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Does Gen Y Require Too Much Support?
Written by Buddy Hobart on March 22nd, 2010
In our organization, we challenge one another to make sure that our words and our actions align. Having become a Gen Y advocate, this sometimes causes me to feel a bit hypocritical. While I have tried to understand and be aware of my prejudices, sometimes they unconsciously surface.
During a recent conversation, one of our Gen Y folks asked me, “What are the things that you still struggle with in terms of Gen Y?” This prompted me to realize that even though I am a Gen Y advocate, I am still a baby boomer by birth. It is now, and will be for a long time, a struggle to confront my own prejudices.
I took that question to one of my friends and new mentor who has been retired for about ten years. This person was the president of a very large organization with tens of thousands of employees. He left the workforce just as Gen Y was entering. He is really fascinated with the Gen Y topic, even though he doesn’t have any firsthand Gen Y employee experience.
As we were discussing Gen Y, I realized that one of his observations is also one of my concerns about Gen Y. My friend expressed concern about Gen Y’s lack of self-sufficiency. He told me that toward the end of his career he had noticed the need for more “support groups” than he had seen in the past. His observation was that Gen Yers need support groups in order to deal with challenges. His sense is that folks from his generation had a “tougher constitution” and were able to “suck it up” to overcome adversity. To be fair, my friend was very open about not understanding the psychological impact of going it alone versus using support groups and did not necessarily think one was better than the other. He could certainly see the advantages and disadvantages of each process. Our conversation led me to one of my own current prejudices toward Gen Y. If anyone wants to offer any help on this one, I would certainly appreciate any insights.
I believe that with the availability of social networking and the instant opportunity to share information, many Gen Yers are reaching too quickly for support and input without first challenging themselves to think through the issue. While it might be very helpful to get outside opinions on certain things, I also think it is critical for individuals to challenge their critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.
Taking this even further, one of my current prejudices is that Gen Yers often see an inconvenience as a tragedy. While we talk a great deal about organizational alignment and communication, sometimes it is impossible to “dot all of the i’s and cross all of the t’s.” Also, no matter how good leaders are, sometimes they simply have a bad day. Having your boss snap at you, being out of the loop sometimes or not receiving the right resources can simply be an inconvenience and not a tragedy. Sometimes I think that Gen Y can be too quick to put these bumps in the road out there as major issues without taking time to think them through at a deeper level.
My friend said to me, “It seems to me that we need to be able to come to grips with adversity as individuals since a support system isn’t always available.” His comment made me realize that I still have many prejudices that I need to recognize and review. The one I’m working on today is Gen Y’s ability to overcome adversity without wasting time and energy and always looking for a support group to step in.
Sean H on March 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Can’t say I disagree. The ubiquity of the helicopter parent is largely a “Gen Y” phenomenon. That alone is very telling.