Spring 2008 issue of Horizons

knowledge. commitment. value. CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS AND BUSINESS CONSULTANTS

Four Core Traits of Generation Y @ Work

also wants seniority to trust them and give them the opportunity to produce good ideas and quality results. Then, generation Y’s goal is to gain recognition (fame) and ultimately fortune. The difficulty for both seniority and this generation is in the timing factor. Generation Y expects this rise to leadership to come faster, while boomers believe one should “pay ones’ dues.” Thus, the conflict for leadership and achievement are strong issues in the workplace with generation Y. It is important for seniority and managers to communicate frequently the pattern for leadership development within the organization, documenting the benchmarks necessary for leadership success. This communication is done most effectively during recruitment, interviewing and at hiring with mentors and coaches, where both parties can share dreams, ideas and conflicts. Strong Parent Connection: Impacts Ability to Problem Solve The term “helicopter parent” has been overused and appeared as front-line news in studying and analyzing generation Y. Parents were described as swooping in to rescue the young adult from problems and situations. Stories proliferated in every college setting as generation Y became a freshman. College admissions counselors and academicians began describing the unwarranted parent interference as “Blackhawk helicopter” because of parental intrusion into grades, faculty decisions and social issues. The relationship of generation Y to its parent is both a positive and negative influence on the young adult and the workplace. Basically, the strong parent connection has been largely responsible for producing young adults who have been sheltered from consequences, have weak problem-solving skills, have a high sense of entitlement and have a high expectation of being cared for and being served. Stories (which may by now have reached fable proportion) abound on both the college campus and the workplace environment about how parents rescue little Johnny or Mary. When Johnny’s mother asks his teacher to give him a wake-up call so he won’t miss class, or mom and dad sit in on the job interview or do the salary

Here are four core traits that, in general, the workplace will focus on as it prepares for recruiting, hiring and retaining this generation Y workforce: 1. Achievement Goals: Fame, Fortune, Leadership and Trust 2. Strong Parent Connection Impacts Problem Solving 3. Desire for Psychological Comfort: Fear of Failure 4. Hyperlink Communication and Impacted Attention Span Achievement Goals: Fame, Fortune, Leadership and Trust Members of generation Y are optimistic about their futures and fairly cynical about current leadership. Because of the current situation of the world (unsafe, war, terrorism, etc.), they do not see that current leadership is producing the type of world they want. So, the status of being a leader is not based on old patterns of hierarchy, title or age. Rather, for generation Y, good leadership is based on trust, which is built one day at a time by the actions of the leader. This criteria for leadership means that the person who leads can be anyone worthy of that trust, and that produces a free agent mindset of “I can do it my way.” Often, other generations like baby boomers misinterpret the questioning behavior of generation Y as a lack of respect for authority or seniority, instead of understanding that the primary quality search for leadership is trust. Generation Y not only seeks a trustworthy leader, but

14 u spring 2008 issue