Gen Y won’t.
Simon
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