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I worked from home on Friday and enjoyed the long-weekend off. I actually read another book, The Age of Speed that I’ll be discussing in a later post, but for now, back to Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How To Manage Generation Y.

The fourth chapter focused on how to treat, or interact, with Generation Y workers. The second half of the chapter specifically dealt with creating a reward system for Gen Yers.

Chapter four is titled “Practice In Loco Parentis Management,” which is Latin for in place of the parent. It has traditionally been used for a place where a school or a ward would be in charge of care for the child, but author Bruce Tulgan likens it to taking over the tutoring aspects of your Gen Y employees without taking over the emotional growth responsibility that is definitely reserved for the actual parent.Tulgan says this is an important practice for today’s managers of Gen Yers because of the extreme involvement parents have in their children’s lives today. He calls it “helicopter parenting.” In this chapter he relays several stories from managers telling of parents who called them to complain about their child’s compensation or to suggest new tasks for them.

He contends that every step of the way Gen Yers have been guided, directed, supported, coached and protected and unlike previous generations they don’t express much desire to break free as the reach adulthood.

His thoughts aren’t based on fantasy. Recent studies show that up to 80 per cent of parents are involved in their children’s orientation at college and university.

But don’t fear this trend, he says. Among today’s Gen Yers, those who are closest to their parents will probably turn out to be the most abole, most acheivment oriented and the hardest working.

I remember going to get my hair cut when I was younger. I really wanted a certain style but my hair has a natural growth pattern of moving from left to right. Try as I might it was hard for me to get my hair to go the other way or even stand straight up. The hairdresser listened to how I wanted my hair cut and my realized problem then said to me “Well if that’s what your hair wants to do (go from left to right) let’s work with it.”

The same philosophy will work well with managers of Gen Yers. Tulgan says there are four aspects to running with the over parenting phenomenon:

1. Show them you care
2. Give them boundaries and structure
3. Help them keep score
4. Negotiate special rewards in small increments

Show them you care

Tulgan suggests you get to know them, care enough to learn their names (he says they love their own name), but you don’t need to know about their personal life, but here are some things you should know:

1. How long has the Y been working here
2. What are their main tasks every day
3. What else are they working on
4. What is Y’s reputation among coworkers
5. Where does Y sit at work, does Y travel for work? Where?

Easy, right? Not so much. The only way to learn this type of information is to spend time with your direct reports, not an easy task if you have more than 10 people working under you. The author suggests choosing two people every day, one star and one problem and have a conversation with them making sure to include these three questions:

1. How are you?
2. What is your top-priority assignment right now
3. What can I do to help you?

Finally, wrap up every conversation with actionable advice

Give them boundaries

As discussed in my chapter two post, Gen Yers want both flexible time control and the ability to customize their space. However, that does not mean they want to waste their time. As a manager, you are responsible for spelling out their duties and responsibilities.

An important factor in helping Gen Yers succeed is giving them a safe area where they can try out new ideas, fail, and still be encouraged to try something else they might make a mistake in. But as manager you must ensure your parametres help them avoid mistakes that have been made before.

Help them keep score

Older generations where entangled in fierce competition against each other. Look at Glengarry Glen Ross for a snapshot of what working in an office from the 1960s through 1990s was like. Today’s Gen Yers compete as well, but not against each other. They compete against themselves, averages and benchmarks, Tulgan says.

The examples he uses in the book all end up with managers coming up with some sort of point scheme, the modern day equivalent of the gold star. The result of all these stories is that it helped the Gen Yers “focus like a laser,” on the task at hand.

Tulgan suggests you find something meaningful to attach points to, for example, if tardiness is a problem, take away points for every minute they’re late to work and give points for every minute they’re early. The reward could be “patio afternoons,” or something else meaningful to them.

Alternately, if coordinating an official point system is too daunting, consider an unofficial point system such as checklists, acction plans, deadlines, etc. to help them keep track of themselves.

Negotiate special rewards in very small increments

Gen Yers think of themselves as customers in every transaction, even at school they think of it as buying classes and learning.

Now that they’re in your office, they’re still thinking about buying and selling but they’re the ones who has something to sell. So stop thinking that you’re paying them to work and start thinking that you’re buying results from them because that’s exactly how Gen Yers see it, Tulgan says.

When you ask a Gen Yer what they need from you, tell them you can do whatever they need. The secret is to immediately follow-up with “And here’s what I need from you to do that.” If they need more money, more time off, more flexibility, figure out a way to get it for them in a way that it can get something for you (the royal you, the company, not you personally unless it’s appropriate in the given situation).

As discussed earlier, Gen Yers have a hard time swallowing the promise of long-term payoffs. Sure they would love a career that lasts their whole life with a great RRSP plan and long-term vested benefits. The problem is they don’t really believe that is possible in today’s world. Make their rewards short-term that will result in immediate results for the company.

Tulgan reminds the reader near the end of this chapter when a Gen yer asks for something, negotiate it in very small increments … the key is when they ask for it, promise it for them tomorrow if they can deliver what you want today.

Next chapter

Chapter five is titled “Give Them the Gift of Context,” and I should have time to read and blog about it tomorrow. I mentioned I have read The Age of Speed, which does have some correlation to this book, but I also have on my reading list The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance [Updated & Revised] which speaks directly to the concepts taught in this chapter. I’ll be sure to blog that book as well.

What do you think? Do we baby Gen Yers too much? Are these principles sound? I would love to read your comments.

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Tags: book, Bruce Tulgan, education, Generation Y, Learning, Millennium Generation, reading
Posted in Books, Learning, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy