Gen Y Replacing the Boomers - Are You Ready?

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

I am working with a client to assist with hiring a new staff professional for her organization.  This particular client is about my age and a "baby boomer" by all measures.  She is specifically looking for talent that can ultimately contribute to the succession of current leaders in the organization, and is specifically looking for entry level and lesser experienced people who can grow and become the leaders of tomorrow.

I asked her, "Are you and your organization ready to accept such a person?"  She was puzzled in my question as she thought it was actually a pretty easy task: find and hire a sharp individual, and all will be well.

Not quite.

After hiring experienced folks for most of my life as a manager, I switched my tactics to hire folks with potential for many of my roles. How hard could it be to hire folks 25 to 30 years my junior?  What I found was that the expectations and conditions needed for success for this type of talent was quite different than what I had become accustomed to by hiring "baby boomers" and "Gen X'rs" for most of my career.

After unsuccessfully screening a number of these candidates commonly referred to as "Gen Y", I realized I needed to better understand what was important to them in a job.  So, I launched a fairly unscientific survey to a group of 25 or so of the brightest young professionals I know.  I asked one simple question:

"What are the things beyond pay and benefits that are important to you in a job?"

The top response was echoed by over 90% of the respondents: "Flexible work hours and schedule". This was followed by "fun work culture" and "working with people I like to hang out with" and similar comments.  When I started in the workforce years ago, this question would have been answered with "career growth opportunities" and "training and development".

The implication is that in order to attract the best and the brightest of this generation, we need to recognize some of these considerations and think about how they mesh with our company environments and cultures.  Early on, I hired a professional that was a good fit for my needs that, much to my dismay, left a year later.  It turns out we were not a good fit for his needs, specifically the needs beyond the basics of pay and benefits, career growth and opportunity.  He was a young person working with a bunch of traditionalists.  In his eyes, we just didn't get what he needed or wanted - which was true.    

Moving from there, I coached my client along the following lines:

• Work life balance is key, and what that means to to a Gen Y is different than to us Boomers. This might mean new or different processes.
• The outdated and cumbersome administrative processes being used that are an annoyance for a Boomer are totally unacceptable for a Gen Y.  We are talking about a group of people who grew up with cell phones and internet.  
• Security means less to them, and the "experience" means more.  Gen Y is a group that has seen elders and parents lose their jobs and houses, and so employers are not viewed as "permanent".  Instead, they are looking for things to add to their resume' and credentials.
• Be ready to look at assumptions and standard practices in order to make your organization the type that can attract the talent that will become leaders in the future.

There is tremendous value in the institutional knowledge and practices we've built into our organizations.  At the same time, there is value in visiting and questioning these assumptions and practices, and evolving them for the needs of today and tomorrow.  Given the volatility of the business world, we all need this type of agility in tactics and practices to prosper.

A lot of this is the benefit that comes from hiring a workforce that is not :"just like us". The real question is, "are you ready?".

The Right Activity Leads To Results

(This blog is the temporary landing spot for Advisory and Consulting Services.  If you want to reach us, please contact us at richgrunenwald@columbus.rr.com, or 614-561-3412)

Like many folks in business today, I am pulled in multiple directions, subject to the whim of others in my personal and professional circles.  When in the midst of...

• Launching a new business venture and setting up the proper legal and operational structures
• Prospecting for new clients 
• Delivering to existing clients
• Helping elderly parents
• Working out to improve health 
• Advising the children 
• Doing taxes 
• Nurturing relationships with the important people in my life
• Spending time on hobbies to help stay sane
• Eating, breathing, and sleeping

...and hundreds of other things, there is never enough time to get to it all.  If not watched, I  end up feeling frustrated  by not being able to do all the things I  think I need to do. 

Feeling bad about one's own efforts is not the "secret sauce" in the recipe for success!

In  a previous post, I discussed ways to focus on activities that will get the results we want to achieve. Recent observations tell me we still struggle with "what should I do today" and managing our schedule. I find this particularly acute with established professionals.

Many of us achieved success in our professions through our abilities to multi-task and quickly produce deliverables and responses.  We were  rewarded for this behavior, through promotions, formal recognition, and increased compensation, and thus conditioned ourselves to continually "do more" and "work harder". We pride ourselves in our ability and effectiveness in serving others.

Then, when we can no longer perform at or raise our personal maximum capacity, we start to skip steps, or take risks we shouldn't. Perhaps self doubt creeps in. Maybe we start to ignore some things we shouldn't, like personal health and family relationships and activities.  We become disenchanted with our personal effectiveness, and the inability to do all of what seemed so easy in the past.

As a "one man show" with my business, I  rapidly realized that to be a viable, ongoing entity, I needed to spend as much time as possible in revenue generating activities.  If I spend an hour in email  hell or in research on operational issue, that is an hour I am not putting my smiling face in front of a client. My chances of surviving the first year decrease proportionately.  

To this end, I look at everything I do every day, sometimes a couple times a day I print my electronic calendar out and carry it with me, adjusting on the fly.  From  day to day perspective, I start the day by planning the day almost hour by hour and sometimes in 15 minute blocks. I purposely pull myself away from my PC, and check email during schedule gaps. I block out time for prospecting, client follow up, and whatever else leads directly to revenue generation.  

Similarly, from a macro sense, I look to outsource or get others to do that which takes my time away from revenue generation.  For example, I've recently found a firm that has comprehensive services for handling my "back office" functions (payrolling, invoicing, W2 employee administration, etc.).  I've found solutions to handle all sorts of operational issues that are very cost effective manner, even for an organically financed start-up like mine.

It is a very simple "rule of thumb": if it doesn't produce revenue, don't do it, do it later, or get somebody else to do it.

Do I stick to a rigid, outlined schedule every day? No. Stuff happens that can't be ignored. But, these "crises" can be managed so as to minimize impact on the right activities that will lead to success. And, you'll find most of these interruptions don't require an immediate response.

By planning my day to a detail level, it reinforces my true priorities, and gets me focused on what I should be doing, and not simply what others of demanding of me.

Identify the "revenue" in your professional and personal life, and plan accordingly. If you don't plan your schedule, somebody will plan it for you.