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Leading and Managing the 21st Century Worker
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
Name that decade. Two fortysomething business people, over lunch, are bemoaning the demise of the work ethic and the lackluster prospects emerging from the new generation of American workers. Words like “slackers", “lazy", and “overindulged" pepper the conversation. To hear them tell it, no one under thirty wants to work hard. They're irresponsible, disloyal, and won't commit to anything.
No matter what decade you guessed, chances are you guessed right. These are the same words your parents' generation used to describe you, and our kids will have similar conversations about the generation yet to come.
Thom Rainer, in his book The Bridger Generation, describes four generations of 20th Century Americans: the Builders (our parents and grandparents); the Boomers (most of us); the Busters (Generation X); and the Bridgers.
Bridgers? That's a new one. What's a bridger? If you really want to know, go check out the Justin Timberlake poster on your little girl's bedroom wall. This latest group, encompassing kids from kindergarten through college, will be the next generation to hit your company. And unlike the sparsely populated Generation X, there are tons of them. If you don't believe it, go to the mall about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
The combined generations of the busters and the bridgers will do much of the work of the next century. And those of us who plan to be around for the next few decades would do well to figure out how to lead and develop them to take over for us.
And we'll need to be fast learners.
An unprecedented confluence of demographic conditions is about to bring a “flushing out" of the workforce the likes of which we've never seen, Over the next fifteen years, workers will retire in droves, pack their RV's, and head off to Branson, Missouri. In their places will come millions of younger workers who will think the fax machine is old technology.
Some manufacturing companies in the midwest report with fear and trembling that between now and 2008, as many as 90% of their factory workers will retire. Attrition will soak up some, but not nearly all. Have you run the numbers on your organization? And are you ready for what's coming?
So Generation X is already here, and the bridgers are coming. How do you attract, retain, and lead the under 30-set to take your organization ahead into the 21st century?
1. Forget what you've heard about them. They're not all slackers. They have ambition, drive, and brains, just like we do. But, just like we did, they grew up in a different era from the generation before them, and that makes a difference at work.
2. Whatever you do, don't lower your hiring standards. If you want to reinforce the stereotype that young workers are slackers, just gather up the first few who can cast a shadow, and put them to work. However, if you want them to help your business grow and make money, be more selective. Hire for “fit" more than for experience or specific training. Chances are, if you get the right people, you can train them to do the job.
3. Get off their necks. One thing is certain. This generation will NOT be micromanaged. Their latchkey childhoods taught them independence. A survey by New York's Families and Work Institute rated “autonomy" as one of the most highly valued characteristics of a job today. This doesn't mean abandon them. It means to give them clear direction, good tools and training, and then get out of their way.
4. Get them committed to your organization. Today's younger workers have lived with divorce and layoffs. They want desperately to commit to something important. But don't even talk to them about loyalty and commitment, unless you're willing to ante up.
5. Provide lifetime employability. You can't offer lifetime employment anymore, and 21st century workers won't be looking for it anyway. But they will be looking for an employer who can provide training and development in portable skills they can use for a lifetime.
I spoke this summer for the “graduation exercises" after the completion of a year-long leadership training program at a clothing manufacturer in the south. Right now, they're working overtime to keep up with demand, but everyone knows this is an industry that's not growing in domestic production. “Why," I asked, “are you going to the trouble and expense of training these folks in people skills, when many of them might be displaced in the next few years?"
The answer was the right one. ``We can't keep our talent if we don't. Our competitors provide reskilling, and if we don't, our people will go work for them. Right now we're busy, and we need people. These jobs may eventually go away, and if they do, these folks will have marketable skills."
So, chill, dudes. The 21st century worker isn't all that bad. But their lives have been different from yours and mine. Provide a great place to work, give them plenty of responsibility, expect and demand excellence from them, and they'll carry your organization through to the next century and beyond.
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.