I Fired My Dad

“I Fired My Dad” – Managing Multi-Generational Employees as a Gen Y Boss

By Guest Blogger: Tony Deblauwe

Are you in your 20s to early 30s and filling a managerial role at your job? Congratulations! Your work ethic, educational accomplishments, and job skills are paying off already. As a Gen Y boss, you’ve got a bright future ahead if you can learn how leverage the talents of those who report to you. This can be a particularly challenging task when your employees are older – in some cases – old enough to be your parents. It’s even more challenging when you encounter performance problems that can result in disciplinary actions that can, in some cases, lead to termination.

Many Gen Y managers are adapting, often rapidly, with how best to manage the needs and motivations of a multi-generational team. Supervising an older workforce as a young adult highlights the generation differences that impact work relationships. This can create a host of awkward and stressful communication challenges to Gen Y managers.

Generation Profiles: Comparing Work Styles

In order to understand how to approach performance issues between a younger manager and an older employee, you have to recognize that discrepancies abound between Gen Y and other generations in terms of work ethic. The chart below highlights some typical attitudinal differences about work between generations that make up the bulk of current workforce populations.

Immediately you can see where conflict can arise in perceptions of performance measurement. A Gen Y manager might expect a Boomer employee to be connected all the time, produce information electronically, and value the needs of the team over the needs of the individual. The Boomer employee may view the Gen Y manager as naïve, unrealistic, lacking focus, and ill-equipped to deal with “how things really work.” Both parties demand respect in terms of what they bring to their jobs, but the Gen Y manager, eager to please and make sure everyone gets along, can feel helpless and eclipsed by the Boomer who takes issue with where the power lies in the relationship (i.e. with my time in the workforce, I should be manager not this green no-knowing).  While these two generations offer the most probable cause for conflict, with Gen X, issues over how to work, and what they get included in regarding bigger strategic decisions, can create problems for the Gen Y manager as well.

So, while many of the Gen Y character traits are highly beneficial in today’s fast paced workplace, many of these traits create a world view and reality that can negatively affect how a Gen Y manager relates to older employees.

Performance Management Tips for Gen Y

For a Gen Y manager, giving feedback to Baby Boomer or Gen X employees can be uncomfortable – and you aren’t mistaken in assuming that it’s hard for many older workers to hear it from you. Acknowledging this fact is the first step in handling the emotional ramifications of being a younger boss.

Here are some tips for approaching performance management for older employees firmly but with compassion and respect:

1. Remember that the boss/employee relationship is not a contest where you need to prove that you are smarter or “better” than your direct reports. Instead, be honest about the fact that you are still developing as a manager and need the cooperation of senior employees to become an effective leader.
2. Don’t let your need for approval or deference to older people keeps you from pursuing disciplinary action in accordance with company policy. Rely on HR to support you in resolving conflicts until you feel comfortable going it alone.
3. Watch your tone when recognizing the contributions of older workers so you don’t sound condescending. Frame praise as respectful acknowledgement of the work of an accomplished peer.
4. When you need an older worker to make changes, introduce these one at a time. Don’t let impatience and perfectionism make you overly critical of slow adoption of new processes or systems.
5. Listen as much as you talk so you can understand the viewpoints and opinions of older employees rather than making assumptions. You’ll be surprised how much you learn!

As with any management role you have to be ready for difficult conversations around performance expectations. Engaging early, providing feedback and paying attention to different styles goes a long way in creating trust and a balanced relationship with your employees. If you do have to terminate an older worker, and you feel confident you have exhausted all attempts at setting expectations and talking through the issues, don’t dwell on the decision. For Gen Y this can be a sign of failure – of breaching harmony – but in fact, it’s a sign of personal and professional growth in handling adversity and gaining valuable career skills in the process.

Listen To An Amazing Live Interview With Tony About Workplace Stress – Click Here!

Mr. Tony Deblauwe

Tony Deblauwe is a Workplace Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He is an award-winning and regular contributor to career social networks sites
such as Brazen Careerist and TrackAhead. He directs the Innovation
Committee for Career Directors International.

For more information on Tony, please visit: http://www.workbabble.com