Gen Y comes into an established organization, and the smart ones see lots of things they think can be done better, or just differently. In one sense, this is the tendency of anybody to make an impression in a new setting. For instance, many managers change things when they take a new job, either to shake up the organization or because they think they know what is best.

It’s natural enough that new, young workers would see things to change. In fact, they likely have new skills that the organization needs. Another advantage of newcomers is that they see things with fresh eyes.

This is a very important moment. If you squelch newcomers now, you may never get their enthusiastic input for your organization. In a general sense, it takes about ten positive reinforcements to equal one negative one. You need to avoid negative reinforcements to new workers. If you want to get their best, you need to reinforce as many ideas as you possibly can. If instead, you tell newcomers to hold their ideas until they actually understand “how things are done around here,” you may have lost them.

This doesn’t mean you have to listen to every idea that Gen Y throws out. The point is to open the lines of communication between you and your new Gen Y employees, and encourage them to contribute to making the organization better. In addition, their fresh perspective as new employees can be priceless as you strive to improve your organization for all employees.

Here are some communication tips for managing Gen Y:

1. Cut the b.s.! Don’t try to hype Gen Y on the one hand, and don’t be subtle on the other hand. Just tell them your point.

2. Ask for their input. Ask for their ideas or reactions to policies, work, and so on. Don’t tell them that you’ll use their input unless you will. Being heard will tend to win them on your side.

3. Keep them in the know. All workers rate being kept informed high in their priorities, and Gen Y is no exception. Schedule regular meetings to review projects, adjust work-goals, and answer questions. Keep the pace fast. Explain the big picture and discuss your corporate strategic plan. It helps for them to understand the “30,000 ft. view.”

4. Let everyone teach. The best way for people to learn is to teach others. Generation Y employees learn well from each other, and they are often highly effective on-the-job coaches. You also extend your training dollars this way since one employee can take a course and then come back and teach others.

5. Encourage ongoing learning. Encourage Gen Y to set their own concrete learning objectives. Provide access to the materials they need to meet their learning objectives at their own pace.

6. Show them a growth path. The type of Gen Y employees you want will be unhappy if they think their jobs are dead end. They don’t see the point to experience just for its own sake. They want to be going somewhere. Either put them on big, multifaceted projects or move them laterally through different departments.

In summary, to get the most out of young workers you have to engage them. Keep them in the loop. Give them an environment that lets them expand and use their skills. Help them grow by allowing them to take on additional responsibilities and authority.

When we talk about creating alignment we never talk about making these kinds of accommodations, or any accommodations, for that matter. There are certain principles that must be upheld. Respecting someone’s time is critical to alignment. If accommodations are made for Gen Y, then either the other generations will resent them or simply assume tardiness is acceptable. That is a dangerous road that can only lead to conflict and lack of productivity.

There is another way to address tardiness from a Gen Y’er. First of all, thanking them for showing up at all is not even an option. What is the best option is timeless leadership. There are four points I would ask any leader to consider:

1. Generation Y views time a bit differently than previous generations. Their world is a 24/7 world. The lines between leisure, work, hobbies, etc are blurred. It is just as likely that a Gen Y’er, sitting at a coffee shop at 11pm typing away on a laptop, is working on a work project as it is that they are addressing a personal matter. Time is viewed very differently. A Boomer working at 11pm is “burning the midnight oil” and “working overtime”. A Y’er is simply working. There is no consideration for the time of day, nor is it viewed as an inconvenience.

2. It is a natural tendency for all generations to assume their view is shared by everyone. Since Gen Y views time differently, it is human nature for them to assume others see it the same way. This is not a selfish thing, it is just reality. If a leader does not step up to help add perspective to the situation, then there is no reason for a Y’er to even think something is wrong. This is where timeless leadership is needed.

3. If a leader takes a moment to explain the why of the situation, I believe their Gen Y employee will get the message and understand the ramifications of tardiness. While Gen Y may not respect time, they do respect others. Tardiness is a sign of disrespect. If someone is late for a meeting or work, the (possibly unintended) consequence is that everyone else believes their time is not respected. If I am waiting for someone who is late, my natural reaction is to think that person feels their time is more valuable than mine. Leaders…..take some time to mentor and lead!

4. My final point is a bit more pointed. There will be people of every generation who push their boundaries to see what they can get away with. If the disregard for norms is tolerated, people will push even further to see where the boundary ends. I know of several situations where too much slack was granted to Gen Y’ers on issues like timeliness. After several frustrating months for the co-workers, the employee left anyway. When we interviewed the departing Gen Y’er we learned that there was a lack of respect for leadership because they were never approached for “breaking the rules”. If, once addressed, someone continues to be late for work or meetings (of any generation) corrective action must be taken. Thanking them is not one of the options!

Gen Y is looking for leadership. Give it to them. You will have more engaged employees, who will look to stay with a good leader.

What do you think? Are many other companies out there thanking Gen Y for coming to work late? Please send comments to bhobart@solutions-21.com.

Are you looking for an immediate response?  Do you expect your coworkers to be working “24/7”?  Are you setting the wrong example?  Do you proclaim “work/life balance” and then send an unbalanced (and unintended) message?

I think it is worth a few minutes for all leaders to consider how they may be unintentionally undermining their leadership.  If you are sending messages in off hours, and receiving a response in off hours, take a moment to ask yourself if you are “practicing what you preach”.  Technology is constantly changing, and the best leaders take the time to see if they are in alignment and adapting as necessary.

My point is, if you did not push your way through the introduction then you would not have received the solid information. In fact, what you would only have experienced is a very negative (and stereotypical) example of Gen Y. I do not think these negative portrayals are fair and in fact are extremely misleading. This type of portrayal makes it even harder for leaders to implement a cultural shift in their organizations since most people will not read the article but will see the photo and headlines that support their prejudices.

Recently we gave one of our clients some “homework”. Why not try this yourself. For the next month pay attention to articles about Gen Y. Make three categories. First, look for positive articles about Gen Y. Secondly, look for negative articles. Finally, look for articles that have negative headlines or photos but actually have positive information in the text. I believe you will find the negative/misleading will out number the positive 5 to 1.

I think this is important because it makes your job as a leader that much harder. If your folks already have a negative opinion, and the images they receive support their prejudices, then it will require you to help change their opinion. Take some time and share a few positive images. For starters, check out #GenYGivesThanks . For the month of November Gen Y will tell you what they are thankful for….and I think you will be surprised at the entries. Your challenge as a leader is to help fight the negative images and provide the positive balance.

I am sure many leaders out there will be as frustrated as I am/was about this conversation. For the sake of full disclosure, I like voicemail and use it quite frequently. My initial reaction was not a positive one. However, in an attempt to practice what I preach, I proceeded to engage the group in a lively conversation about “adapting to your audience’ and using the mode of communication that is most likely to get the desired result. After all, it is the result, not the effort that is most important.

I also pointed out how their attitude may well be hypocritical. If they have a desire for Gen X and Boomer leaders to adapt, then shouldn’t they also adapt? Is it simply ok to equate taking action with achieving results? Also, and as we discuss in the book, we don’t “train or handle people” we lead people. Why is it ok for them to “train” someone and not lead?

The response was very interesting and unexpected. Since Gen Y seeks to CONNECT, their response was to admit a certain amount of hypocrisy. If voicemail was the best way to connect, then the group seemed to feel a need to ADAPT. If they want us to adapt, then they also should adapt.

This reminded me of something Chuck Fowler, the President of Fairmount Minerals told me as we were writing Gen Y Now. Chuck said, “instead of becoming frustrated with new employees, look at this as a way to teach and guide them”. A spirited conversation is always better than frustration and alienation.

I realized how words matter and how important it is for leaders to take control of the message and the vision, or it will be controlled for you. Here are just two examples that have passed my way:

Every single company we have worked with on strategic planning in the last year has had some kind of conversation regarding the development of a sustainable/green initiative. Words matter….as little as 10 years ago these conversations were between “tree huggers”, not corporate executives. Substitute the words….tree hugging = sustainable business practices.

In another recent post, I referred to a recent meeting with a wine maker in Napa Valley. I was surprised to learn that pairing food with wine is a relatively new idea. Before Napa Valley was a respected wine region, it was unheard of to pair food with wine, since the wine should have been able to stand on its own. The wine establishment at the time thought this was a “radical” idea that was a desperate attempt by an upstart. Fast forward to today and we know how innovative this simple idea really was at the time. Words matter….radical = innovative.

In Gen Y Now we try to expose the myths about Gen Y, and one of them is that they are slackers and lazy. Words matter. If a Baby Boomer asked questions and tried to find a simpler way to solve a problem, would we call them slackers? My bet is we would call them (us!) innovative. Words matter and there is a great chance we are not using the right words to describe Gen Y’s attempts to be as productive as possible. Let’s challenge ourselves to use the word INNOVATIVE. It is entirely possible that slacker = innovative.

Daniel seemed to have a real interest in the topic and really connected with the point about “timeless leadership”. I simply do not believe Gen Y is unreasonable with their expectations of leadership. Gen Y simply demands what every generation wants from their managers and leaders. When we are working with our clients we try to stress that in no way, shape, or form are we asking for accommodations to be made for Gen Y. We are simply asking for the implementation of timeless leadership.

Back to Daniel. During our discussion we were talking about the need to “explain the why” to Gen Y. Managers cannot simply assign work and move on. If Gen Y has questions, managers need to be available. Also, if managers take 30 seconds and explain why the task is relevant, Gen Y will dive into it with all of the commitment you could ever want. The equation is simple. Interesting + meaningful work = commitment. This point resonated with Daniel. It seems that he has always exhibited timeless leadership.

Years ago Daniel was an executive for Shell International. In his role, he had many opportunities to hire new talent. These new folks were highly educated engineers and sought after talent. What he would do, was give these new folks very meaningful and strategic assignments right out of the gate. These assignments would be parts of the overall strategy, not just projects to keep the new hires busy. He would carve out time to follow up and he always had a 90 day review of the progress.

In other parts of the organization, he often witnessed a different process for new hires. Daniel said, “people would assign the engineers the task of counting nuts and bolts instead of trusting them with meaningful work. Then they would wonder why these new people were not working hard. I never had that issue. All of my new folks were working hard….and contributing.” It is not a coincidence that his folks also tended to go on to great success.

“Back in the day”, Daniel was working with Baby Boomers and Traditionalists, not Gen Y. However, he would have had the same success with Gen Y that he did with the other generations. The reason is simple, timeless leadership.

I only point this out as another example of how a simple innovation can change everything. Today we look at this as common practice and common sense. I think the same will be said of adapting our current performance management systems. In five years it will seem like good ‘ol common sense to give more real time feedback than to wait for a monthly meeting and an annual appraisal to offer input to our employees.

The key for today’s leader is to champion the change. It will not happen just because we “say so”. True progress will require a change management strategy and a commitment to implementation. It will start at the top.

The opening address to all of the members discussed the history, the present and the future of supply chain management. I found it to be a fascinating talk and was struck by the discussion of the history/evolution of supply chain management. The speaker talked about the advances made in the 80’s and 90’s and how strategies developed over time. The biggest hurdle to implementation, it seems, was the resistance to change. Things that today are taken for granted and are viewed as the normal course of business were revolutionary ideas in the mid 80’s. Many business leaders hesitated to embrace these new ideas and were slow to adapt. In fact, the speaker told the audience it was the purchasing people who were championing change. He said it took a full 6-8 years to get most organizations to accept these “revolutionary” new practices. These practices today are simply “business as usual”.

I was struck by the similarity of the supply chain challenge in the 80’s with the current challenge to attract and retain Gen Y. I had an opportunity to ask a Senior Executive of an international organization what happened in the early 80’s to the early adopters of these “radical” ideas. He told me “these are the folks who today are leading their industries. In fact, many folks never made the change and they are either struggling mightily today, or in some cases, they are out of business”.

In 1980 it was a radical idea to combine purchasing categories in order to bid them in total to suppliers. Before that everything was dealt with as a separate purchase. Today, this is a common practice to combine categories for bid. Similarly, many business leaders think providing REAL TIME feedback to employees is a radical departure from their current performance management system. Giving ONE SIDED feedback once a year has been the cornerstone of most systems and is now the sacred “annual performance appraisal”. Many business folks do not see the need to adapt this system and, in fact, are so resistant to change they are FIGHTING AGAINST any improvements to the current systems.

I believe it is critical for business leaders to address this issue because TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT is dead. Gen Y wants real time feedback. Waiting for weeks or even months for feedback and course corrections will not be acceptable to Gen Y. They do not want to waste weeks and then find out they are off course or that there is a better way to complete the task. Gen Y wants to contribute and tackle meaningful and interesting work. They want their efforts to matter.

We have found that traditional performance management is not well received from Gen X and Baby Boomers, as well. Neither of these generations holds the performance appraisal system in high regard. The difference is these generations have “grown up on” this type of system and are willing to tolerate its’ shortcomings. Gen Y has grown up on more real time feedback and input. Gen Y will not be willing to tolerate an antiquated system. A new system, for a new generation (which ALL generations will appreciate) in a new century is what is required to attract and retain the best talent.

To many business leaders this sounds like radical change. I truly believe in 5 years the highest performing organizations in the world will have developed a performance management system that provides feedback in a faster and more meaningful way. What seems radical today will soon be common place. The companies who get out ahead of the pack will have the competitive edge for talent acquisition and retention. Those who don’t will have a mighty hill to climb to catch up.