The New Rules of Communication

04Feb09

Apparently, according to one Jenny Floren, the CEO and founder of Experience, one of the top trends in 2008 for managing Gen-Yers is for companies to change their communication style:

2. Communication style:

Gen Y employees speak a different language, so hiring and department managers need to practice a new style of communicating. Gen Y employees respond to humor, passion and the truth: don’t even think of “spinning” a message with this audience. As Gen Y employees increasingly dominate the workforce, people who work with them should also realize how important direct and timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts are to 18-30 year olds. While this may feel like pampering to some, the outcome is a set of employees who are engaged and motivated to show their best work.

In fact, here she is in an interview explaining this further:

Go to around the 4:40 mark to hear her explain how employers need to communicate to the Gen Y about “here’s what you’re going to get out of this job; here’s how I’m going to contribute to your work experience; here’s how this is going to open up more doors” and so on.

Then she says there are more opportunities now than ever in the past, and there’s “absolutely nothing stopping them”.  And why the Gen-Y should follow their passion and so on.  Which explains why Ms. Floren thinks the Gen Y needs to be catered to.

Ha ha ha!  Ho ho ho!  Hee hee hee!

Hi, Ms. Floren — welcome to 2009!

Allow me to introduce you to the new rules of communication.

You speak a different language you say?  Congratulations — get busy learning my language.  You respond to humor, passion and the truth, and don’t care to be “spun”?  Oh, too bad, so sad.  There’s the door — get out.

It is not my job as your manager to “learn your language”.  It is your job to learn mine.

I have no idea when this changed.  When I was coming up in the world, if my boss told me to do something, and I didn’t quite understand him, then it was my ass if I did the job badly due to “miscommunication”.  I don’t recall my boss sitting down to patiently explain why and how I should do a task — if I had a question, it was incumbent on me to ask, not on him to anticipate it.

When did this change?  Well, whenever that changed, it’s going to change back.  Get used to it.  We did.  Recognize that many of us Gen-Xers who came up in a business world where we weren’t pampered and catered to 24/7/365 have no sympathy whatsoever for you.

You need direct and timely feedback, with frequent encouragement and recognition?  Oh, I’m so sorry — but I’m running a company here, not a goddamn day-care center.  We’re not here for ten hours a day to make you feel better about yourself, give you self-esteem, or to win “Best Places to Work for Twenty-Somethings” awards.  We’re here to make money so that we don’t go bankrupt and have to lay off people whose families depend on the company.  If that makes you uncomfortable… there’s the door.

So let me tell it to you like this, in the style of Jenny Floren:

We Gen X managers speak a different language from you, so hired and department staff need to practice a new style of communicating.  We respond to proactivity, yes-ma’am positivity, passion, loyalty, and the truth.  Don’t even think of spinning why you screwed up the last assignment due to “miscommunication”.  It is your job to know what I expect of you; not mine to explain it in patient detail to a putative grownup.  As Gen X managers increasingly dominate the workforce, people who work for them should also realize how important direct and timely reports, frequent check-in’s and seeking approval are to 31-40 year olds.

While this may feel like slavery, keep in mind that I am paying you.  You are free to leave at any time to seek your destiny as the lead guitarist of the next punk-trip-hop breakthrough band.  But while you work for me, you had better understand that the outcome of the above communication policies is a set of managers who give a crap about you and might be persuaded to give you a hand in climbing the corporate ladder.

And if you think you are irreplaceable, that you are “uniquely gifted”, well my young friend, you had better hope you’re right.

But unless you are Tom Brady, I seriously doubt your “unique gifts” are really all that unique.  And even Golden Tom might not be all that uniquely gifted, considering how well Matt Cassel played last season.  If Tom Brady can be replaced… believe me, you can be replaced.  I can be replaced.  We all can be replaced.

While I am harsh on you Gen-Yers, understand that deep inside (very deep), I’m trying to help you become real professionals.  Professionalism means understanding what business really is, and what business communication is really about: getting things done.  Professionalism means taking ownership of your work, and ensuring that you understand fully what is expected of you by your manager.  It has never been, and it will never be, the other way around in any healthy organization.

So, when it comes to communication, remember: You will learn my language, or you will learn the joys of collecting unemployment.

-GXM

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Tags: communication, professionalism