A Boomer to Millennials: Lessons I’ve Learned and Lessons I’d Offer

There is no question that the generation gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials is dramatic. It includes a vast array of personal and professional differences that cannot be simply dismissed as so many Boomers would like to do. I can’t even count the number of conversations I’ve had with Boomer colleagues who complain about the Millennials’ “work ethic,” and how difficult it is to manage them effectively.

In Forbes magazine’s Millennials and Baby Boomers: At Odds or Peas in a Pod? writer Meghan Casserly cites Lindsey Pollak, author of Getting From College to Career: The Revised Edition:

“the number one source of generational stereotypes about Boomers and Millennials is the discussion of work ethic. Millennials, we’ve heard, are coddled, entitled and expectant of a trophy for showing up at work every day. Conversely, Boomers are micro-managers who don’t respect the talents of young employees. Unfortunately for both cohorts, there is undeniable truth to these particular generalizations. More unfortunately for the Boomers, they’ve got only themselves to blame. Helicopter parents, it seems, have become helicopter managers at work. “Boomers can say what they want. They call Millennials coddled,” says Pollak, “but deep down they know that—as their parents—they made them that way.”

As a Boomer who has managed several Millennials, and as a parent of one as well, I must reluctantly admit the very real truth of Pollak’s statement. My bad.

So what’s a Boomer to do? Refusing to accept the differences, or attempt to understand what motivates Millennials, is not an option. Consider the following from Jessica Brack’s excellent report Maximizing Millennials in the Workplace for the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School:

“They are known as Millennials, Gen Y, Gen Next, Echo Boomers, the Baby-on-Board Generation, Screenagers, Facebookers and the MySpace Generation, to name just a few. Whatever you choose to call them, they are the nearly 80 million young adults born (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) between 1976 and 2001 who have already joined or are preparing to join the workforce. By 2014, 36 percent of the U.S. workforce will be comprised of this generation and by 2020, nearly half (46 percent) of all U.S. workers will be Millennials (Lynch, 2008). By comparison, the generation before them, Generation X (or Gen Xers), represent only 16 percent of today’s workforce. The sheer volume of Millennials, combined with the relative lack of Gen Xers and the increasing retirement of Baby Boomers means that employers will be facing leadership gaps. And they will be looking to Millennials to fill those gaps.”

I believe that Boomers and Millennials have much to learn from one another, and that it benefits both groups to embrace their differences and take advantage of what they each have to offer. Some of the lessons I’ve learned from Millennials include:

1. Digital Aptitude: Millennials are the first generation to be raised with online media. As young adults, these digital natives quickly adopt new technologies, then adapt them to fit their lifestyles. If something that suits them better comes along, they are quick to move on. Indeed, 24% of respondents in this age group chose “technology use” as the trait that sets them apart from previous generations, according to the Pew Research Center. Cases in point: A Millennial staffer showed me a full three years before it was the norm why social media was important to our organization, and then showed me how to set up our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Because of this, we were way out in front on the medium nationally in the industry. And my Millennial daughter has taught me many lessons about how to effectively market a business as I watch her use apps to shop online and check in with her pizza maker on the progress he’s making on her pizza real-time. Cool stuff.
2. Workplace Development: According to the MTV “No Collar Workers” survey, a majority of Millennials not only want their workplace to be fun, but they also want to make their own hours and eventually be their own boss. Above all, Millennials want to be happy at work, so much so that 50 percent would rather be unemployed than work at a job they hate. The most notable misunderstanding for Millennials comes regarding the confidence they have in their skills and knowledge. According to the poll, 92 percent of Millennials feel their company is lucky to have them as an employee and 76 percent feel their boss can learn a lot from them.”What could be misinterpreted as ‘self-importance’ is a deeper sense of having many new ideas and wanting to contribute, as well as a desire to have their tech skills and savvy tapped by senior managers,” Nick Shore, senior vice president of strategic insights and research at MTV, said in a post on MediaPost. This is my experience as well, and any manager should be thrilled with team members who contribute in this way as it serves the best interests of the organization.
3. Continuous Feedback: In BusinessNewsDaily, writer David Mielach says, “Millennials also crave feedback and recognition from their bosses. According to the survey, 80 percent want regular feedback and recognition, while 50 percent of workers want feedback at least once a week.” So instead of the long-time Boomer practice of annual performance reviews, to engage Millennials we must instead provide continuous feedback on how they’re performing. I wholeheartedly agree with this approach as I remember a long-ago incident in which I was called to task during my annual review for something I had done a full nine months prior. To this day I remember being mortified that I was not told at the time so I could change my behavior immediately! Ever since then I have tried to bring issues to the attention of my staff as they happen so they have the opportunity that I did not.

So Millennials do have some great lessons for Boomers, but there are also some things that they should appreciate and understand for their professional success given it is Boomers who are making the majority of hiring and promotion decisions:

1. Lack of Loyalty: Millennials tend to change jobs much more frequently than Boomers did and that can lead to a level of distrust by their Boomer employers about a Millennial’s loyalty to the organization. Companies invest signficant resources in hiring and training them, and are hoping for their strong performers to continue with the company to maximize this investment.
2. TMI – Total Transparency: We have all heard about issues (and seen the lawsuits) relating to the practice of Millennials posting inappropriate information on social media sites. This can be in the form of posting inappropriate personal information on their social media pages that are open to the public or posting personal views when acting on behalf of their employer. These types of activities can not only cause embarrassment and PR problems, but can actually cost the company money. It’s understood that Millennials have never known anything else but online transparency, but with responsibility must come an understanding of appropriate uses and how too much information can negatively affect a company’s brand.
3. Personal Relationships: Because they have been born and raised on technology, communication by Millennials via this medium is standard and preferred. In the Harvard Business Review article Digital Natives Are Slow to Pick Up Nonverbal Clues, this can be costly for Millennials:

“Other research suggests that excessive, long-term exposure to electronic environments is reconfiguring young people’s neural networks and possibly diminishing their ability to develop empathy, interpersonal relations, and nonverbal communication skills. One study indicates that because there’s only so much time in the day, face-to-face interaction time drops by nearly 30 minutes for every hour a person spends on a computer. With more time devoted to computers and less to in-person interactions, young people may be understimulating and underdeveloping the neural pathways necessary for honing social skills. Another study shows that after long periods of time on the internet, digital natives display poor eye contact and a reluctance to interact socially.”

So, the ability to connect with people on a personal level and build social aptitude is even more important today as it is now a differentiator for hiring managers. Millennials must learn how to communicate effectively both online and face-to-face in order to build professional relationships that are based on trust and credibility.

There’s no question that Millennials have a lot to offer the workplace, and to engage them should be top of mind for managers. As Rich Hein said in his article for CIO.com’s How to Hire, Manage and Even Appreciate IT Millennial Workers, “The bottom line is if you create a company culture that listens to, educates and values your employees’ work and contributions you will find it much easier to attract the talent you need regardless of the generation.”

That’s a win-win for both Boomers and Millennials.

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