By Eline Kullock
As I follow the selective processes for trainees and interns in Brazil, I notice that there’s a very clear change in candidate behavior, which only confirms much of the discussion about Generation Y.
Grupo Foco selects interns and trainees. Through this experience I’ve noticed a significant change in the behavior of Generation Y in the workplace.
These young people question everything. They want fast feedback on behalf of businesses, and they feel empowered by crowdsourcing, which in my view will completely change the world as we know it today and the whole concept of change. To be able to observe Generation Y’s behavior in these selective processes has been really fascinating.
The businesses that work with us, define specific skills in order to recruit their future leaders. These skills are different for each business and are very much in tune with the business culture, and also with the specific moment the business is living. For instance, a “start-up” usually needs different skills than older businesses.
Despite the differences throughout businesses, these skills seem essential when selecting future leaders:
1.Commitment
2.Generosity-true leadership is actually generosity
3.Strategic thinking
4. Vision of the future
5.Capacity for communication
6.Knowing yourself
7.Passion
8.Global vision/a vision of the team
9.Sense of urgency
10.Intuition, curiosity
Of course, the knowledge of the business itself is crucial. However, this specific knowledge will be developed in training these leaders.
My preoccupation is that some members of Generation Y simply don’t understand the meaning of these skills.
First off, we know that commitment today is not something that’s really questioned by young people. We know that they want to explore many things, and if the business doesn’t meet their expectations, they’ll simply go work in a business that does meet their expectations. That’s to say immediate expectations because in reality business can’t be compared to the family structure they grew up with. They were raised in families that always tried to cater to their demands.
In regards to generosity, I’ve met few young people who are generous. To be generous is to share, to put one’s self in the other’s shoes, to know how to speak to each person in the right way, to know what to ask, when to applaud, to give credit when it’s earned, to pass along values, and to transmit respect and ethics.
We know that Generation Y is much more ego-centric than the Baby Boomers. Baby boomers tried to empower Gen Y by saying “you can do anything!”
Also, these young people value the present. As their parents, we’ve ended up transmitting the notion that there’s no future, because the future is so unpredictable. To some extent, we’ve passed along the idea that it’s not really worth spending time and money thinking about something so uncontrollable.
In a lecture promoted by Results On, I talked about how young people aren’t so skilled at strategic planning. The young people in the audience agreed with me. They argued that planning shouldn’t occupy time and space in a quick and efficient workplace.
I also worry about the capacity of young people to communicate clearly, effectively, and with passion. Ron Charam says, “Young people don’t have the patience to explain things, their communication is short, rapid, and at least for me, often an enigma.” This is the sentence I like the best to explain the time when my son, in a successful attempt to quite down his loud group of friends, simply shouted something like “Ehhhh oooo.”
We know that grammar isn’t important to Generation Y. What is important is rhetoric, the ability to argue and express one’s perspective. Still, I worry and wonder about their capacity to express themselves in a clear, inspiring, and passionate manner.
The fifth skill is knowing one’s self. I believe that this generation is a “trophy generation.” Two great books talk about this: “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace by Ron Alsop (2008) e Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y, by Bruce Tulgan (2009).
These two books talk about a generation that was raised with trophies regardless of the competition. They earned trophies if they succeeded or lost.
We didn’t want our children to have a low self-esteem, as we, Baby Boomers did. It seems that we weren’t very successful in raising children who know themselves. This generation feels they don’t have a lot to learn. After all, they’ve already spent most of their lives teaching their own parents how to use technology.
These five fundamental skills in the search for the development of our future leaders should be discussed and evaluated throughout selective processes.
I do find comfort in knowing that this generation of young people are creative, intuitive, and have a sense of urgency. Clearly, they are moved and motivated by passion, and certainly have the ability to deal with many tasks at the same time, as illustrated in the book “Got Game.” In many ways, they’re born with essential skills to develop into great leaders.
There’s a really interesting sentence that I like to cite: “We are preparing young people for the problems that don’t yet exist, and to use tools that haven’t been invented yet.” It’s precisely because of this, that we must reflect and question if the skills cited here will suffice in dealing with this new world.
But the bottom line is: how are we selecting and preparing young people for the future?
