I do not believe that most traditional managers would be supportive of their employees’ 5-9 efforts. Many Gen X and Boomer managers would see this (and possibly rightfully so) as a threat. Most managers would be wary of their employees’ strayed focus and commitment.

My question to these managers would be “why are your people starting 5-9 jobs?” One of the first things we talk about in Gen Y Now is the need to create understanding then awareness. My guess is that these managers would be completely unaware of the lack of interesting and meaningful work for their employees during the 9-5 jobs.

I believe that if managers really begin to understand and become more self-aware, they would be seen as “leaders.” Once these leaders understand what is going on and become more self-aware, then they would understand the need to provide interesting and meaningful work. Once this realization is made, I believe Gen Y would focus some of their 5-9 energy into their 9-5 job.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that is not true. Let’s say that many Gen Yers will continue on their 5-9 path regardless of the positive leadership shown during their 9-5 job. Now what should the leader do?

One of the cornerstones of retaining Gen Y is understanding their vision. We talked a great deal about how leaders need to understand Gen Y’s long-term vision and constantly link the organization’s long-term vision to the individual’s vision.

Many Gen Yers will be pursuing their vision with 5-9 activities. A good leader will understand this and will try to learn more about the employee’s efforts. The reality is that whether or not the manager supports the after-hour activities, the after-hour activities will still occur. It will be important for leaders not to “put their heads in the sand” and pretend it is not happening.

By learning more about the 5-9 activities, leaders will be better able to align their workforce and channel their team’s energy appropriately. Ignoring the issue will not make it go away. Understanding it, and maybe even supporting it, just might help leaders recruit and retain the best talent.

It is no secret that many Gen Y folks are very entrepreneurial and have ventured out on their own to develop a career path. While some of this has slowed with the economic downturn, it is still a career option for many folks in Generation Y. While we may see a slowdown in many folks’ bootstrapping their way during an entrepreneurial venture, I don’t think that Gen Y will lose their entrepreneurial spirit. They will simply figure out another way to get it done.

One of those ways to get it done is creating a 5-9 business.

I find it fascinating that one of the myths about Gen Y is that they are spoiled and lazy, yet many of this cohort maintain one or two jobs while balancing volunteer time and activities. One of the ways that Gen Y will achieve their entrepreneurial dreams is to start with a 5-9 business. Once that business is up and running, Gen Y will turn it into full employment.

I think that many business leaders will think that they are doing well with their talent retention during this time. What these business leaders will fail to see is how Gen Y is splitting their energy between 9-5 and 5-9. I’ve talked in the past about how Gen Y may keep a less than desirable job in order to pay the bills. One of the consequences of poor leadership will be Gen Y’s diminished energy and commitment to their 9-5 job. Their energy and commitment may well be targeted to their 5-9 job. I truly believe this is an inevitable consequence of poor leadership within their “day job.”

Gen Y will find an outlet for their creative juices and entrepreneurial spirit. If someone will not provide them with meaningful and interesting work during the day, then they will find it on their own. Many will turn these ventures into full-time employment.

With the unemployment rate at nearly 10%, Gen Y is seeing a disproportionate amount of unemployment in comparison to other generations of workers. I think this sense of gratitude for employment is ultimately a very good thing. In good times, everyone seems to think that being employed is a birthright. Being employed, especially in a job that pays well and offers interesting opportunities, is far from a birthright. These types of opportunities are earned.

I think Gen Y will come out of this recession with a newfound sense of appreciation for many things, employment included. However, I do not think that this newfound appreciation will dramatically impact their desire to have real-time feedback and interesting work. Once the economy turns, and it will recover, Gen Y will once again seek out interesting work in an organization that provides real-time feedback.

One of my concerns for business leaders is that they may be currently lulled into a false sense of security regarding the retention of Gen Y. Since many Gen Yers are holding on to their current jobs, business leaders may think that there is no reason to align their organizations differently. I still contend that once the economy turns, Gen Y will leave bad employment situations in record numbers.

Organizations that realize this and get ahead of the curve will be an employerof-choice in the next decade. As the oldest Gen Yer reaches 33, the next ten years of their career will be critical. Additionally, this will be the point in time when many Gen Yers marry and start families. One of the reasons Gen Y has been able to make some of these decisions is their delaying of marriage.

The next decade will have more Gen Yers marrying and starting families than at any time in the past. Starting a family will have a dramatic impact on many Gen Y choices. Will they be a dual-career couple? Will the family require a more “stable” work situation? Will Gen Y be more willing to “put up with” poor leadership? Or will Gen Y use this opportunity to dramatically adjust their careers and find other alternatives to making a living?

Much of this is why I think companies who align their organizations now will have a major advantage for acquiring key talent over the next decade. Businesses that set a strategic course to become an employer of choice will have top talent flocking to them.

While it seems counterintuitive to focus on talent management with such a high unemployment rate, I believe that companies who do just that will have the advantage and will recover quickly. As coach Sendek says, “The team with the best players usually wins.”

Over the next several weeks we can discuss more of these cultural cornerstones. In response to my colleague’s question, here are the first four that come to mind:

1. Adherence to deadlines: In order for any organization to succeed, deadlines still need to be upheld for all projects. This is particularly true in a collaborative environment where one piece of the puzzle relies on another piece of the puzzle in order to make a whole. If one group misses its deadlines, then the entire team can fall apart. No matter what, realistically set deadlines are mutually agreed upon.

2. Timeliness: It is true that Gen Y does not measure time in the same way that previous generations have. We often talk about the real-time nature of Gen Y and how Gen Y is finding information and acting in the now. Our research and observations have led us to believe that Gen Y does not manage time the same as previous generations. While that is fine, Gen Y still needs to understand the need to be on time for meetings, work, and meet time-sensitive obligations. A simple example I like to use in my conversations is a seven-member team assembled for a meeting. If six of the seven members are on time, and one of the members shows up 10 minutes late, it is not just 10 minutes lost. It is 10 x 6 = 60 minutes of organization time.

3. Common Courtesy: There have been dozens of articles over the past several months discussing how common courtesy is on the decline. Many of these articles focus on Gen Y. It has not been our experience that Gen Y is any more or any less courteous than other generations. I think it is a function of self-awareness and our surroundings.

Organizations should take some time to determine their “gadget rules.” Is it OK to be walking the halls listening to your iPod? Is it OK to check email or receive emails during meetings? Too many organizations allow these types of decisions to be made individually and not collectively as a team. One person’s need to accept an important phone call during a meeting is another person’s perception of being disrespected.

Leaders should take some time to define what is acceptable and unacceptable as it relates to new technology. Simply having this discussion will allow folks to become more self-aware and therefore more courteous.

4. Respect: I am continually fascinated by individuals who “demand respect” and then fail to give it. Oftentimes our consultants hear people say, “I won’t be treated that way,” while sometimes treating others in that same fashion. I truly believe leaders who are aware and seeking cultural alignment will not allow any generation to disrespect another. Gen Y cannot disrespect Boomers about their lack of technological skills, just as Boomers can’t disrespect Gen Y for their relative inexperience in a given situation. Respecting your teammates might be the ultimate cultural cornerstone.

After a bit of research, we found that this is not unusual. Frankly, this type of thinking floors me. Not to be rude, but how can anyone allow the inmates to run the asylum? So we are not going to add talent to the team because other team members find it difficult to adapt? By 2025, 75% of the world’s workforce will be Gen Y. Are we going to simply refuse to evolve? I once heard the opposite of evolution is extinction.

Managers (I will not call them leaders) who refuse to infuse their team with new talent and ideas are dooming their team and organization to extinction. It is a statistical certainty that Generation Y will become the workforce of the future. There is no getting around it. Failing to incorporate this talented cohort into the organization is one of the worst managerial decisions a leader can make.

Since it is a statistical certainty that members of Generation Y are the future employees, why would anyone avoid trying to attract and retain the best talent available? I once heard that only a fool would fail to plan for inevitability.

I really don’t have any heartburn over the team members not wanting to hire twenty-somethings, but I have serious heartburn over the manager. A true leader would listen to the feedback and then figure out a strategy to get his team aligned appropriately. A leader certainly would not allow anyone, for any reason, to be discriminated against. A true leader would find a way to blend the talent across his or her team.

We were asked about the implementation of social media and how it may differ from generation to generation. This question had me thinking, so I conducted an informal and unscientific survey of several of our clients. The overwhelming feeling among Baby Boomer managers is that social media isn’t really to be taken seriously. When I pressed these leaders as to why, almost every one referred to the early days of social networking and quote the “drunken frat parties and girls gone wild” type of content. I was amazed at how much residual negativity there still is about the early days of social networking.

The interesting thing is that Boomers themselves are increasingly using these technologies to communicate. According to a recent study, over 60% of Baby Boomers are consuming social media content. They aren’t, in large part, creating the content, but they are consuming it.

One of the key elements in Gen Y Now is for leaders to first seek understanding, then awareness, and finally alignment. Ever since the magazine asked us about social networking, I have wondered how many businesses are missing an opportunity because they lack understanding, are not seeking awareness, and are certainly not aligned to some of the latest technologies and communication tools.

Boomers, I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on social media and its impact on the modern workplace today?

After discussing this with several very successful individuals, the following are some points that were made during these conversations:
• “I do think that dealing with tough decisions results in being better prepared / equipped to deal with difficult matters in life. It has been my experience that most of the very difficult matters in life are truly dealt with individually. If you think of career, health, and certain family crises, individuals need to be self-reliant in dealing with challenging issues.”
• “I subscribe to the notion that experience is a good teacher. Hence, if one is faced with adversity, generally he/she can figure out a way to deal with it. However, if an individual waits for friends and neighbors to deal with the problem or resulting anxiety, how will they really deal with it when/if they have to all by themselves?”
• “When I look at my career, I know there were far more intelligent people with far better education that mine, but, I was elected CEO and they were not. I think that one of the reasons that I was chosen was because I was self-sufficient.”
• “I think it is one thing to be team oriented and another thing to be paralyzed waiting for that input. One of the issues that I see with Gen Y is a certain amount of paralysis while they await others opinions.”
• “I do have a concern about Gen Y and some of their critical thinking and crisis management skills. I think one of the by-products of social media and instant connectivity is the need for instant support and input. Sometimes decisions need to be made individually.”

The people quoted above are all senior level executives from firms ranging from 120-20,000 employees. These individuals (at least in my opinion) have always been open minded and visionary leaders. I have never found any of them to be close minded toward Gen Y.

Maybe I am looking for input that validates my current prejudice. Maybe it is a developmental need for Gen Y. Maybe, just maybe, I am not being prejudiced but looking at an opportunity for Gen Y. There is a chance that social networking has created an unintended consequence. For all of the experience, intelligence, and drive Gen Y “brings to the party,” maybe they are not developing their problem solving and critical thinking abilities to the extent that they could.

I hope that I am not looking to simply validate my prejudices. If I am, I am sure folks will let me know. If I am not, then maybe we have become to address a Gen Y developmental need.

What are your thoughts? Is Gen Y overdependence an unintended consequence of social networking?

Generation Y has a different take on “flexibility.” In fact, in speaking with many Gen Yers, having a certain amount of flexibility at work equates to being trusted. It certainly doesn’t mean less than a 40 hour work week or diminished productivity. Gen Y simply does not take a 9-5 attitude in the professional work place. It is true that Generation Y does seek a certain work/life balance, it is just not the same work life balance as Gen X and Baby Boomers sought. Prior generations wished to compartmentalize work more, and separate their home and work life almost completely. Gen Y sees no real need for this separation if it is managed effectively. To Gen Y, flexibility means the ability to work when they are most effective and productive. This is not always necessarily between the hours of 9-5.

During a recent interview with a Gen Y employee, she pointed out how sometimes she is at work by 7AM and has also scheduled a business meeting at 7PM. She was not complaining about the long work hours, but was questioning the need to be sitting at her desk from 4pm to 5pm with no real productive task at hand in order to appear to be “working”.

When I questioned her further, her response was very telling. “If I leave the office before 5:00, then it appears as if I am slacking. I find that lack of trust to be insulting. I have never slacked off anything in my life and would appreciate the recognition of that hard work by being trusted in the way I think I deserve.”

It is certainly true that not all jobs can have flexible hours. In fact, many jobs by their nature require the individual to be present during certain hours. However, that is not true for all jobs. I truly believe that the communication gap is widened by using words that are defined differently between generations.

How do you define flexibility? Which other terms have varying definitions from one generation to another?

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.

Allow me to explain. Recently one our employees noticed my new phone, the Droid, and was fascinated that I had upgraded to that technology. Since she handles a great deal of our Gen Y Now project, she felt my obtaining a Droid gave me “street cred” among the tech savvy Gen Y set. While that may be true, what it is really giving me is headaches.

I have to admit the technology is extraordinary and I am fascinated about what all the device can do. I am so fascinated, in fact, that I might even read the instruction manual. For sake of full disclosure, I am not sure how many cell phones I have owned in my life, but I have yet to read an instruction manual. To me, a cell phone was, primarily intended to make calls. Every once in a while, it was useful to receive a call. Over the last year or two, however, things have changed dramatically.

I don’t think I am alone when it comes to my generation and the new technology. While I am not afraid of it, I am also not completely open to everything it can do…I subscribe to the law of unintended consequences.

I am wrestling with how connected I really want to be. It is hard enough for me to separate my private time from my work efforts and being constantly connected may not be a good thing. I know many folks who regret receiving their first “crackberry”.

I certainly did not buy the phone to enhance any of my “street cred”. While I am an advocate for Gen Y, I never even stopped to think that I was now venturing into technological territory unknown. That might well be the first unintended consequence of my purchase.

My biggest fear of unintended consequences is to send the message that I am constanly available. Too often I see businesses paralyzed by useless email and the need to delay action while waiting for a response. I do not want my connectedness to alter our organization’s culture. Currently, we value action, accountability,  and results. We do not wait around needlessly.

Another unintended consequence that has me scared to death is the reaction of our clients. If everyone knows that you are constantly connected, there seems to be a sense that you will always respond in real time. Many of our clients have not become extraordinarily successful by working 9-5. Will they have an expectation that I will be available to answer any issue late into the night? What will the expectations be? Am I overreacting? Will anyone even care? I simply don’t know and am honestly confounded by these questions.

I’m sure I will like having a GPS in my phone and being able to get my Southwest Airlines boarding pass from anywhere, but will I really appreciate being connected 24-7? Will I upset many disciplines that I have worked so hard to develop over the years?

As a technology immigrant, this territory is very new and confusing. And now I have to worry about using my new found “street cred” should I be a miserable failure assimilating to this new land.

How have you managed the unintended consequences of constant connectivity put forth by technology for yourself or your organization?