The amount of breathless navel-gazing over the differences between millennials and Boomers, Boomers and Z, Silents and X, Boomers and Silents, etc. could choke to death probably every single horse in Asia. I am not sure how many horses are in Asia, but it’s a large land mass, so I assume there’s a good amount of horses over there.
We talk about generational differences so much, and yet it means so little in the grand scope of things. I realize that a lot of times, someone needs to make an editorial deadline, and it’s relatively easy to vomit up 800 or so words about “young people today” and their “relentless attitude towards undeserved promotions” or whatever. I could literally write that article while going to the bathroom, and possibly at the bar. Heck, I am pretty sure I have written that article at the bar.
We have some new research, seemingly out of Rice University, about how dumb a topic all this is.
What does the research say?
You can start here. I will pull out a few things for you. Here’s No. 1:
For example, a thorough analysis of 20 different studies with nearly 20,000 people revealed small and inconsistent differences in job attitudes when comparing generational groups.
That’s kind of the “big one” to know. “Small and inconsistent differences.” Got it. But see, there is this problem too:
People’s stereotypes of older workers were largely positive and included words like “responsible,” “hard-working,” and “mature.” Yet older workers themselves worried that others might see them as “boring,” “stubborn,” and “grumpy.” The stereotypes of middle-aged workers were largely positive (“ethical”), and they believed the other age groups would see them as positive (“energetic”).
The reason we discuss this stuff is because it feels important to discuss, but it’s not actually important. Work is supposed to be about getting shit done, right? That’s what they tell us at least. So who cares how old you are or what music you listened to at 17 if you can get shit done, right?
Last place I worked the team I was on had a 72 year-old (Silent?), me (xillennial), 28 (millennial), and 52 (squarely X). Yes, there were differences among conversations and approaches, sure. Were they massive, work-defining differences? Absolutely not. Shit still broadly got done. Now, I have other issues with that place about the process of how shit got done, but that has absolutely nothing to do with age cohorts. Most of the people at that job making the trains run were 28-30 (millennial), and all the owners/bosses were squarely X to the point that I saw a few Nirvana t-shirts up in the halls. Place still got shit done, made money, etc. All the generational discussions are largely pointless navel-gazing.
There is a study linked above about teaching people to use Google Chat. If you perceive the person you are teaching to be older, your training quality goes down because you’re walking through stuff at a basic, plodding level. I could see that. If you perceive the person to be 26, your quality goes up. So, that’s a potential repercussion where age cohort does matter — but I’d put that more in the bucket of “Making assumptions about people you know nothing about,” which is essentially the rocket fuel on which most offices fly towards their moon.
Could we make less generational assumptions?
So long as Forbes and Fast Company are still posting about it every day? And so long as middle managers at HR tech vendor companies think they need to do “personas” by age cohort?
No.
We’ll be in this mess for a while. But you, dear reader, at the individual level? Just realize none of this matters as much as you think.
I know Boomers who slay on text and even Snap. I know 26 year-olds who can’t turn on a laptop. Everyone is their own unique little snowflake, and generalizations at the broadest levels, about cohorts constituting millions of people, do nothing but allow us to make assumptions and say generic shit that won’t move “the biz” forward much at all.
Your take?
First of all Ted as an “older” worker, “Yet older workers themselves worried that others might see them as “boring,” “stubborn,” and “grumpy.” This DOES NOT Apply to me. I could give a crap about what others might see in me. As you indicated its all about getting the work done and I get the work done, faster, more thorough and detailed than others. It’s just that simple. My generational beefs are really around “passion” or lack thereof in the “youngins”. But then again I was raised by a Father and Grandfathers that instilled in me passion for my work and to work hard at everything I do. It’s in my blood so to say, I can’t say that about others. So from your analogy of one work situation I’d probably be close to the 72 year old (somewhat silent) even though I am not that old.
Roger, I am sorry to hear that the folks you work with don’t share your passion. I think you’d be surprised how many young people were raised with the same values your family instilled in you (I’m young and those values were part of my upbringing). So, I am skeptical that the lack of passion you’ve observed in your company among young people is a generational thing.
I’d wager that the issues your coworkers have with not applying themselves are more likely due to failures with your company’s recruitment arm and possibly a lack of management establishing guidelines for work quality/workplace behavior/work culture. Those attributes are far easier to study and correct than to study age-related qualities. Stereotypes around generational differences seem more based in retrofitting data to conform to perceptions of people than data indicating actual differences in values.
There are likely a variety of reasons why your coworkers aren’t performing well; that there is a group of them who share these attributes points at a HR/recruitment failure more so than a generational core value failure (that’s what the sample size would suggest, at least).
Cheers
Dan D: This stands out, “(I’m young and those values were part of my upbringing)” I suspect that you had involved parents (probably a father and maybe grandfathers, Uncles etc.) that instilled that work ethic in you. While the HR issue might be applicable, in our niche industry and as a small company we don’t have much to gauge by other than what someone might have done before. The guys in question are trying it is just my view of “passion” for work just differs from theirs. My 24 year old son and I (and he was adopted from China as was his sister) talk about this all the time. He is going into his last year at Cal State Los Angeles and he sees this lack of passion in his classmates. Most he says are just going thru the motions. His classmates are just as inclined to leave class in mass when a protest (paid for by Georg Soros) is at hand even if the consequence is they get dropped from that class. its happened more than once, 3/4 of a class get up and leave, my son and others remain. The Professor asks why didn’t you guys leave. My son says if I did my Dad would kick my ass and I’m here to learn, if I leave I do not learn anything.. So passion is connected in some ways to commitment and in some its lacking. I work with many Youngins across the country in my work and there are many who are just going thru the motions seemingly lost. It just appears they are in jobs they really don’t want to be in and because of that its difficult for them to pour more than minimal passion into their work. I may have not liked each position I’ve ever had at first but I poured myself into each with passion making those positions and myself valuable and important. Thanks for piping in. Have a Grateful Day
I think, then, Roger, if it is true that young people lack passion, we’d have to ask where that lack of passion originated. I don’t see it as an intrinsic moral failing of an entire generation; in other words, these kids didn’t emerge from their respective wombs indifferent, passive participants. This behavior (again, if that’s what it is) is learned. Some of it may be down to parenting, some of it may be the distractions of modern society, but the overall point is that people learn these behaviors from others, and as participants in society we play a part in bringing attitudes about in others.
Some of it may be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If one group of people believes another group is lacking in some area, the observed group may begin to demonstrate these qualities. This is referred to as the Pygmalion effect, and has been studied extensively. So, if an older cohort of the population believes that a younger cohort is lacking in, say, passion, the younger group may actually start to believe they ARE lacking in passion. So, if is true that young people are lacking in passion or some other area, would it not benefit us to have faith in these people to give more of themselves?
I see quite the opposite of what you’ve observed. I have a good contingent of friends nationwide under, let’s say, 40, for the purposes of demonstration. Some of it could be the line of work I’m in (social services) that brings out the hard work in people, some of it could be that I’m drawn to other people who want to make a difference, but I know a LOT of young people working their butts off. I’m optimistic for the future.
I don’t think it’s enough to observe that young people lack in some areas that previous generations exemplified and lament it. I think we have a responsibility to teach and believe in young people, to provide them with opportunities for leadership, and to invest our full trust and faith in them. If we continue to believe young people aren’t up to snuff, or highlight the divide between some groups of young people and other groups of young people, then we get what we ask for.
I hope your faith in young people is someday restored. We’re out here hustling. Different people express effort in different ways, and I think you’d be pleasantly surprised by what these folks are capable of/already producing.
Cheers
Dan