Confessions
I was chatting to a client this week and we were reflecting on how amazing some of our Gen Y colleagues and friends are. We both confessed to feeling a little envious at times. A touch of the “I wish I had been that confident, capable, wordly… at their age”.
I reckon these feelings are pretty common. Here is a generation who see fewer barriers in their lives, they tend to have more confidence in themselves and what is possible and they have much broader horizons on the world because of the internet and the fact they connect so easily with people around the world. I think it is understandable if the older generation occasionally feel a little envious, jealous, resentful even. I often hear comments like “I had to work my way up the ladder, why do they think they shouldn’t have to”, “they are far too confident - verging on the arrogant”, “they just expect things too easy”.
These views and feelings are often expressed at meetings I have with clients. I sometimes detect a mixture of resentment and a wanting to put Gen Y in their place. Yet on the other hand there is a realisation that their talent and confidence are marvellous assets that present a huge opportunity for employers.
I think the healthy and productive attitude is to accept the negative feelings as understandable but to move on and look at the assets that all the generations bring to the workplace. The key is for each generation understood the others more: their intentions, passions and strengths. It’s not for Gen Y to ’stay in their place’ it’s for them to challenge the status quo, come up with new ideas, question old assumptions. It’s uncomfortable for us Xers and Boomers but great leadership is about allowing and encouraging that whilst mentoring and guiding when necessary.
Note to self: remember that when next talking to amazing, accomplished and inspirational 23 year old 
Sally
August 7th, 2008 at 8:58 am
I quite agree Sally. I was working with the Principal and senior team of a large London FE COllege last week on talent management and just this issue came up when we got talking about the importance of getting the right people into the right jobs.
Suddenly we seemed to get into a “the young people today” moan session. I challenged them using some of the things Talent Smoothie have researched and they agreed that a lot of their resentments were just that. They had come up “the hard way” and saw the demands and “lack of respect for their seniors” of new teachers and other staff as difficulties to manage.
We then had a much more positive conversation about the sort of College they wanted to be and how they can change to become the sort of workplace where all generations can be encouraged to develop their creativity, perform at their best and be supported by great leadership and sound management practices.
I think the next generation of leaders are already emerging and my hope is that they will demand, and get, workplaces which value and create human potential rather than suppress it into mechanistic notions of compliance in the name of “productivity”. Keep up the good work!