QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We have come a long way, but not half as far as we will go

- Anonymous

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST for THE CLASS OF 2010

Each year, Beloit College in Wisconsin creates a list that assumes the mindset of the class of year in the future. Here is the mindset for the class of 2011 (people born in 1989):

If you like this list, please comment on the blog and the moderator will publish the mindsets of earlier years.

1. What Berlin wall?
2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
   
3. Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.
4. They never “rolled down” a car window.
5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
7. They have grown up with bottled water.
8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.
11. Rap music has always been mainstream.
12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
13. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
14. Music has always been “unplugged.”
15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
21. Eastern Airlines has never “earned their wings” in their lifetime.
22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
24. Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
25. Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.
26. Katie Couric has always had screen cred.
27. Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
28. They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola “MagiCan.”
29. They were too young to understand Judas Priest’s subliminal messages.
30. When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
31. Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.
32. They grew up in Wayne’s World.
33. U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
34. They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”
35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
36. American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.
37. Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
38. On Parents’ Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.
39. Fox has always been a major network.
40. They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-Head laugh.
41. The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere.
42. Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
45. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
46. Most phone calls have never been private.
47. High definition television has always been available.
48. Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.
49. Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
50. Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.
51. China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
52. Time has always worked with Warner.
53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
    
54. The purchase of ivory has always been banned.
55. MTV has never featured music videos.
56. The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
57. Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.
58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
59. They’re always texting 1 n other.
60. They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
61. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
62. They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said “goodbye to rusty cars.”
63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
64. Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.
65. Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.
66. The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
68. Burma has always been Myanmar.
69. Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.
70. Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

Article about how to attract Gen Y to YOUR website

CAPTURE THE ATTENTION OF GENERATION Y

By Peter Batten

Found on the website:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/13293.asp

NOTE: This article is directed toward automotive companies, but it includes great advice for any industry including yours. Just transpose the words auto and automotive for the word vacation rentals wherever they are noted.

--- It has to be fast
This is a generation that grew up at the speed of Nintendo and cable internet-- they can't imagine a life without email, cell phones and iPods; everything to them is fast and instantly accessible. They see life as a drop-down menu of choices that can be accessed immediately with the click of a mouse. The USA Today article states that this generation "will wait just three seconds for a page to download before they click away." Ensure that every feature on your site delivers immediate results so visitors don't have that chance to click away. This means your homepage has to load in record time, your site has to be simple to navigate and, particularly for the automotive industry, you have to have an ultra-fast configurator, otherwise known as your Build-A-Car feature. If your configurator is slow or inaccurate, this generation will quickly move on to your competitors' site.

Go for instant gratification with photos
Generation Y demands instant gratification and immediacy. How does this translate to your automotive website? Consider the power of images and 360-degree spins for all your vehicles. Clear, high-quality images are key for making website visitors feel like they are visiting your real store. Use close-ups and spins so they can view virtually any detail, from dashboards to door handles. By employing these site features, visitors instantly feel like they are sitting in the car of their dreams, and these vehicle "movies" make your site sticky, so visitors stay around longer and are more likely to pursue next steps toward a purchase.

Make it comprehensive
Another important point the USA Today article makes is that Generation Y doesn't distinguish between "this is the store" and "this is the website"-- they see your tangible store and your web presence as one and the same. Knowing this, strive to make your website as much of a continuation of your store as possible: show the breadth of your inventory, make sure your branding is consistent and give the most accurate, consistent information possible. Don't give them a reason to leave your site and go to a competitor's because you quote the wrong price for an option package or used a stock photo of the vehicle they want to purchase.

In this same vein, make sure every detail about your products is easy to find and access. This group can see through "marketing fluff" in seconds-- and they don't tolerate it. Generation Y wants products that let them show some individuality, so make it quick and easy for them to review different wheels, paint colors and more. If they can build their dream vehicle on your site, why would they want to leave? And lastly, ensure they have everything they need to compare similar vehicles on your site in order to keep them engaged. Some of the current comparison tools on the market even let you market your vehicle's advantages and showcase the disadvantages of competing models. Use every tool available to make your model lineup come out on top.

If making your website appeal to Generation Y sounds overwhelming, consider contacting companies in the automotive space who specialize in website design, systems and automotive data. Also explore the world of web services-- the most efficient way to get accurate and comprehensive automotive data and data platforms without having to dedicate time or money to development hours. With these tips and services on your side, you'll be on your way to achieving a youth-friendly site in record time.

Generation X - Who are they really?

As each generation knows, there are many prejudicial statements directed at them, because it is absolutely impossible to pinpoint the activities and motivation of an entire generation, but marketers and other generational researchers keep trying to do so.

Here are some myths about Gen X (mostly negative) and some facts to dispel them:

1. They're slackers (from the 1991 movie, "Slacker").

A: Slackers exist in every generation with no greater representation in Generation X. Slackers represent a counter-culture group, a phenomenon not unique to Generation X.

2. They're whiners.

A: Adjusted for inflation, the student debt burden for Baby Busters (Generation X), is double that of 1977 graduates. Further, downsizing has eliminated many entry-level positions and limited upward mobility. Still, Roper Center research showed no significant differences in national or personal mood between Boomers and Busters.

3. Generation X is white.

A: Generation X is ethnically diverse. They are 70% white, 13% black, 12% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 1% Native American. By contrast, 77% of Baby Boomers are white. This group is much more accustomed to inter-racial interaction than previous generations.

4. They're all psychically damaged children of divorce.

A: Some Busters have, in fact, been affected by the liberalized divorce mentality within American society. During the 1970's and 1980's over one million children were affected annually, and some have even been severely affected. A generalization to all children of divorce is dangerous and irresponsible.

5. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain (popular musician who committed suicide) was Generation X incarnate and beloved by all.

A: Curt Cobain, a deceased musician, spoke to a large segment of Generation X. He is not, however, regarded as the voice of a generation. In fact, many X'ers resented the media's attempting to portray Cobain as their spokesperson and using his death as an opportunity to attack them.

6. They'll buy anything.

A: Baby Busters demand value. Further, they are more interested in the accumulation of experiences than tangible goods.

7. Generation X exists against its will.

X'ers resent attempts by others, particularly Baby Boomers, to stereotype them. Such categorization is viewed as an opportunity to criticize and does not respect their individualism. Many people in this age range view the Generation X label as the creation of the media and marketing organizations.

These are from:

Understanding Generation X... Boom or Bust Introduction
http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/direct-marketing/620473-1.htmlBy Turner, Gregory B.,Mitchell, Mark Andrew,McLean, Piper
Publication: Business Forum
Date: Thursday, December 22 2005

Help Create the 2008 VRMA Future Leaders Session for the Annual Conference

To be a part of the planning process for the next Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) Future Leaders educational session, just answer a few short questions using the survey below:

Click this link to take the survey


Your help will help to shape this into the type of session vacation rental managers are excited to attend, so thank you in advance for all of your help.

We hope to make this the best Future Leaders Session yet!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The most important advantages {to young workers}, however, are psychological. My father once explained to me that young soldiers not only can follow an order to attack uphill against an entrenched position but will actually do so. Older soldiers simply shoot the man who gave the order."

-Orrin Onken

From "Surviving the Younger Boss"
(article below)

VACATION RENTAL MANAGER PROFILE: Michael Harrington - Resort Realty, Outer Banks

Mike (pictured in the photo above with his wife Holly who also works at Resort Realty where Mike is the General Manager) grew up in Greenville, NC and attended East Carolina University on a Baseball Scholarship, graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Mgmt and an MBA, with a concentration in Development and Environmental Planning. Upon graduating, Mike used his skills to teach at a Baseball Training School in his hometown and then moved from Greenville, NC to Hatteras, NC, the Outer Banks, "basically to surf!" It was in Hatteras where Mike found his future in the Vacation Rental Industry.

Mike was asked a series of questions by Rachel from Vacation Rental
Managers Association (VRMA), here are his answers:

1)What got you started in the vacation rental industry? What was your first job in the industry?
To move to Hatteras I had to get a job, so I applied for an Assistant Property Manager position at Hatteras Realty and started in the industry there.

2)What steps did you take to become a manager?
I got great advice when I first started, and with great leaders that included me in all aspects of the business, it allowed me learn at a fast pace.

I started by “shadowing” all departments of the business to get more of a macro prospective of how things work. I made a point to help out and volunteer for any projects or after hours opportunities to earn my co-workers respect and try and set a positive example. I also sought all of my more experienced co-workers opinions and asked a ton of questions.

3)What advice would you have for others working toward management positions in the industry?
Be patient. When I was hired, I was told it would take you a year to even figure out what was going on! Once you start gaining more confidence in your experiences, start speaking up to your immediate managers when you see opportunities or ways to improve your job’s operations. Don’t immediately go to the President and tell them what needs to be changed!

4)What do you believe good management looks like?
I think the best managers are more like “players coaches” in sports. They are compassionate and encouraging with all their employees, but can also make the tough decisions when they need to be made.

5)What changes did you make in management styles/operations/hiring when you became a manager?
We instituted an open communication platform throughout our company which has allowed for new ideas that benefit our homeowners and guests that many of our front line employees have come up with.

6)What is the biggest challenge you face in the industry overall/daily?
Being young in a business leadership position, I realized how hard it is to juggle new “innovative” ideas and how they can translate into profitable business decisions for the company. While we come up with good ideas everyday, the bottom line is the only ones that stick are ones that benefit our customers and make basic business sense for the growth of the company.

7)What is the greatest challenge that you have overcome at your business?
Because I was hired from outside the company, my greatest challenge was winning the respect from my co-workers that have been with the company from the beginning.

8) What industry standard do you believe should remain the same in the future. (Example: human reservationists rather than only online booking)
I don’t think there are any industry standards that should always remain the same. 10 years ago many people couldn’t imagine running a business without a rental brochure for their primary marketing. Now, even that is threatening to be extinct in the next 10 years.

9) Do you feel that customer service and operational approaches differ generationally, yes or no?
No for Customer Service. That is pretty straight forward. Yes for operational approaches. Those must constantly evolve to stay relevant and successful in any business, and a lot of the times they change by having different view points like different generations.

11)How many staff members do you have?
Our company has 30 full time employees and about 25 Real Estate Sales Agents.

10) Do you have varying generations in your company?
Yes, our company is much like any other established company.

11)How do you feel your staff gets along as a whole?
We try to create a Family atmosphere at our company. Job descriptions are blurred when things need to get done.

12)Do you feel that you are taken seriously by your peers/employees/owners/ guests/industry colleagues? If so, how do you foster this? If not, why do you think that is?
I hope so. I try to be humble and take direction when it is offered. I know that I don’t know everything, and constantly seek out advice from my peers and colleagues.

13)What do you think that generations X & Y bring to the vacation rental industry table?
I think we are already starting to see what these generations bring. We are lucky in that we can take what the founders of our industry learned the hard way over the past 30 years, and expand on them to take the Vacation Rental business to the next level.

14) By the year 2020, an estimated 25 million people are poised to leave the workforce, which will create a shortfall of workers of approximately 2.3 million by 2014. How do you see that affecting the vacation rental industry?
I honestly don’t see it affecting the industry that much. I think the biggest challenge will be to develop and cultivate new leaders. In order to keep the future talent in the industry we must be able to offer the same benefits that traditional career paths offer, and legitimate advancement opportunities so they have something to work towards.

Thank you Mike for participating and being an
intrinsic part of what makes VRMA great!

Surviving the Younger Boss By Orrin Onken - This article is long, but it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I work for a boss who is twenty years younger than I am. I am fifty. He is thirty. There was a time when I was ashamed of this, thinking it a reversal of the natural order of things that reflected poorly on my socio-economic achievement. My boss, from his perspective, felt uneasy about supervising someone both older and more educated than he. Today, however, the two of us work well and comfortably with each other. Good working relationships do not easily cross generational divides, but as healthy older workers begin staying longer in the workplace, a lot of us are going to be addressing the issue.

My current relationship with my young boss did not emerge easily or intuitively. I had to consciously refrain from behaviors that drive younger bosses crazy. He had to rid himself of some common stereotypes about older workers, and together we had to face some uncomfortable truths about youth and age in the workplace.

Older workers can be difficult to manage. I have listened to young supervisors complain bitterly that they are not respected by older workers, that their opinions are not valued, and that their orders not followed. Older workers can be set in their ways, resistant to change, and obnoxiously know-it-all. Thus, when given a choice in hiring or promotion, young managers prefer people who are young, malleable and respectful. It is a preference that results in age discrimination. It is a preference that is illegal and immoral. It is a preference as natural and understandable as sunrise. Older workers are not responsible for the discrimination against them, but they can act in ways that make discrimination seem a reasonable managerial response.

On the other side of the coin, my thirty-year old boss, like most thirty year olds, is just plain immature. He is energetic, ambitious, aggressive and acquisitive. He is directed toward concrete immediate goals and has a literalness of thought that leaves little room for subtlety, self-examination, or the contemplative pursuits. He secretly thinks that a being a workaholic is an admirable quality and that the experience of his generation is qualitatively more dynamic than that of generations before him. He believes that men and women make free rational choices and that their station is life is determined by the quality of those choices.

I don't share those beliefs, but I fully understand them. In fact, twenty years ago I held them. At fifty, however, they seem to me quaint relics of a stage of human development to which I need never return. Twenty years ago an important and valuable achievement for my boss might have been to skip school and skateboard down the steepest hill in town. Today he would consider taking the afternoon off to do such a thing dangerous and silly. Twenty years ago attempting to acquire as much wealth, power and social status as humanly possible while simultaneously trying to raise a couple of children looked to me like a wonderful idea. Today, at fifty, it is dangerous and silly.

This is not to say that all thirty year olds or all fifty year olds are the same. Some people take aggressiveness and a penchant for acquiring money to their last gasping breath. Some people never develop it. For the most part, however, the stress-inducing ambition that brings us the famous Type A personality is a middle-aged condition. Studies of aging suggest that sometime in the later forties or early fifties we have a value shift. We calm down. We find that family, community and healthy activity become more important than cynicism, a Saab and drinks with the gang. We individuate, become resistant to peer pressures, and develop sophisticated psychological defenses against stress. We discover the importance of a spiritual dimension in our lives and begin to work smarter, not harder.

The generation gap is a value gap. Because of a value shift, a shift that happens every twenty years or so during an average life, a fifty year old often has no more connection to the mental state of a thirty year old than my thirty year old boss has to that ten year old skateboarder. The thirty-year old and the skateboarder, however, do not have to work together. The fifty-year old and the thirty-year old do. To make this pairing work both sides have to face the truth about aging and work performance.

One of the undeniable facts about the differences between the young and old is that youth has advantages. Some advantages are physical. In gymnastics a person is over the hill at fifteen. Professional football players and strippers retire in their thirties. Some advantages are intellectual. Young people often test well and excel at logic problems. The most important advantages, however, are psychological. My father once explained to me that young soldiers not only can follow an order to attack uphill against an entrenched position but will actually do so. Older soldiers simply shoot the man who gave the order. In business, younger people not only can work fifteen hour days living on pizza and coke in order to be the first group of entrepreneurs to sell dog food over the internet, but they will actually do so.

Age, however, also has its job-related advantages. The career of a good judge doesn't peak until well after the commonly accepted retirement age. The minimum age for a U.S. president is thirty-five, a decent Pope doesn't gets started until about sixty, and, as the dot-com world taught us, older CEO's are more often profitable CEO's. At a more mundane level, what the older workers lack in raw physical ability they make up in their ability to avoid the kind of problems that require reflexes and strength to solve. They are more reliable, less volatile, and generally more productive than their younger colleagues.

Age, however, also has its job-related advantages. The career of a good judge doesn't peak until well after the commonly accepted retirement age. The minimum age for a U.S. president is thirty-five, a decent Pope doesn't gets started until about sixty, and, as the dot-com world taught us, older CEO's are more often profitable CEO's. At a more mundane level, what the older workers lack in raw physical ability they make up in their ability to avoid the kind of problems that require reflexes and strength to solve. They are more reliable, less volatile, and generally more productive than their younger colleagues.

In the end, however, physical and intellectual performance are seldom serious issues in the modern workplace. As the proliferation of health clubs demonstrates, most jobs are desk jobs. Jobs that do require physical exertion have been so tweaked by ergonomic experts and OSHA that age is seldom a limiting factor. Jobs that require real-life intellectual performance demand the kind of education-analytical mix that peaks in one's fifties. But as long as certain minimums are met bosses don't really care much about physical or analytic performance. They care about values. They want employees who act and think like they do. And there's the rub.

The first step to bridging this value gap and getting along with a younger boss, or younger co-workers for that matter, is to be honest and forthright about the social and psychological differences that separate us. We older workers are simply not going to "fit in," when the business culture is permeated with the values of middle age. We shouldn't even try. Older workers need to respect those values without accepting them, and make clear that's what they are doing. Younger bosses can accept differences. What they can't accept is any employee, including an older employee, pretending to be something he or she isn't.

A good portion of hiring and promotion is done to fill social needs within an organizational culture. Employers seek people to fill social roles and choose the best candidate for those roles out of a group of people who all have the necessary technical skills. If the organizational culture is permeated with young to middle-aged values the older employee must be straightforward about being unable to either internalize those values or fill any holes in the existing "young boy" network. By being up front about this, in addition to providing relevant skills, the older employee has a chance, not only to work successfully with younger colleagues, but to carve out a satisfying role of his or her own making.

Often the older worker must take the lead in this partnership. Never having been there, younger people often imagine the later decades as either a second adolescence or a continuation of middle age. The older worker has already been middle-aged and therefore has the better view. He or she must be patient yet firm in presenting a truer vision.

If one wanders the discussion forums on the web that cater to boomers and other older workers, you will find many tales of workers ousted from jobs in their fifties because a company wanted to re-energize with younger workers. This is common in spite of the fact that several congressional studies and years of anecdotal evidence suggest that older workers are more productive than their younger colleagues. The companies that do these sorts of reorganizations are actually less interested in production than they are in image and attitude. Early on I had to go straight up with my younger boss and tell him that if I was going to be judged on attitude, I was going to lose every time. I had seen way too much in my life to get all a titter over every new project that promised to make some or all of us slightly more money than we made yesterday. If he could accept my casualness as an integral part of my personality and judge me on my production alone, we could get along fine. If I was to be judged on imitating the mental state of younger workers, I was destined to lose no matter how well I did my job.

To this end, it helps the older worker to develop an aggressive Type B personality. I have explained to my younger boss who is always busy that I consider busy-ness a disease that can be cured. Being too old for a lot of deferred reward, I have to take the time to enjoy every day. Thus, I treat being busy as not only a moral failing, but also a breach of personal discipline. It was busy-ness, stress, and rushing about that in my younger years prevented me from contributing to the social life of my community, pursuing the studies I had always wanted to pursue, and being the supportive father and husband that my family wanted. I have emerged into a new stage of development, I do not want that slippery slope toward busy-ness to lay me low once again. In the workplace, I will work long hours. I will work intelligently. I will work creatively. I will not, however, work frantically, and will absolutely refuse to be busy. Once we got this straight, my younger boss and I began to get along.

A second strategy for getting along with the younger boss is to resist the metaphors. This strategy is stolen from feminism in that women had to resist the metaphors that relegated them to inferior or submissive roles. The older employee encounters two kinds of objectionable metaphors. The first group are those that equate ones later working years with decline or as a return to some previous stage of life. The second are those that describe the work environment in terms associated with youthful activity.

Every age group suspects that its own characteristics are really the most desirable and devises pejorative descriptions for those a generation ahead. Thus, middle-agers tend to see older workers as "over the hill," "coasting toward retirement," experiencing "second childhoods," or subject to those memory impairing "senior moments." I resist these characterizations using humor, corresponding pejorative descriptions of middle age, and when necessary, references to the provisions of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. I don't pretend that my protestations will change the underlying attitude, but sometimes driving it underground is enough.

The other metaphors are those which portray the workplace in terms of youthful activity. These metaphors turn business into war, sports, sexual conquest or some other physical activity for which the young are particularly suited. The fact is that most jobs these days consist of sitting at a desk with a phone and a computer screen. The battle and sports metaphors are just so much self-flattery and it is up to the older workers to make this clear. Work is just work. It is important, but it isn't everything and people who think it is everything actually produce more poorly than those who treat it realistically. Again, one cannot eliminate these metaphors, but calling them what they are can protect an older worker from their subtle consequences.

Americans are getting healthier and living longer. Labor is scarce, the retirement age is rising, and public policy favors keeping older workers active in the workplace. Nevertheless, old ideas about work and age die hard. Young managers fall prey to outdated prejudices, particularly when older workers encourage the prejudice by trying to be something they cannot be. Younger bosses make a place for older workers when the workers guide them in the ways of doing it. In fact, when each party can present him or herself without pretense or apology working out an appropriate role in the workplace can sometimes be as easy as just not taking oneself too seriously.

This is not to suggest that mixing generations in the workplace will ever be painless. Complaining about young whippersnappers or old fogies is a pastime as old as mankind. Remembering what it was like back when, or keeping in mind that you will grow old too is easier said than done under the day-to-day stresses of the workplace. And with few exceptions, people simply prefer the company of their own age group. But work isn't really about any of that stuff. It is about completing tasks in a timely and profitable manner. When both the older worker and his or her younger manager are clear about this, they often find that there is time left over to get to know and understand each other. I have grown to like my younger boss. We don't play bridge or golf together. We don't read the same books or listen to the same music. But now and then when business is slow we take some time just to talk about our lives. That is friendship, and there is nothing more conducive to job satisfaction than being able to work among friends.

* This article can be found at: http://www.loris.net/youngerboss.html

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

If a trainstation is where the train stops, what's a workstation?

~Author Unknown

TAKE A GENERATIONAL QUIZ

This quiz is from From Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman and can be found at About.com: Human Resources


WHEN GENERATIONS COLLIDE AT WORK QUIZ

QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following is important for a Baby Boomer (Born 1946-1964)?
Build parallel careers.
Build a stellar career.
Build a legacy.
Build a portable career.

Your response? _______________________


2. Which of the following is important to Generation Xers (Born 1965-1980)?
Give me balance now, not when I'm sixty-five.
Support me in shifting the balance.
Help me balance everyone else and find meaning myself.
Work isn't everything; flexibility to balance my activities is.

Your response? _______________________


3. Which of the following feedback do Millennials (Born 1981-1999) prefer?
Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing?
Once a year, with lots of documentation.
No news is good news.
Feedback whenever I want it, at the push of a button.

Your response? __________________


ANSWERS

1. Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964): Build a stellar career.
Loyal to a fault, Traditionalists expected to build a lifetime career with one employer, or at least in a single field, and to make a lasting contribution.

2. Generation Xers (Born 1965-1980): Give me balance now, not when I'm sixty-five.
Gen-Xers, the generation that brought balance to the forefront of today's workplace, aren't just carefree kids anymore. They have adult concerns, including young children, and want the time and flexibility to take care of them, perhaps better than they saw their parents do.

3. Millennials (Born 1981-1999): Feedback whenever I want it at the push of a button.


CLASHES AROUND CAREER GOALS
Traditionalist (Born 1900-1945): Build a legacy.
Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964): Build a stellar career.
Generation Xers (Born 1965-1980): Build a portable career.
Millennials (Born 1981-1999): Build parallel careers.

CAREER GOALS OF THE WORKPLACE GENERATION
Loyal to a fault, Traditionalists expected to build a lifetime career with one employer, or at least in a single field, and to make a lasting contribution.

Listening to the tick of the career clock, Baby Boomers find themselves questioning where they've been and where they're going. Yet the idea of having a stellar career is still utmost in the minds of many.

Intent on looking for career security rather than job security, Generation Xers believe it is critical to build a repertoire of skills and experiences they can take with them if they need to.

Millenials, who are just beginning to enter the workforce, have grown up multi-tasking, and believe that they will be able to pursue more than one line of work at the same time.

*** Once a manager has the different generations' goals in mind, it is critical to provide different routes for each workplace generation to reach them. In particular, Traditionalists and Boomers tend not to have career paths laid out in nearly the amount of detail they are expected to produce for the Generation Xers they are often supervising.

Generation Xers, on the other hand, are constantly pulling out their career maps to double check that they are headed in the right direction. Unless managers are always looking over these maps with their Generation X employees, they won't be aware of the change of direction until someone who is paying attention comes along and steals the talented Xer away.

WORKPLACE CLASHES AROUND WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Traditionalist (Born 1900-1945): Support me in shifting the balance.
Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964): Help me balance everyone else and find meaning myself.
Generation Xers (Born 1965-1980): Give me balance now, not when I'm sixty-five.
Millennials (Born 1981-1999): Work isn't everything; flexibility to balance my activities is.

*** Many Traditionalists have reached a point of financial and career stability where they are able to ask for more balance, yet they want the support and the approval of their employers in making the shift, including the transition to retirement.

With single parent households, growing kids, aging parents, demanding jobs, and retirement looming on the horizon, Baby Boomers have realized there simply isn't enough time to go around, and are asking for help in achieving a better balance.

Gen-Xers, the generation that brought balance to the forefront of today's workplace, aren't just carefree kids anymore. They have adult concerns, including young children, and want the time and flexibility to take care of them, perhaps better than they saw their parents do.

Millennials, the most over-programmed generation ever, have had the concept of balance drummed into their heads since birth by their Boomer parents.Balance initiatives are one of the most strategic approaches for companies to attract workers, retain the workers they have, and reduce stress and distraction in their lives. But balance means something different to each of the generations so understanding different perceptions of balance is the key to success.

WORKPLACE CLASHES ABOUT FEEDBACK
Traditionalists (Born 1900-1945): No news is good news.
Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964): Once a year, with lots of documentation.
Generation Xers (Born 1965-1980): Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing?
Millennials (Born 1981-1999): Feedback whenever I want it at the push of a button.

*** The generations clash about feedback style as well as format: formal vs. frank, verbal vs. written, e-mail vs. memo, on the spot vs. a set time. Put all of these styles together and the feedback a Traditionalist thinks is informative and helpful can seem formal and preachy to the Boomers and the Xers.

Feedback a Boomer thinks is fair and judicious can seem uptight and overly political to a Generation Xer or a Traditionalist. Feedback a Generation Xer thinks is immediate and honest can seem hasty or even inappropriate to the other generations. Clearly, the generations have not signed off on what the feedback contract is supposed to look like.