CAREER SPECIAL..... Why Gen Y falters at the workplace

Why Gen Y falters at the workplace





Born in the 1980s or 90s and struggling to succeed in your career?

Millennials or Gen Y were born in the early '80s to late '90s and joined the workstream in the new millennium. They who breathe life and energy into workplaces are also India's demographic dividend. However, many of them are struggling to succeed. Here are a few reasons for their failure and ways to avoid them.

I do everything, all the time:

You are a multi-tasker--comfortable wearing both professional and personal identities all the time.This keeps you grounded. However, older colleagues resent your personal life interruptions during work and are disturbed by your Facebook notifications, time spent on WhatsApp or family calls. Your inability to switch off office worries during family time and personal pressures during office hours distracts you and impacts your performance. Practice separating your work and personal spaces by setting clear time and habit boundaries. Ignore your phone and be completely present while speaking to someone. As a leader, know that the digital element is an integral part of nextgen lives.

Can't decide alone:

Gen X parents and teachers have taught GenY to favour collective decision making. Thus, you always discuss before making decisions and try not to rub people the wrong way. However, this behaviour harms your career by slowing down your decision-making process. You are afraid to make the wrong choices and are unable to accept others' decisions when you haven't been consulted. This may work in unstructured startups, but established firms are neither used to nor require your philo sophical buy-in before making decisions.Practice making decisions alone and accepting others' decisions.

Fun jobs only:

You seek passion and connectedness and not just a salary. This helps you remain engaged and happy. You fail when you are unable to deal with boredom and routine. You don't stick around long enough to solve really tough problems and become a serial quitter. Your team leaders have little patience for such behaviour, since they are focused on outcomes. Know that success comes from expertise built by persistence, which involves periods of boredom.To stay motivated, you can continuously create your own narrative with long-term and short-term goals for your current job. As a manager, help millennials find roles based on their motivations and interests.

I want a coach:

As a Gen Y colleague, you prefer your manager to be your coach rather than your boss. However, bosses have different leadership styles--aspirational, inspirational, coaching, affiliative, coercive and participative. Chances are, that you are failing simply because you are not getting along with your manager. Your firm may not have the structure or capacity to coach you. To succeed, identify your manager's leadership style and the best approach to learning from him. As a manager, incorporate coaching routines with your team members.

I showed up, didn't I?:

Well-meaning adults told you that winning was not the only thing, what mattered was that you participated. You grew up being rewarded for volunteering and participating in activities.Then you failed terribly at the workplace, expecting to get paid and promoted simply because you turned up for work. Your firm cares about success and outcomes and your attendance is simply a hygiene factor. If you have high expectations of career advancement, rework your approach. Start by taking risks and learning from failures. As you focus on success instead of participation, your choices and actions will evolve, putting you on the growth path.

Give me freedom:

You have experienced greater freedom and choices than the previous generation. When you perceive the freedom to define your job you are more engaged and successful at work. However, you often mistake deadlines for a lack of choice.This makes you resentful and you start failing. Your manager may have limited space and scope to change the parameters of your job profile. The secret is to leverage your current freedom to build structures in your work routines. Structuring your work and time will lead to greater efficiencies, buying you success, time and a bigger canvas with greater responsibilities and more freedom.

I don't need this:

As a Gen Y person, you are probably easy to get along with and can live with diverse viewpoints. At the same time, you may not have mastered the art of confrontation and disagreement. You avoid difficult conversations and thus suffer poor performances, missed deadlines and opportunities for corrective action. Your boss too has little patience with your avoidance of straight talk and does not encourage you to speak. To overcome your hesitance, do a role play with a friend and practice each tough conversation in advance. Get used to both giving and receiving critical inputs and separating emotions from content.

Devashish Chakravarty , Director, Executive Hiring, at QuezX.com.

ET21MAR16