Don't Let Your Business Communications Fall into the Generation Gap
Professional service firms across the country are concerned with navigating the chasm stretching between the values of older employees and those of the Generation Y - or Millennial - professionals now entering the workforce.
Study after study has shown that this younger cohort is more dual-centric (placing equal priorities on career and family) and less work-centric (putting higher priority on their jobs than family) than previous generations. With an eye on attaining work-life synergy, they’re impatient to progress and define rewards in terms of financial success, flexibility, freedom, opportunity and meaning.
According to a recent news release, along with its dual-centric outlook and value system, Gen Y also has a unique communication style. Its members “respond to humor, passion and truth” and need direct and “timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts.” As this article on talking across generations explains, Millennials were raised in an age of tech-fueled instant gratification. So, they need to receive a steady stream of information “to feel in the loop and included” at work.
While older generations are used to communicating with co-workers and clients face-to-face, Gen Y prefers the ease and speed of e-mail and their constant companion – the Blackberry. If you feel behind this e-communications eight ball and want a handy tip sheet for connecting with the Millennials in your work and client space, check out David Pogue’s piece on The Next Generation of Online Shorthand.
