Part of the requirements for being a CPA is that you attend 40 hours of continuing education per year. While I’m no longer practicing as a CPA, I intend to keep my license active. On Friday I attended a conference geared towards HR professionals that touched on a lot of topics relevant in personal and professional development.
The first session, by Cynthia Widlitze, was about the differences in dealing with people across generations. We all do this at work and in our families, but how many truly realize the underlying causes for certain patterns of thinking by generation?
It was interesting to hear about the characteristics that people often embody based on what was happening in the world as they grew up. It was also interesting to see which characteristics I had going into the workforce that came from my grandparents (Traditional and Baby Boomer) and then parents’ (Gen X) experiences.
I was born in 1987 and therefore fall into the Millennial category. Millennials are often characterized as “lazy” and “late bloomers,” many living at home until their early-mid 30’s, delaying marriage and family life. As someone who made it through college with minimal help, bought my first house at 23, and have always had an incredible work ethic I find this stereotype frustrating. Additionally, in my small southern community there was a pressure to settle down and start a family young that did not align with the “Millennials” we hear about.
So many people speak to the defining characteristic of our generation being that we got technology/the internet in our preteens. Indeed, it’s the defining characteristic discussed on Wikipedia. Cynthia discussed how the traits of each generation are due to the overall change in economic and social circumstances during their childhood. How they see their parents struggle, or not struggle, with financial security. She said Millennials in general were raised by “helicopter parents” and have only ever know affluence (not being characterized by financial lack/scarcity of prior generations). As a result, they may lack personal responsibility and feel entitled (and fall into victim mode when things don’t work out the way they expect).
This explanation finally helped me understand why I’ve never felt like a “Millennial.” As much as my upbringing had its disadvantages, it instilled the work ethic and personal responsibility that drove me to be a high performer in my career that positioned me to now launch my own business. At the same time, I inherited a scarcity mindset and the limiting belief that success, and therefore happiness, = working hard, earning an impressive salary, and advancing the career ladder.
Fortunately, more and more people are waking up to the realization that being happy during working hours, where we spend most of our waking hours, is vital to our overall wellbeing and success. At a rapid pace, people today are breaking away from the pattern of spending their time working at jobs they dislike to pay for lives that don’t bring them fulfillment.
I was glad to see several of the speakers touch on the topics of authenticity in the workplace, the importance of giving your employees a feeling of purpose in their work, how outdated the 9a-5p model of working has become, and encouraging community among coworkers. We are people first and foremost, but for so long the workplace has been a space where we have to wear the mask of “professional.” Too many employers take the approach of “everyone’s replaceable,” which (while technically true) leaves their employees feeling unappreciated and leads to disengagement.
These beliefs and behaviors, which become company culture, come from the experiences and expectations of the generations in leadership positions. In generations where jobs were scarce, like Traditionals and Baby Boomers, employees felt grateful just to have a job that could put food on the table. In the environment we live in now, leaders with the mindset that employees should “just be grateful to have a job” and not want to enjoy their work while being appreciated for their contribution will struggle to run a successful business. Baby Boomers are still the founders and decision making leaders of a lot of businesses while Millennials are the majority of the workforce and Gen Z is entering the workforce.
How we treat employees translates to how they treat customers and therefore the health of a business. People who feel cared for do more.
A leader with a fixed mindset will find themselves struggling with high turnover or disengaged or burnt out employees. They will see the cause of the problem as outside of themselves, and therefore not seek a solution, blaming “this generation” for being lazy and entitled.
A leader must dig deeper to take responsibility. This is why personal and professional development is vital in any leadership role. Leaders must learn to expand their views to understand and value the views of their employees. If they don’t, their employees will go find a leader who will.
Believe Grow Glow 