Gaining Momentum
Friday, February 17, 2006
A colleague of mine in British Columbia sent me a news blurb that talks about the Generational realities that are emerging inside of organizations with a bit of the force I’ve been awaiting. The blurb, from Knight-Ridder, read:
For the first time ever, four generations are active and critical to the American work force--the Silent Generation (ages 61 to 79, baby boomer (ages 42 to 60), Generation Xers (ages 25 to 41) and Millennials (24 and under). Experts also say that managers and their companies will have to deal with 70 million children of baby boomers joining the ranks of management and supervising workers who may be old enough to be their parents. Many businesses are moving quickly to adapt to these trends, and they are hiring generational consultants to help them do that. Much like a management analyst, generational analysts analyze work environments and recommend changes to improve the effectiveness of an organization's initiatives. Although generational consultants typically convey their knowledge by speaking in front of groups, they sometimes work one-on-one with clients.
While the phenomenon of this is very well known to me, as are the specifics and the implications, what is interesting is how the momentum around this issue is building. I’ve been seeing, reading, and hearing more buzz about the Multi-generational issue in the past four months than I have in the past five years I’ve been working with this dynamic. The dynamic has moved from theory and into reality.
One of the most interesting conversations I had around this recently was with the HR manager in charge of a sales and marketing group for a financial services company. His group was made up primarily of Millennials and the turnover rate in his group was almost 70 percent within 18 months of hire. After hearing his story, I asked him a few questions about what they are doing and made a few suggestions to start thinking about this group of people differently. It was like someone had turned on the light. And once that light was on, the whole scene looked a little differently to him. In this era of ultra competitiveness for market share and talent, some of the little tweaks and changes are what’s going to make a great deal of difference.
MB
For the first time ever, four generations are active and critical to the American work force--the Silent Generation (ages 61 to 79, baby boomer (ages 42 to 60), Generation Xers (ages 25 to 41) and Millennials (24 and under). Experts also say that managers and their companies will have to deal with 70 million children of baby boomers joining the ranks of management and supervising workers who may be old enough to be their parents. Many businesses are moving quickly to adapt to these trends, and they are hiring generational consultants to help them do that. Much like a management analyst, generational analysts analyze work environments and recommend changes to improve the effectiveness of an organization's initiatives. Although generational consultants typically convey their knowledge by speaking in front of groups, they sometimes work one-on-one with clients.
While the phenomenon of this is very well known to me, as are the specifics and the implications, what is interesting is how the momentum around this issue is building. I’ve been seeing, reading, and hearing more buzz about the Multi-generational issue in the past four months than I have in the past five years I’ve been working with this dynamic. The dynamic has moved from theory and into reality.
One of the most interesting conversations I had around this recently was with the HR manager in charge of a sales and marketing group for a financial services company. His group was made up primarily of Millennials and the turnover rate in his group was almost 70 percent within 18 months of hire. After hearing his story, I asked him a few questions about what they are doing and made a few suggestions to start thinking about this group of people differently. It was like someone had turned on the light. And once that light was on, the whole scene looked a little differently to him. In this era of ultra competitiveness for market share and talent, some of the little tweaks and changes are what’s going to make a great deal of difference.
MB
