New Leadership Challenges in the Workplace

Guest post by: Gregg Gregory

Free Download - Leaders Play a Major Role for the Employee By Gregg Gregory Name: Email:

New Leadership Challenges in the Workplace

New Leadership Challenges In The Workplace

We are almost at the point where will have four distinct generations in the workforce at one time Jason is an entry level manager/leader and he was interviewing several candidates for front line position in the bank. As he reviewed the next e-application, Jason was shocked at what he saw. This applicant had attached a letter of recommendation. Normally this would not necessarily seem rare or unusual but in this case it was. You see the letter of recommendation was from the applicants parents. That’s right, the parents.

For those known as Generation X this is going to drive you crazy - and it is happening more than you might think. Carol recently had to discipline an employee for poor performance. She did everything by the book, in a private and in a neutral location. The employee seemed to take it in stride. The next morning Carol received a call from the employee’s father requesting a conference. What is happening? Have we raised a generation of cry babies? Maybe!

The tough part is that this is just the beginning. We are almost at the point where will have four distinct generations in the workforce at one time:

Baby Boomers

Born between 1946-1963

Generation X

Born between 1964-1980

Generation Y

Born between 1980-1990

Generation M

Born between 1991 to present

Generation Y is the first generation to have grown up with computers throughout all of their school life. Many do not even have land line phones - they only have a cell phone. They prefer to communicate electronically, either email or text messaging.

Generation M (Millennium or mobile) is the first generation to have everything in their life basically mobile. This generation prefers to communicate via text messages. I asked a 14 year old young girl one day about how much she emails and her response was, “Emailing is so 20th century”.

Think back to your childhood. At the age of 13 how far did you ride your bike from home? Most baby boomers came home from school and took off on their bike and came home for dinner. In between they could have been 3-5 miles from home and no one worried about them. Today parents will not allow their children off the street until they hit 13. Are they overprotective? In many cases the answer is no - it is just a part of society today. Yet it brings up what those late Generation Y employees and the new Generation M employees think.

Generation X was considered the first latch key generation. They came home from school and did homework, even completed chores and maybe even started dinner. They truly were self sufficient. This makes it difficult for them to understand the behavior of the new generation. This generation has expectations different from any generation in the past. They expect to be shown how to do everything where Generation X just figured it out. Do you see the challenge here?

What makes this even more bizarre is that the Baby Boomers will sometimes side with and want to help the young ones out. Why? Simple, they see their children here. This makes for a tight squeeze on Generation X.

What can we all do? It all comes back down to the leader setting expectations or setting the ground rules for the team right up front. Employees of all ages typically want to do a good job and will usually play by the rules as long as they know them. Unfortunately many organizations fail to set ground rules.

What is the difference between ground rules and regular rules?

Ground rules can be different for each and every team where regular rules are the rules set by the organization. Ground rules need to be congruent with regular rules yet can differ from team to team within an organization. Ground rules are your expectations of the employees as it relates to every aspect of his/her job.

The times they are a-changing, and we can either change with them or get left behind. If you are a Baby Boomer let me ask you - other than to your kids, how many text messages did you send last month? Now ask someone in Generation Y how many he/she sent.

Are you ready?

Related Articles
  13 Known Strategies that Stop Employees From Screaming
  The Future of Leadership Development
  Eliminating the Fear of Failure
  Community precedes culture change
  Crossing Boundaries With Mentoring
  What is True Leadership?
  Business Leadership Skills
  Is there a "C" in "See"?
  The secret questions of successful thought leaders
  Leadership Training: Give Your Organization Firepower
  5 Practical Ideas to Keep Your Employees Motivated
  A Manager Is Only As Successful As Their Most Challenged Employee
  Creating a we based company in an I based culture
  Selfish Leadership
  Leadership for Principal Interior Designers- Element 1
  The Battle for Talent is Heating Up, Are You Ready?
  How to Be an Inspiring Leader
  The Benefits of a Leadership Training Service for Employees
  How Corporate Mentoring in the Workplace Strengthens Employee Relations
  Which Generation is More Able to Handle a Recession?

Home > Leadership > Gregg Gregory > New Leadership Challenges in the Workplace > Google +

Article Tags: communication, generation gap, leadership
Referred by: http://www.gci4training.com

About the Author: Gregg Gregory RSS for Gregg's articles - Visit Gregg's website Gregg Gregory helps organizations design cooperative teams that produce results and perform at peak levels. Through his interactive workshops and consulting, Gregg's clients achieve greater team focus, cooperation, productivity, and impact. His experience includes more than two decades of human resources, real estate, mortgage banking, as well as radio and television broadcasting. Please contact Gregg at (301) 564-0908 or visit http://TeamsRock.com Click here to visit Gregg's website More from Gregg Gregory Six Solution Steps to Employee Retention Does MBWA Really Work Dealing With Idiots At Work Taking The Helm Of Leadership Six Teaming Tips For Leaders

Related Forum Posts
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - Hi Everyone, Gosh, I REALLY appreciate your concrete feedback. This was far more than I expected and I'm glad you said what you thought straight out. Each of you have shared something of value and I want to take some more time to think and really go over what each of you have said. However, I can see there are some things I need to change right away. What an interesting point about a NEW program perhaps making people think they are guinea pigs! This is NOT what I want to convey! It's funny how we can see some things so clearly in others while not always seeing it for ourselves! I must admit there are a few things I've been meaning to change (like my bio which is very outdated). Obviously, these things need to be higher on my priority list. You caught me like the plumber who puts his clients first and doesn't get around to fixing his own tap! As far as my target market, I do feel quite strongly about working with Women Leaders and doing Leadership Coaching with them. It's non-negotiable in my books. In my Executive Coaching training, the terms "Leaders" and "Executives" are interchangable. To me, an Executive is a Leader and so is the Business Woman or Entrepreneur who is CEO of her own business. I love working with decision makers! What I did learn is that I need to avoid opening up the Leadership term beyond what I described above. I'm also wondering if there is a misunderstanding with the general public as to what Leadership Coaching really is. Leadership Coaching is all about developing your leadership skills, both as a people manager and in more effectively running and growing the business. There is ALWAYS room for growth in some way. As well, sometimes, we just need a sounding board to clarify what our next BEST step is. In fact, if a woman thinks she has nothing to work on, then we aren't a good Client/Coach fit anyway. How can she grow if she doesn't see the value of expressing ALL of the great ability within her? How can her company grow if she doesn't see the value of strategic planning for the next best level? Thanks again to you all! I will go back to my website and really question whether I am conveying the right message. I got more than I bargained for in this Spotlight... you generously offered way more than I was asking. I think we could be on to something great for the Forum. Now it's time to let someone else have the spotlight. It would be great if everyone took a turn! In gratitude, Tami
Re: 3 Ways I Used Twitter To Grow My Business This Week - Hi Olivia, It seems you are working in the area of leadership area. Is Leadership = Learning? I am looking for some good books on strategy? Which one do you recommend? Thanks, Robert
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: LEADERS - Nice post, i like the Doers and the listeners comments from my handbook 8.5 HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Planning Problem Solving Vision Innovation Leadership Emotional Intelligence Delegation Communication Self-Development Relationship Building Commercial Financial skills Personal Energy Ethics Transparency Even there I see that we are missing "PASSION"
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude

Recommended Article for You close

  13 Known Strategies that Stop Employees From Screaming

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.