Forget Millenials:Are You Ready For Generation C?

"Boomers". "Gen Y". "Millennials"--Just as you think you've got the whole generations in the workplace thing down, along comes a new bunch of kids. Are you ready for "Generation C"?

Actually, that's a rhetorical question, because they're already here, at least according to a new Booz and Company report, and they're just now starting to show up in the workplace in numbers that matter.The important thing to remember is that they're the first generation to have never lived in a world without internet connectivity.

The "C" stands for connected, and it's a reference to the always-on, always-connected, life these kids lead. I know this generation as my daughter, Her Serene Highness, is one of them. (Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she's actually a cell leader at their secret meetings.) In general, these are people born after 1990 and became teenagers after the turn of the millennium.

Here are some of the highlights of the report. You can read the full article in the latest issue of Strategy+Business online.

• This is the first generation that has never known any reality other than that defined and enabled by the Internet, mobile devices and social networking. If you don't have the communication tools to get the job done, they'll think they're taking a step back to the stone age. Email is sooooo 1990s.
• They're used to being connected 24/7... as long as connected doesn't mean schlepping a laptop. By 2020 there will be 6 billion mobile phone users and most of them will have internet connection that way. This leads to an interesting dilemma if your organization insists on doing everything behind the firewall.
• The strangeness of remote teams and working virtually isn't strange to them... it's how they operate now. Thanks to social networks and omnipresent technology, these kids don't have many of the phobias or obstacles to creating virtual relationships that some of us older people may have had to deal with. On the other hand, getting them to interact appropriately in live social situations is another kettle of fish entirely.
• The average teenager watches much less television than we , or even their older brothers and sisters, ever did. On the other hand, they're constantly swimming in "nonlinear"information.
• Their concerns about privacy and sharing information are very different from ours. One trend that will have long-reaching impact on IT, security and corporate transparency is the fact that this generation doesn't seem to have a problem sharing personal information with the world.
• By 2014 50% of the world's workforce will be "flexible". Booz calls them "Working Normads", but it means they'll be part-time, contractors, remote workers or some combination of all of the above. Their relationship to their employers will be very different than ours was when we came out of college. How will you motivate, engage and reward people who aren't there for the long haul? Or even "there" at all, come to think of it?

Read more:

• Cross generation mentoring: getting codgers and kids working together
• Want to feel old in a hurry? Try managing Millennials
• Departing team members: please leave your brains behind