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Are you contributing to Gen Y Frustrations with Management?

Written by: Juliette Robertson

Article Overview: This article appeared in The Weekend Australian, Sat August 15th 2009, Australia's leading weekly newspaper. It addresses,the key frustrations Gen Y new managers have been expressing to Consultant and Executive Coach,Juliette Robertson over the last 2 years and calls on senior managers to take action.

Are you contributing to Gen Y Frustrations with Management?

There is a growing frustration amongst the newest generation of corporate managers (Gen Y) who are disappointed with the quality of the people skills demonstrated by their managers  - skills which Gen Y want to fast track with their own staff.

As an Executive Coach, Trainer and Consultant, I consistently hear from  new managers in business who feel that they are being left to silently sink or swim on their own, prove their own worth and learn by osmosis. And this sentiment is echoed by their middle managers who also admit, they have neither the time nor inclination to provide the guidance, coaching or mentoring their new managers deserve.

Redundancies, urgency, stress and just-in-time delivery in our current economy are highlighting more than ever a focus on tasks and less time for people skills.

It will be the more visionary CEO's who see the long term ramifications of this and take action to set their new managers up for success and train them to master people management skills.

Four top frustrations new Gen Y managers are voicing, are that managers' are:

• 1. Not making time to properly brief and clarify their expectations: As a former Corporate Marketing Director, I know the time pressures that middle and senior managers face, but if we can't take the time to properly clarify our expectations, we are lowering the bar and our new managers expect more..
• 2. Not spending time to guide, coach, or mentor them. Gen Y soon learn that managing staff is tough. They want guidance and coaching from their managers and to learn how to guide and coach their own teams well.
• 3. Not holding individuals accountable when things go wrong. Even experienced managers admit that holding staff accountable is perhaps one of the hardest tasks a manager faces. Many have never learned how to do this well but Gen Y admires those that do and wants to learn how.
• 4. Not acknowledging their wins or providing feedback in a constructive way. When everyone is stressed and time poor, middle and senior managers are forgetting to bolster spirits, congratulate, applaud, say "thank you", invite feedback, seek collaboration and catch people doing things right. New managers are disheartened at this and want to learn a better way.

Privately, most of us acknowledge the need to invest in teaching our new managers key leadership skills. And yet publicly, it's difficult to find much tangible evidence that our new managers are being set up for success.

I know every time I venture back into corporate life I can't help but feel that our 'busyness' is creating managers of the future who will suffer from arrested leadership development.

But it needn't be so. New managers can now learn these skills 24/7 without leaving their office simply by logging in and participating in on-line web based coach training specifically for new managers. It's cost effective, practical and with live access to Executive Coaches every week, new managers can discuss their coaching challenges and get the support they need.

Our course provides immediate access to lecturers, tools and resources plus live weekly tutorials.

They are out there', I think to myself - those aspiring new managers, enthusiastic, filled with ambition, yearning to prove and improve themselves. They are looking to us, with one eyebrow raised questioningly.  They are looking for role models - leaders who can exhibit both the expert task delivery and impressive people skills that they can admire and learn from.

They are looking for leaders who understand the value in work life balance and who can courageously engage in meaningful one-on-one conversations. But the noise is drowning out the real conversations that need to occur.

Yet despite the peaceful yet more frequent collision of differences between Generation Y's and their managers, not so far beneath the surface, we generations hold much in common.

Most of us at all levels want honesty and authenticity from those around us.

We expect fairness, courtesy, empathy: the ability to stand in someone else's shoes.

We all want to be listened to and know that our voice and opinions are being heard.

Most of us actually want to be held accountable and admire those who do so.

Most of us cherish the rare moments when our boss invests some one-on-one time with us and tells us we have potential to be more than we imagine.

In our changing and often volatile corporations, none of us are exempt from the challenge to remember this common ground and take the time to more effectively manage the people in our care. 

Right now is when we need leaders who know how to coach, mentor, guide and inspire young professional lives. Our new managers are up for the challenge. It will be the progressive companies that invest in them and show them how.

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Article Tags: accountability, coach, coaching skills, feedback, Gen Y, guide, mentor, visionary CEOs



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