Managers, Stop Being Servile
Stop cosseting Gen Y employees, says author Bruce Tulgan in this Ypulse interview about his book, "Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y."
Managers have been told to create 'thank-you' and 'praise' programmes for their younger employees, they've been advised to treat recruitment as "one long sales pitch" (for the company) and to tailor training to fit the interactive gamers' mindset.
But Tulgan believes that playtime-at-work attitude, with managers encouraged to "soft-pedal their authority" is out of sync with hard economic realities. What Gen Y needs, he counters, is strong leadership.
Managers should spell out any workplace rules and steps Gen Y employees need to take to get from A to B, but there are also some things Tulgan advises them not to do:
- Don't undermine your own authority
- Don't pretend a job's going to be more fun than it is
- Don't gloss over the details
- Don't suggest things are up to Gen Y employees if they are not
- Don't offer praise or rewards for anything other than excellent performance
They will do the grunt work -- but they will want to know that someone's paying attention to what they are doing. They also need a level of feedback that some managers may not be used to providing.
"These kids want feedback multiple times a day," says Don Tapscott, author of "Grown Up Digital". He suggests using tools such as Rypple for "real-time performance evaluation".
Tapscott leans more towards the idea that younger employees are the way forward for business and is an advocate of fun at work. But I doubt he'd disagree with Tulgan's advice, which is really just a call for managers to take a more structured approach to managing people.
For more of Tulgan's guidance, there is a good interview on the Complete Lawyer site (he used to be a lawyer). A couple of noteworthy observations: accountability shouldn't be punishment. And if you think a 'sink or swim' environment is empowerment, you've swung too far in the direction of tough love.
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