Generation Illiterate?

Scene at the cafeteria today:

I am paying for my lunch. The cashier, a young lady of 20-something, is punching in the pre-programmed selections and the total comes up to 230 rubles. I hand her in the 500-ruble note and then the unexpected happens. For some reason, the system did not give her an option to calculate the change, so she got up, walked to the next cash register, picked up a calculator and computed that 500-230 was indeed 270.

All pensive, I picked up the tray, sat down and ate my lunch deep in thoughts... 

Some call them Generation Einstein, and they have all the reasons to do so. They know the answer to any question, they can make complicated calculations and spell better than Shakespeare and Oxford professors, but --- they can only do all of that if they are aided by the modern technology. I recall my not so distant school years when we were forbidden to use calculators in the Maths class. We were not allowed to use dictionaries writing essays and other in-class assignments. We had to commit difficult formulas and long poems to memory. We were the you-are-what-you-know generation. Now we are having the you-are-the-speed-of-your-processor generation.

Is it progress or degradation?

Generation Y: Russia is Not Ready

Today I was a guest speaker at Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, trying to convey the Executive MBA students the importance of Change Management and why it should or should not belong to the area of responsibility of HR. One thing struck me as hard to believe: those heads of large departments and directors of companies have never heard about the Generations Theory, do not know anything about the Millennials, Boomers or that they belong to Generation X, and they give no cognisance to the fact that the nature of their workforce is changing.

I shared just a couple of slides to rest my case on changing demographics and Russia's total unpreparedness for that shift. Let's begin with some numbers. These are the projections of the State Committee of Statistics for the demographic picture of Russia 10 years from now - in 2012. The chasm (words fail me to come up with a better definition for what's looming in a very near future) cannot be negated: in 10 years the number of 20-24 year olds who form the core of the future potential of a company or of the entire nation will be half of what it is now. Given that we are already struggling to resource the business and the war for talent is rampant, I fear to imagine what it is going to become in the years coming. Should there be no strategy for talent import in place pretty soon, the business will be facing a collapse situation. A basket case of a country...

But that gap will become everyone's headache in a couple of years. Right now everyone seems to be relaxed and laid back, watching listlessly the revenues from the natural resources Russia is so lucky (or unlucky) to possess. We are so content with the situation that no heed is taken that the workforce is changing and that Generation Y is voluminous enough to make its statement in the world of business. The European businesses have recognized the needs of the new generations and have taken the necessary steps to make sure that they are able to attract and retain the top performers by providing the so-much-valued flexibility and the opportunities for self-actualization that characterize Generation Y. Below is a slide from Top Employers research done last year across Europe:

What do we see in Russia? The business (nor the Government) could care less what type of people will be shaping the nation's economy or are shaping already. Why? Let's take a simple example of working from home. Across the world, it's a reality. In Russia,

• if you don't come to the office, according to the Labor Legislation it is an absence;
• there are provisions for home work, but if you decide to go that way, the employer will have to attest the working conditions and certify that your apartment is fit for working - can you imagine conducting an exercise like that?
• if you work from home and an accident occurs, is that an industrial injury and the company is liable?
• etc, etc, etc.

The legal hurdles to such a seemingly simple issue are tremendous, and everyone is keeping silent: the unions (which is a joke in Russia right now, really), the business, the government, the civil society (which is maybe even a bigger joke than the unions).

Thus, what I left the students with were questions and problems. Hopefully, they left the classroom with more questions than they had come with because that definitely was my intention. Skolkovo is supposed to nurture crème de la crème of the Russian busines elite, so if they don't start asking the right questions at the highest levels, who will?

What to Do with Millennials?

Millennials have arrived. They are young, energetic and numerous. Their arrogance makes your blood boil and their contempt for authority is exemplary. From workplace amusement they are turning into a palpable economic threat for older generations. I am one of them.

I read Managing the Millennials during my Christmas vacation this year. It's an easy read - something that you would swallow in a gulp being caressed by the easy breeze of the ocean, or maybe you are really struggling with these intrusive, obnoxious and outstandingly creative youngsters that are flooding the workplace. I recognized myself. It was not always a very pleasant revelation: there are Gen Y traits that I am not particularly fond of but it was an empowering experience to read about myself and understanding why I was succeeding or failing in various situations in the past.

It is a cute attempt at trying to reach out to the managers of older generations and trying to explain to them (and teach them) how the Millenials can be managed. It's spelling out the co-habitation rules with the youngsters. The way the information is presented was not appealing to me personally because

• it is too americanized (the statistics, the examples, the way it is narrated, etc.)
• it is too structured (I thought immediately that a consultant was writing it, and later I found out there were three of them)
• it is written for older generations only (man, that should be clearly stated at the title page: 35+ only!). While it is instructive to read about your own generation (doing the reflective rounds in your head on your own Weltanschaung), the style and manner have not been adapted for my likes, so I guess the authors have lost a large chunk of potential readers and admirers.

Secondly, they offer an interactive self-assessment tool online. It's something like ten pages of questions with no pictures or conversations in them and at the end they promise to send you the personalized report the following day as a "thank you" for participation. I have received a confirmation message that my answers have been submitted, but I am still waiting for the report until this very moment. Dudes, that's not cool.

Among many others, one idea I liked in particular: I think it was very creative on the part of the authors to draw parallels between the Maslow's theory of needs and how different generations relate to work. It is summarized in the picture below: while for the earlier generation merely having a job was already God's blessing, for Millennials work is a way to express themselves, and changing a job for this "texter" generation sometimes is as easy as post an update on Facebook.

Summary: if you are interested in another behavioral model (now adapted to fit the generations theory), give it a go and spend a couple of hours with the book. Otherwise, I guarantee that the world will not sift away from under your feet if you spend your time on something else. Having a cup of coffee with a Millennial, maybe. After all, to understand one, you need to talk to one. Ta!

Managing Generation Y

An interesting and acute article at TopMBA this week

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A report published in September 2010 has highlighted the need for management practises to develop in order to suit a growing percentage of Generation Y in the workforce.

 
The Future of Work, produced by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) found that Generation Y (15 to 30 year olds, born between 1980 and 1995) expect greater freedom in their working environment. If they are afforded that freedom, the report suggests they become more committed, and are more likely to work harder, for longer.

 
Generation Y’s expectations

 
“The latest working generation, Generation Y is different to previous generations (Generation X and the Baby Boomers) in their expectations and assumptions,” concludes the IPA’s report. “They don’t want the long-hours culture of presenteeism and working at the same desk.

 
“They are confident with technology and are comfortable overlapping work and life. They can be flexible if they are offered flexibility in return otherwise they are likely to leave.”

 
Dr Linda Ronnie, senior lecturer in organizational behaviour and people management at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Graduate School of Business agrees with the report’s findings, explaining to TopMBA.com that Generation Y workers tend to seek a “a clear career trajectory and development plan,” while completing work that they see as challenging and meaningful.

 
“In return, Generation Y employees expect the work environment to provide an opportunity for them to apply their skills and for their managers to provide ongoing feedback and support. While these expectations are potentially true for every employee, they are particularly sought by Generation Yers,” Ronnie says.

 
Advances in technology

 
Huge advances in technology have defined Generation Y’s youth, encouraging them to reject boredom at home and in the workplace. As a result, employees have become more demanding in the tasks they are given, as they are motivated by personal interest in the work they do explains Dr Katie Best, a Generation Y specialist and director of MBA programs at the private BBP Business School in London.

 
“Generation Yers are exceptional multi-taskers... they’ve been brought up in the Microsoft Windows world, where you have multiple things on the go at once, but their bosses still think in a very linear fashion. By setting them multiple complex tasks all at once, you’ll get more out of them and get tangible results,” Best claims.

 
The need for companies to change the way they manage their staff is becoming more and more urgent, as Generation Y grow older and represent a higher proportion of the workers.

 
“If companies don’t work out how to use them correctly, they will be heading for the wall, because with the oldest of the generation now at 29, they are forming an increasingly large part of the workforce,” says Best. “Balancing the aspirations of the Generation Y employee will re-order the perception of them from ‘problem child’ into ‘valuable employee’.”

 
MBA programs are evolving

 
Ronnie notes that the changing ideals of differing generations has also contributed to the evolution of UCT’s MBA program, resulting in greater emphasis on global and ethical management practices.

 
“The program has shifted as a result of the kind of student we are now teaching,” says Ronnie. “From a program perspective, we are more aware now of the need for ethical leadership for example and our courses reflect that. With our culturally diverse workforce, creating an inclusive environment for employees to grow and flourish is essential and so, for example, this aspect of management is key in my own and other courses.”

Timing the future

I have accidentally bumped into this video on time orientation and behind the easy and entertaining way of narration, there are actually some seriously concerning messages that are being conveyed to us. Besides the never-ending initiative to divide Italy into two parts (would be actually fun), my interest mainly lies in the generational changes, which many fail to account for. It is a fact that the educational and social systems are not keeping up with the speed of change. As a result, the kids who go to school nowadays feel at a loss since their brains are not wired in the same way as ours. Our brains were shaped a while ago, when virtual reality and interactive computer technologies were something from the realm of science fiction. Integration of new ways of absorbing information and traditional educational curricula is necessary. We are not ready for it as a society. Taking a narrower approach, how do we tailor standard corporate training programs to the changing needs of the new generations becoming active in the labor market. Do we create separate classrooms? Who needs to adapt? I don't think that it's the "adapt or die" dilemma here, but it's more of a "snooze and lose" type of a problem.

This is a fascinating video, and I am sure you will enjoy it: