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Chapter five has a lot of great information in it so I’ve decided to break it up over two posts.

I have two children in daycare and over the summer the daycare provider has been working out of our house. Some days it’s just our two children and one other, plus we have a nice backyard, plenty of space and lots of toys so when we offered, our daycare provider accepted.

Because of this I’ve gotten to know the other kids quite well. One in particular is a curious one and when I come home from work she’ll ask me a question, usually something like “was work fun today,” or “what is in your bag,” or something similar. With this particular child, whenever I give an answer she always follows up with “Why?”

More on this later.

This chapter focuses on what Bruce Tulgan calls giving the gift of context but I would liken it to setting the ground rules of behaviour when at work. Tulgan says a common myth of Gen Yers is they don’t respect their elders, but that’s not the case, he says.

He contends younger people today do not recognize instictively that people who have vested many years in a company have intuition and understanding about the company. They have less life experience and fewer points of reference.

For example, Tulgan tells a story in Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How To Manage Generation Y about a manager who setup a young employee in a cubicle with some paperwork. When the manager returned a few hours later the employee wasn’t there. He had moved across the hall to an office saying he liked this space better.

The manager said “Of course you like it better, it’s bigger, has a nice desk and a window, but it’s for someone who has been here longer than six hours.”

The actions of the young employee can be explained many ways but Tulgan argues Gen Yers have grown up where their feelings, wants and desires have been centric and have not been defined by teachings of authority.

Give Gen Yers the Gift of Context

It’s important to explain to Gen Yers that there are pre-existing independent factors that would be present even if the Gen Yer was not. These factors have an impact on every situation.

Explaining to them how it was when you were a new employee will not give them context. Explaining what their role is in the bigger picture of the company will, give them explicit boundaries, things you didn’t have to explain to previous generations of employees (like not taking any cubicle they please) have to be explained to Gen Yers.

Here are a few questions Tulgan asks Gen Yers to ask themselves before attempting to handle any situation in the workplace. Again, these are only a few of the many he lists, like many of the examples I give in these postings, if you’d like to see the whole list, check out the book.

• Where am I? Where is this place?
• What is the mission of the group
• When did all the people who are here, get here?
• Why am I here?
• When did I get here?
• What is my appropriate role in relation to the mission? Who am I in this context?

Teach Them to Play Work Well With Others

Their immediate manager must work hard at being their closest relationship at work. When the manager is consistently absent or a non-factor in the Gen Yers life at work, the Gen Yer will attach themselves to someone else. Often this someone else may not be a great mentor but someone with a strong personality that may lead them into a clique.

Tulgan says there are four issues that most often cause relationship conflicts for Gen Yers at work

Issue #1: The Multiple Boss Problem
When a Gen Yer has more than one manager assigning them work, both the manager and the Gen Yer need to ask some set questions each time a new task is sent their way:

1. The manager needs to ask and the Gen Yerer needs to tell what other assignments they’re working on at the moment
2. The priorities have to be discussed with the Gen Yer and the other manager has to be made aware of the new assignment that’s been handed to them, what potential conflicts may arise because of the new assignment and what steps should be taken if those conflicts to come about (i.e. who to speak with, where they can go for help, etc.)

Issue #2: The Chain of Command Problem
Tulgan says sometimes Gen Yers resist their immediate manager’s authority of find their immediate manager to be unhelpful or unresponsive to their requests.

I was recently told a story of a Gen Yer in the tourism industry who would e-mail or cc: the general manager and CEO of the organization with every minor complaint or problem they had. After a few months of this, the employee was walked.

Clearly when anyone, a Gen Yer included, end-runs their manager, problems will follow. To avoid this problem Tulgan suggests a two-step process:

1. Teach Gen Yers to deal with their immediate manager whenever possible. If they can’t get what they need (key word here is need, not want or like) from their immediate manager, teach them under what circumstances to request a meeting with their manager’s manager is appropriate
2. When a Gen Yer does end-run their immediate manager, whomever they try to deal with should immediately bring the Gen Yer’s manager in to the conversation. If it’s inappropriate to do so, an HR representative should be included

Issue #3: The Older, More Experienced Colleagues Problem
Older and more experienced coworkers can find themselves being rubbed the wrong way by Gen Y employees because of their eagerness to take on new responsibilities and desire to try things in new ways.

They also feel the sense of jealousy when they see the manager giving them special treatment or awards for completing tasks. Again, Tulgan suggests two steps for helping Gen Yers and managers avoid this problem:

1. Remind Gen Yers their older, more experienced colleagues are just that: older and more experienced. Consider pairing a Gen Yer and a company veteran to act as a peer advisor. Put thought behind the pairing so it truly is meaningful.
2. If you assign special awards or recognition, ensure it’s available to everyone in your department or company and not just the Gen Yer

Issue #4 Depending on Employees in Other Team, Departments, Divisions or Even Outside Vendors
When Gen Yers can’t get what they need because of these interdependencies it can cause conflict for the Gen Yer because they still have to get their work done on time.

1. Teach Gen Yers to focus on tasks they can accomplish on their own while waiting for whatever it is they need.
2. Give them good standard operating procedures for spelling out their needs and deliverables to their partners.
3. Teach them when and how to bring in the manager or another authority figure to put extra pressure on the other party.

Next Post

As I mentioned at the start of this entry, chapter five is jam-packed with lots of actionable information so in the next post (hopefully tomorrow) I’ll finish off this chapter which will include tips on “Teaching them how to shine in meetings and presentations,” and “Teach them how to deal with your boss’s boss’s boss and other big shots.”

As always, I welcome your thoughts on the pieces I’ve posted here – do you think Tulgan is off his rocker or does he make some good points? Let me know in the comments.

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