Last night, I participated in a Twitter conversation called #JobHuntchat. After riding this flurry of tweets, I surfed to another hashtag: #GenYchat.
This is where I noted a link to THIS ARTICLE on the Harvard Business Review web site. It is basically about 700 words of Gen-Y bashing, and the general whine, “uuuunnnhhhhhhh, do they HAVE to be heeeeeeeerrrreeuuhhhhhh?”
Here’s author Andrew McAfee’s comment on how Millenials (my generation) give little reverence to [echo tones] Verticle Hierarchy-archy-archyyyyyyy:
This is a really bad idea, for two main reasons. First, it ignores the fact that the newest workers might not be the most knowledgeable on the company’s core topics, and that they’d be better served at the start of their careers by listening and learning, rather than broadcasting what they already (think they) know.
Second, many people in the organization’s existing hierarchy are kind of fond of it. They’re fond, in fact, of the entire notion of hierarchy, and of the related idea that employees should respect their places within it. These people don’t really desire more egalitarianism.
Lemme tell you something about this thought-line. With the current culling of the job market, the hierarchy of yesteryear is sort of looking more like Jenga than like a nice neat pyramid I suspect Mr. McAfee is saying the people who are – let’s face it – no longer at the bottom are ‘kind of fond of’. So….yeah, NO DUH, they’re kind of fond of it – it’s their foothold on personal security in an almost tectonic-scale shifting employment market. To be honest [and egalitarian] the only people who think it’s special…are the ones ENGAGED in it.
But work is NOT a fraternity. And the whole hazing/pledge-class attitude toward entering the workplace at the bottom of the totem and shutting up is OUT. DATE. ED. Take a look at the emerging technologies, for example. Are they created and launched by older workers who have put in their time and covered up their mistakes and played the political game for the requisite 26 years while waiting in line for their chance to shine as an executive? NO! They are being launched by individuals who have the skills, ideas, and passion to execute – PERIOD. So–why do we have to wait for a product/service/guru launch to be impressed by the Millennial?
You are SO RIGHT Jillian.
Seriously, who better to come in and say, “This needs to change” than a new person? This is the whole principle of LEAN manufacturing, and this is why Toyota has been so successful in making cars for the last forty years, and why America has kind of gone up in flames over that industry.
They are ALWAYS looking to learn, to have self managing teams instead of hierarchies, to respect each team member’s unique contributions, and to make continuous improvements. I think that THIS is the strength that Gen Y can bring.
And if people like their rigid hierarchies, Gen Y can go into another framework, one that will work better. It’s time to get more socialist, more egalitarian, more aware that we all have unique strengths and we don’t all have to be managers or worker bees, but perhaps just people in a team, all working together towards a goal.
Mazarine
http://wildwomanfundraising.com/managing-gen-y
Thank you so much for your comment – sorry I was so slow to reply