SX Gen Y

This is a guest post written by Melissa Breau. She is an emerging freelancer and is chronicling her career journey on her blog. Connect with Melissa on Twitter: @MelissaBreau

Often Gen-Y is looked down upon for being the “now” generation; for our desire to skip the whole ladder-climbing-thing; for our love of informality and our desire to be recognized for our achievements.

In truth, the assets to be had in working with gen-y are much greater than the detriments. Here are three steps managers can follow to encourage gen-y employees and leverage them for their full potential.

1) For starters, let us be passionate about what we are doing. We want to believe in the company we work for and in its work. If we feel passionately about “our project” we will work overtime, miss sleep, skip eating – we will work on tight deadlines and still turn out high quality work. We understand how to research topics online through both traditional and untraditional methods; we will pull out all the stops for something we believe in and are allowed to be passionate about.

2) Explain why, not just what. Our passion drives us to want to take the next step on a project. If you allow us to believe in our work and our company, we will constantly be on the look out for new opportunities. However, unless you explain your rationale and decision making processes, we will be unable to filter these things so that we can bring the most appropriate proposals to your attention. Take the time to discuss what the company needs, and we will search for a solution. We like finding answers. If you give us the information to evaluate opportunities, we will proactively work to improve the company.

3) Ask us for our opinions. As several video-posters have mentioned, we want to collaborate. Acknowledge that we have valuable opinions, not by constantly praising our achievements, but by considering our ideas. We understand that you know more about the way things have worked than we do. We want to understand everything that you know. But we also want to teach you everything we know – about leveraging new tools, about finding untraditional opportunities, and about promoting the company and brand socially.
Managers who follow these three steps will see their gen-y employees become top producers. They will win those employees loyalties and that will directly impact the company’s bottom line in unexpected but positive ways.

Connect With Melissa Breau:
Blog: www.jargonwriter.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MelissaBreau

So where did we come up with this crazy topic, of “with” vs. “for”? Well, allow us to elaborate.

Sydney’s version:

It wasn’t until I went to SXSW that I realized the power one word can hold. I was talking to Ben Smithee of Spych Research (Ben, I’m totally loving then new website btw) when I said “Ooh, there’s a guy here from a company I’d like to work for!”

Ben said, “you mean with?”

Puzzled, I just had a blank look on my face.

“You mean, you want to work with them, not for them.”

Ben then enlightened me on the power of with vs. for. From that moment on, in any interview situation, in any random networking connection, in any follow-up email, I would say “and I look forward to working with you soon”. It makes sense, in conversation, to say with. But when talking about companies that could potentially hire you, it’s easy to say “ooh, I’d love to work for them!”

With vs. For is also a mindset. Just imagine how different the dynamics of a workplace can be if you’re working “with” people or working “for” people. Working with, you’re learning, engaging, you’re expressing your imaginative ideas at brainstorms and listening to those of others, you’re adding your value to a team. Working for, you’re likely running errands, being passed off tasks that your superior is “above” or are timid in expressing your ideas, because, after all, you are working for ______, not yourself.

Scratch that. I think it’s all about the tonality of the atmosphere. You can run errands with a smile if the atmosphere is supportive of that. Maybe that’s something we should all think about. Whether you’re the errand-assigner or the errand-runner, think about how it’s asked. If you say “hey, I know you’re swamped, but could you run down to _____ and pick up ____ for (insert project that you’re working on here)?” the runner recognizes that this errand is an important part of the team’s overall goal and will see the importance of the task at hand. If you shoot over an email that is condescending, then there is this tension, the “part of a team” mentality is gone, and now it feels like you’re working for that person, not with.

I think, too, that a lot of the with vs. for mindset is part of the industry you’re in. Working with makes sense to me because I’m more of a creative (though that side of my talents hasn’t really been tapped into yet, which is another thought in itself) than a number-cruncher or statistic-creator. So I think in a creative environment, it only makes sense to say “with”.

Fortunately, in my little world that I’m living in now, it’s a whole-lotta working “with”, not “for”. So that’s great.

What do you think about with vs. for? Does it matter? Say it out loud. Does one sound better than the other? Does it depend on your environment? Are there industries that are more “with” or more “for”? What are they?