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Serving The Needs Of Washington Bankers Since 1889
One Size Fits One
Training Multiple Generations
Karl J. Ahlrichs, SPHR, Gregory & Appel | www.uncommonzone.com
“We can’t make everyone happy at the same time. If we change to
attract younger workers, our older workers feel taken advantage of.
If we stay the same the way older workers want, younger people will
not stick around. It’s a serious dilemma.”
Does this sound familiar
• You have just spent time recruiting
recent college graduates to your bank,
only to find that six months later, they
have left you for greener pastures.
• You are horrified by the casual writing
style of your younger staff and wonder
what happened to spell check and
punctuation.
• You are frustrated by what you call a
“sense of entitlement” in today’s youth
and marvel at their lack of patience to
master a skill or job thoroughly.
If any of these statements hits home, you have
already come in contact with the Millennial
generation, born after 1981. If you haven’t been
exposed to this dynamic cohort, just wait.
Over 75 million Millennials will enter the US
labor market in the coming years.
Understanding who they are and how they
best respond to training will no longer be
a choice. A foundation issue with banking
and the next generation centers around
you, the leaders. Overall, training must
adapt to a more employee-focused style of
communication and training. This is a real
challenge for banks, struggling with attracting
and retaining multiple generations in
their workforce.
—a Bank HR Manager
Conflicts between the generations are proof
that our culture is in transition. Generations
X and Y have taken the lead in driving these
cultural changes, while Baby Boomers continue
to embrace the culture they helped to
shape. At the same time, the new workers that
are just arriving – the Mlllennials – are every
bit as different and have their own challenges.
Welcome to the “new normal.”
Here are some simple tips to get you started on
training and communicating a multigenerational
workforce:
They are more tech than you probably are.
Born into the world of the internet, cell phones
and video games, they are tech savvy with short
attention spans. Raised by “Helicopter” Baby
Boomer parents who pushed them to excel,
Millennials are natural multi-taskers brimming
with confidence.
Simultaneously, this generation’s writing and
communication skills have not kept pace with
previous generations. Remedial training will
be helpful in this area. What’s more, Millennial
values around the sharing of media and
intellectual property differ significantly from
their older cohorts. Consider online social
networking sites like Facebook and you will get
a hint of how freely Millennials disseminate information
over the web. This is a Harry Potter
15
generation of action-oriented team enthusiasts
who want to make the world a better place.
So where does this leave Millennials as up and
coming employees Here are some secrets for
working with Millennials to effectively train and
manage this generation:
• Challenge them to learn new skills
• Encourage teamwork
• Stay connected
• Make it meaningful
• Create goals together
• Provide flexibility
• Recognize success
• Transitions that count
• Offer flexible ways to learn
• Use assessments and training as leadership
tools
• Just get out there and communicate
and lead
Today’s managers must realize that they will
not be effective as tomorrow’s leaders unless
they master employee-centered leadership
techniques. Just do it.
Using his 25+ years of human resources
and marketing experience,
Karl assists organizations with their
business, risk management and
people issues. He is often quoted in
the media on HR and training issues,
including USA Today and the Chicago
Tribune. He is a member of the Society for Human
Resources Management (SHRM), the American Society
of Training and Development, and the Association
for Psychological Type. Karl served as Keynote
speaker for the 2011 HR/Training Conference. Contact
liz@wabankers.com for more information.
January/February 2012