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Re-Sending Generation Y: You Are Not Entitled to Never-ending Success
One of the biggest challenges in advising managers on the Generation Y "problem," is answering the question "Why do Gen Y workers act like this?" Bloggers, journalists, and lecturers across the nation suggest different views on this, but here's a new perspective. We (Gen Y workers) have grown up without being allowed to fail. We have been entitled to success in all we do, so that when we do fail, we have problems coping.
For example, some junior high and high schools have either abolished failing grades or lowered the standards for passing grades. In May of 2005, the Arizona Republic ran an article that reported AZ State Officials lowering passing grade standards for graduating senior exit exams for High Schools Diplomas. Outside the classroom, consider secondary school athletics. In my secondary education in Seattle's Eastside suburbs, no student was ever cut from any school athletic program. Everyone had a chance to play, because to cut someone could damage their self-confidence.
So now Generation Y-ers are leaving school and getting into the workplace; guess what? We're failing in ability to complete tasks. We leave jobs that don't give us the benefits we want or end up being much harder than we thought during interviews. We complain that we're not being treated fairly, and then when we are treated well, we ask for more.
To the managers, the best way to combat this is to mentor your employees. When an employee makes a mistake, remind them that it happens and help them back to their feet. Be patient, but firm - they must understand that they need to move on and learn from failure. Do not tell them "it's okay, you gave it your best shot, you're still a winner." If they failed, it probably wasn't their best shot.
To the Generation Y-ers, get used to the fact that life isn't going to be as easy as high school or some of college. You will fail - it's going to happen and the only thing you can do is reflect on it (briefly), then learn from it and move on. You are not entitled to never-ending success, you are merely entitled to develop your potential, and that requires both success and failure - both result in learning.
Posted by Ryan Boscow on September 27, 2007 at 3:22 PM
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Comments
As a corporate training consultant with friends in the teaching professions (high school to college), I am particularly fascinated with the spectacle of Gen Yers entering the workplace. The phrase "When worlds collide" keeps coming to mind. Corporate America had NO idea how its upcoming generation of employees was being developed over the last 20 years. It's finding out now. Everyone's unhappy - managers, CEOs, and the new employees. (And, by the way, also customers.)
have a look at this hilarious blog by a high school English teacher and novelist. It speaks to the subject pretty succinctly:
http://donaldgallinger.com/dons-blog/jack-from-missouri/12-my-self-of-steam.html
In the Gen Yers' defense, let me hasten to say that I personally tend to applaud ANYONE who questions authority -- I only wish all Americans did so more. But you're supposed to question authority WHEN ITS MANDATES ARE ILL-CONCEIVED OR UNETHICAL, not just because they annoy you. And then you're supposed to TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION, not just flip off your opponent and go back to live with your parents. And in all cases, you're supposed to CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. And also STICK WITH THEM.
Life throws injustice around like confetti, and Gen Y has been badly served by being led to believe that they should rail against every minor injustice as a personal affront. The world is quite huge, full of things going on. It has never heard of you, so almost nothing it does to you is "personal." You actually have to become fairly famous before things get personal (and even then, they're usually not). In the face of adversity, everyone has to do one thing: Suck it up, and find creative ways to either deal with it or live with it.
(This doesn't mean you can't vent your personal frustration, BTW. It just means you do it with trusted friends. Then, refreshed by the personal break, you get back in there and do what you have to do. Because you're doing it for something YOU care about.)
The first step to having a happy, meaningful life -- and, incidentally, making this a better world: Realize that everything is not about you. (Big secret: A whole lot of people in older generations also don't get this -- which is probably why they never conveyed it to you.)
The second step: Embrace difficulty as an opportunity to show your stuff. What, do you think you'll look back on your past and say, "I was never challenged, yay"? No, you'll look back on the CHALLENGES THEMSELVES. You'll have fun thinking about the Hero's Journey you made. The only things worth celebrating are the things that made you find strengths you never knew you had. But they are there. They are just not easy to find. And you weren't taught how to find them.
This generation was badly served because their elders acted like idiots. They told them that "self esteem" was more important than pride of real accomplishment. I never had kids, and never taught in schools, but I'm going to apologize right now for all of us. The minute we got wind of this crap that passed as education and socialization, we should have stood up and demanded change. Who did we think was going to be served by this "you're so great you DESERVE everything you want" philosophy? As Gen Y enters the workplace, we now see the answer: No one. We are getting exactly what we deserve. But my concern is that if Gen Yers continue down their ill-starred path, they'll get what THEY deserve.
Because another unfair fact of life is that you are often punished for being taught badly -- you learn bad attitudes, you act badly, and the badness continues. Unless you make a personal decision to turn it around -- which, human potential being what it is, can certainly be done. Schools and corporations can also do it. But will they? How many teaching professionals, managers, and parents have shown the basal intelligence to recognize this problem and outline steps to resolve it?
Gen Yers have their work cut out for them. On the upside, it will be WAY more rewarding than the B.S. "work" they've been doing so far.
Posted by Doni Tamblyn on December 14, 2008 10:25 AM