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1. The gap between the
leadership culture in service firms, and the goals and aspirations of
Generation Y, are unbridgeable, unless somebody blinks - and here's a
flash - Generation Y is not going to blink.
So where does
that leave us? If we need this generation of 20-something's to be part
of our future, how do we align our goals and aspirations to accommodate
these foot-loose and feckless young people. Well first, we have to
realize that, to Generation Y, lifestyle is more important than work -
and if the thought of that makes you cranky, you might reflect for a
moment on just how they came by that attitude.
Probably by observing what happened to their parents in the work force.
Having
had amply demonstrated to them that loyalty is for suckers, and that a
lifetime in one job signals a failure of the imagination, they appear
to have decided that career must accommodate the demands of lifestyle,
not vice versa.
What to do with a generation who refuse to be
motivated by money or power? How terrifying - how ironic - that the
levers that have served us so well in business all these years appear
to have no sway at all with the 20-something set.
Perhaps we can
learn something from Generation Y. I suspect that we will all have to
learn, or remember, how to have fun at work. Generation Y want to work
in groups, just like they want to play in groups.
They're
good for sprints not marathons, and they seem to need to party after
every sprint. They'll work really, really hard in short bursts, but if
you're looking for sustained effort over a long period, you're going to
have to rely on older workers.
And on the basis that
everything old is new again, perhaps it's time to dust off
old-fashioned concepts like job-sharing and shift work - they seem to
be a much better fit with the way 20-somethings want to live and work.
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