I just read kind of an interesting post by Steve Tobak on www.bnet.com on the concept of generational profiling. That really wasn’t his entire point, his point was really more about the time and energy and hub bub we spend talking about the generational differences and how relevant and important are they relative to other more important matters. I kind of agree.
I have heard Generations X and Y maligned, dissected and analyzed to the point where it borderlines annoying. Candidly a lot of what I have heard about them hasn’t been any truer in my experience than the stuff about any other generation. I have heard that they are unloyal, unmotivated, etc. My personal experience simply hasn’t validated those generalizations at all.
I have found that these newer generations may be slightly more cynical than past generations and that they look at things from a different perspective.
They watched their parents and grandparents adhere to a social contract that to a certain extent was based on a kind of organizational codependency. You went to work for and organization and if you were “loyal” and “obedient” you were provided with a certain degree of economic security including health care and retirement benefits and maybe to a certain extent even a whisper of guaranteed employment.
As the economy began to globalize we saw those institutions began to crumble. Organizations began to become more comfortable with downsizing, rightsizing, and just generally moving jobs offshore or to lower cost areas. Defined benefit plans in retirement and health care were exchanged for defined contribution plans or limited or eliminated altogether.
As a result these generations see themselves in many cases as more “intreprenurial”. They stay with an organization as long as it meets their purposes and goals. I guess my question is as I explore in my article A New Social Contract, is “so what is wrong with that” and “is that really generational?’ I am not sure I see anything wrong with that new paradigm, nor do I think it is or should be limited to a particular generation.
On the other hand, I think you should practice “profiling”. I think you should recruit and hire people who share your values as an organization. I think you should talk about your values and build your brand in rather than bolt it on. I am a big fan of concepts like congruency, where employees view of key activities and practices is consistent with that of the organization; not only what we say, but what we actually do.
I think you can have organizational congruency and not illegally discriminate against anyone because of their color, national origin, sexual orientation or other protected arenas. I think when we commit rather than comply we perform better because we see our role as partners rather than master and servant.
So I guess at the end of the day I am saying don’t spend your time profiling generations- define your culture and your vision and then seek out people who share it. In fact if you get really good at it maybe they will seek you out….
