Gen Xer Offers Advice for Baby Boom Managers

With job security a thing of the past, it’s no wonder that baby boomers are having anxiety attacks.

But what have the waves of layoffs and corporate restructurings meant for the group behind them--the so-called Generation X? Of the 48 million people born between 1964 and 1977, more than 40 million are already active in the work force, according to Rainmaker Inc., a New Haven, Conn., company that studies the working lives of that generation. And most of those young people say the lack of job security and economic opportunity is their No. 1 concern.

Generally speaking, the last person they’d tell their troubles to--or seek help from--is a manager.

Can baby boomer bosses and twentysomething Xers find common ground? Or will intergenerational conflict in the workplace wreak havoc with productivity and career development for decades to come?

Rainmaker’s founder, Bruce Tulgan, a 28-year-old lawyer and the author of a 1995 book, “Managing Generation X: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent,” shared his thoughts on how middle-aged managers can get the most out of the whippersnappers--er, workers--following them into the job market.

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Q: What sets Generation Xers apart from other workers, particularly baby boomers?

A: The landscape for career possibilities for Gen Xers is very different. In the movie “The Graduate,” the idea was that all you had to do was pick the right industry [plastics, in that late-1960s instance] and be loyal and hard-working and you’d be rewarded with a lifetime job and a good retirement. We’re starting out without those expectations. We always have known that we’d have to rely on ourselves for our security.

We were raised in the wake of the disruption of cultural norms--a disruption fomented by baby boomers--when institutions were beginning to lose credibility. I don’t think we’re cynical. But, in contrast to prior generations, we’re not going to say that having a relationship with an institution is going to be secure.

Most of us were raised as latchkey children because our parents worked or decided not to stay married. We’d come home from school and baby-sit ourselves with TV, video games, computers. We’re very experienced consumers of information. It shouldn’t be a surprise to managers that we have a fundamentally different style of learning and communicating. It was also common for parents to be more permissive. All this makes us a uniquely independent lot.

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Q: So how should a manager approach Gen Xers?

A: First, managers should forget the stereotypes. People think we’re disloyal, arrogant and don’t want to be told what to do. Not so. We don’t have short attention spans; it’s just that we think and learn differently. We’re willing to work hard, long hours. But we don’t want to pay dues for the sake of paying dues, just because our managers did.

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Q: What tips do you have for managers?

A: Maintain open lines of communication. Build a rich information environment. Serve as mentors and teachers. Challenge Xers with new projects demanding fresh skills.

A lot of Xers are under the impression that managers purposely keep information from them because we seem so ambitious, so aggressive--and maybe our comfort level with technology makes us a threat.

We are aware of the need to keep learning and are aware of our lack of experience, judgment and wisdom. It’s a hard thing to teach somebody who’s so independent, but it will be so well-rewarded.

Most Xers are willing to take a temporary step down to move into a diverse work area to learn how to do something new. We’re trying to build a repertoire of skills and abilities. We’re very much aware of our need to continue to market ourselves. At the very least, managers should be open to that. We want managers to facilitate our adding value.

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Q: What should managers avoid?

A: Micro-managing. Once you’ve delegated a task, leave me alone until the deadline. Don’t hold up my productivity by taking excessive time reviewing intermediate results.

Another problem is managers who demand “face time.” We don’t want to sell our time, we want to sell our product. We want to manage our own time. Allow Xers to set the frequency of interaction with managers. Answer questions as they arise.

Don’t practice fear-based or abusive management. The risk of not having an institutional job is much less for us, so we’re willing to tolerate less.

Don’t give formal reviews every six months. Think fast. We want to know how we can do things better. Be specific, and give me a chance to do it again and better.

Don’t use Xers as marionettes. We need to have something that we have 100% responsibility for so we can lobby for more and more responsibility. Expose our successes to senior managers, customers and clients.

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Q: Is the relationship between boomers and Xers hopeless?

A: Not at all. We’ve been very encouraged that people in human resources and training and development in major companies seem very interested in our research.

The truth is that established companies do need the next generation of labor. And the truth is that, as independent as we are, most of us really want to do our work in the context of an established organization. It’s in our mutual interest. There’s a lot of room for a changing workplace bargain.