During my recent volunteering participation for 2010 Doha Tribeca Film Festival, I had the opportunity to meet up new people and learn from them, and one that catch my attention was my conversation with one volunteer;
Me : What is your plan after graduating ?
Volunteer : I plan to further my Master in New York University, and the join corporate world as a General Manager. That would be the best route for me to be at the top.
Me : OK, and why New York University ?
Volunteer : I am doing engineering course now, and New York University is one of the universities which have Master in Business Studies.
said the volunteer proudly and confidently about his plan, and I just smiled to him in return.
From my experiences, talking to the "young punks" as I labeled them, and managing them once, he is not alone in his pursuit of the dream. You will get the similar if not the same answer when you pose the same question to this group. My respond to this, how time flies and I felt like has become a dinasour, very soon. If people are to ask me the common qualities and traits of these Generation Y, below is my list ;
1. Ambitious;
3. Fun;
4. Mobile and flexible;
5. Good lifestyle;
6. Individualist;
7. Pampered and spoon fed;
8. Outspoken;
9. Gung Ho;
10. Higher paying job not compensate with proven capabilities;
YET, in many cases those qualities tend to be not on the same page with traditional organization, and resulted in conflict of interest.
If people ask how SHOULD and WOULD I manage this Generation Y , you EXPECT the Gen Y to behave ? myGolden 10 Rules are as follow ;
1. I expect Generation Y and myself to have fun and love doing what they are doing and support the idea to have meeting at Starbucks, Gloria Jean, Coffee Beans so long they deliver and depending on the purpose of the meeting as I do not discuss company strategic decisions to be heard by others and competitors ;
2. I shall communicate and tell Gen Y clearly my requirements, specifications and at the same time I give them liberty and freedom how they go about it as I always encourage them to explore their ingenuity and creativity to complete the task;
3. I am very particular about DEADLINE as I am a deadline driven person and yet at the same time very realistic and reasonable i.e. reach the agreement with the Gen Y on the deadline unless in certain circumstances where the DEADLINE is beyond my control. Still I would take effort to rationalize things with them;
4. I would encourage my staff to go back on time and have fun. I am flexible with working hours so long it is 8 hours as per the contract , and Gen Y to be there when the organization and customers needs them. Outside office hours are their business and yet when it is in the office , it is my territory. Life work balance as long as Gen Y deliver beyond expectations;
5. I am passionate about staff development and capability building yet , I would like and encourage my staff to take the lead and initiative in developing themselves and developing others too;
6. I have always tell myself, agree to disagree occasionally when the situations warrant ;
7. I would take the responsibilities and accountability for my staff performance and my own mistakes and yet at the same time expect that Gen Y shall be ready to accept responsibilities and accountability for their own performance and learn from the mistakes;
8. I would encourage them to be vocal yet resourceful and always challenge the status-quo, yet with respect and organization VALUES precede personal values;
9. I shall give credits when it is due and to whom it is due ;
10. Gung Ho and can do spirit, and I do not accept NO as an answer ;
Unfortunately, many are still not there yet.
For example, from my experiences managing the bunch of " Young Punks" instead of " Young Turks" or Generation Y - they would like to have work life balance, and yet do not complete the assignment timely and not willing to go extra mile to do beyond what is expected out of them. They are ambitious, would want to become GM at the shortest possible time, yet lacking of ideas to challenge the status-quo and do things differently and show no respect to other team players, and willing to go to "extra-mile" blaming others for the team failures so long they are not part of the party to be blamed, they expect the supervisor to teach them saying " it is my supervisor's responsibilities to train and teach me " without taking the initiative to have self-learning and etc.They are vocals, yet not resourceful, they show NO respect to the procedures ;they take credits for team success and not willing to accept blames for failure, and worst do not want to learn from the mistakes; they come late to office, do not finish the work, busy with iphone and blackberry and Facebook and always back on time; expect meeting at Starbucks my previous General Manager shared once with me;
" This Gen Y, you as a manager have to announce to the whole world that this Gen Y did actually come to the office on weekend to actually complete and finish his unfinished assignments, until to that extend "
Where do I see this Gen Y in the future ? Well, perhaps this Gen Y entrepreneurial, business management skills to be nurtured and sharpened during the university, and make it as part of core courses regardless of the background of studies even religious studies. But still few things will not change such as mindset and discipline in things that they do, no matter what generations it will be even Generation XYZ and I always believe that history repeats itself.
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