With fast-paced entrepreneurship ventures burgeoning all around, examples of Gen Y leaders at the forefront of mixed generation teams abound across the world. In this context, the discussion on inter-generational leadership challenges may not be a new one, but is definitely most relevant today.
The Gen Y leader leading multi-generational teams now has a unique challenge of appreciating the best of all three: the baby boomers, now in their 50s and 60s, Gen X who are now in their forties and their own Gen Y. It is important for the leaders to begin with appreciating the differences and similarities across aspects of motivation, knowledge and communication.
When we consider motivation, we see that baby boomers gave extraordinary importance to working very hard to create a great future for their children. Gen X sought more “balance” to enjoy the fruits of their “success” and then “work-life balance” was born. Gen Y sees the virtue of “virtual work” and has combined the best of professional and personal lives with increasing opportunities in the job market. Thus, in the 1970s and 1980s, organisations focused on job satisfaction and this was accomplished through career growth by way of structured training and rewarding loyalty. In the 1990s, they began to pay attention to “employee empowerment” and loyalty to the profession. Today, the focus is shifting to “workplace happiness”. Leaders who are building happy workplaces are bringing in strong spiritual values like service and integrity and care for mother nature.
Another important aspect to consider in multi-generational teams is the role of technology. Gen Y has taken to technology like a fish takes to water, but they must remember that generations before them have adapted to technology and have not grown up with it. Roles must be allocated accordingly and one team must support the other’s learning needs. The tech environment has created change in every area – be it social media marketing, big data or HR analytics. But, even in this knowledge economy, Gen Y leaders must reward the real world experience of previous generations – since that cannot be easily replicated. This experience itself is sometimes a huge cost saver, if only the leader knows how to tap into it!
Finally, the Gen Y led organisations must build flexible communication styles within the organisation. This is important because while employees in their 20s may be comfortable sharing a daily status report via SMS, Gen X teams would like to have more face-to-face time with the manager. While Gen X needs clarity in the details, Gen Y talks about the bigger picture. Thus, by providing for flexibility in the work place environment and policies, Gen Y leaders can overcome the challenges that this kind of team structure typically presents.
Fortunately, the biggest strength of Gen Y leaders lies in their comfort with diversity – this reflects most in their collaborative decision making style and in their ability to connect with people at the workplace. They are naturally inclined to work in teams and have greater self-belief since they do not have a ‘scarcity mindset’ that earlier generations had. They are born in a world that wants freedom from old leaders who were busy making “deals” for themselves and not taking responsibility for the state of the whole world. This generation is much more socially conscious.
They must leverage these strengths to work with their multi-generational teams and motivate employees in the most appropriate way rather than the way that they feel is ‘right’. Honouring the space that they come from is essential for the team to win. And when done right, a multi-generation team led by a socially conscious and tech-savvy Gen Y leader will definitely succeed.
It will be even more interesting to witness in the coming years what Gen Z stands for and what parameters it outlines for success.
