Opening Discourse

I ‘nicknamed’ this piece Opening Discourse because it is my first article for The Crest. It is indeed a privilege and an opportunity I do not take lightly to be here sharing my 30-years HR knowledge and connections with the teeming readers of The Crest. It is great to be here sharing the ‘pulpit’ with veterans. To God be all the glory.

I like to open my account on this platform with an article that was first published several months back in The Sun stable, an article which has now gone through several modifications with new materials and updates, locally and globally. Let me say it upfront that I’m of the Baby Boomer generation and that my choice of the Millennial or Generation Y or ‘Yers’ and Generation Z or Generation 2020 respectively as my primary target audience worthy of attention and loads of investment is borne out of my passion and ministry to the young ones and the family as a whole.

This is a decision my wife and I took years ago and as God has arranged it, all our biological children are within this target audience, and object of my fascination. As we share and interact in the following weeks, months and years, I’ll be focusing on people issues in the workplace, in our society, and in life in general, and I would be aiming at encouraging mostly an audience made up of the above age groups. Older people who can accommodate me are welcome most sincerely.

I’m not by any means blotting out my ‘kith and kin’ in the Baby Boomers and the Generation X or the ‘Xers’. I have only learned over time that my scarce resources are far better expended sharing gainful insight with, and grooming the younger generations. However, I have testimonies of some of my contemporaries who had ignored my snub, listened attentively in my classes and sessions or while working with me, and we have mutually beneficial rewarding experiences to show for it. Reasons for my generational preference are many and this piece would be to examine some of those reasons based on their strengths and peculiarities. Results of generational researches are sets of best practices developed in the developed climes that have become best-fit for us in this part of the world.

As you read the characteristics, strengths and idiosyncrasies of the generations, try and look around you at work and at home and see if someone is behaving true to type. Be warned, that someone could be you! Knowing these strengths and characteristics helps in relationship building, grooming and mentoring, depositing quality experiences on the upcoming generations, synergistic teamwork and team-bonding, etc. In some organisations, as we speak, their people managers are busy managing five generations in the workplace!

Let me quickly do a summary of generational ‘genealogy’ – the traditionalists begot the baby boomers. The traditionalists are people born before 1945 or 1946. They are the veterans. They have seen it all. Growing up was tough, during World War II and the depression. Most of them long retired but we still have a few of them in the workplace around here. Actually, in developed economies, they are being lured out of retirement back into the workplace by reason of experience and generational peculiarities – hard working, loyal, organisation people, strict adherence to rules, strong respect for constituted authority, and duty and responsibility over personal leisure pursuits.

No wonder they are called the Silent Generation, “they were to be seen not heard”. Not much education, they mostly learned on the job. Career-wise, there was little or no crisscrossing jobs, career goal was to build seniority, advance and build personal legacy. They were somehow averse to risk. You can’t blame them, they grew up in an era of global turbulence. They have a good sense of work-life balance. They are not too digital-savvy. They would rather use their cell phones to make calls, no more and no less. Years back, I have had pleasant encounters with this generation severally while doing workshops on Life-After-Work, Pre-retirement and Entrepreneurship for exiting staff of the Federal Government in conjunction with the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR), and for some organised private sector blue chips. I can’t recollect one unpleasant experience with these seniors in class. What a blessed generation!

The baby boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964. This is my generation. Hurray! The Americans refer to us as the Baby Boom, because of the “extra seventeen or so million babies born during the period following World War II when compared to previous census figures”. It is instructive to note that these periods are loosely put in ranges, they are not cut and dry kind of divisions, they intersect, run into one another, they are fluid in nature, and not “law of Persia and Medes”. Kudos to researchers and demographers on this subject.

Boomers are known for the mind-set that they can achieve anything they desire through their own expertise, dedication, collaboration and hard work. They often carry this sense of optimism and teamwork to the workplace. Growing up in an era of growth and prosperity, many of them had access to quality education. In Nigeria for instance, they enjoyed Awolowo’s free education in the South West, they went to universities free of charge, with jollof rice and whole chicken for lunch on Sundays and libraries well stocked with relevant books. They have strong work ethic placing much value on status, prestige and wealth with many defining themselves through their employment and professional accomplishments. They believe in the value of hard work, dignity of labour, and they are professional in their dealings. They often think the younger generations lack the ambition and work ethic they possess. Though still occupying top places in the workplace, most of them are nearing retirement while many have voluntarily taken, or have been forced into early retirement to run their own businesses. Is anyone missing us?

Before moving on to the next generation, it is said that boomers can be resistant to direct leadership having grown up in the era of questioning authority, they prefer consensus team decisions, they thrive with minimal supervision and tend to resist micro-managing bosses. Boomers are competitive and resourceful, they detest being unemployed or under employed. They don’t sit at home, they hit the road, they crave to be valued and appreciated for their talent. They struggle with the balancing act of long hours at work and the family. Some of them embraced digital lifestyle early enough, especially with the advent of cell phones and with the confidence that with a smart phone, they are connected 24/7. So much to say about my generation but we are not the object of this essay, we may have more to say on this in the coming weeks.

Baby boomers begot Generation X, Gen X or ‘Xers’ for short. These are ladies and gentlemen born roughly between 1965 and 1984. The ‘Xers’ are the children of the younger traditionalists and the older boomers. It is reported that the Harvard Centre uses 1965 to 1984 to define this generation may be to create a balance, making each of the three generations, Boomers, ‘Xers’ and Millennials to cover equal 20-year age span approximately. The ‘Xers’ tailgated the Boomers into life, and into the workplace. They grew up seeing their parents so dedicated to their professional career and making it their top priority.

In reaction to this, ‘Xers’ put premium on work-life balance, “their attitude is more sceptical and individualistic as a result of witnessing the experiences of their parents”. They also enjoyed quality and luxurious education like the Boomers, at least for those who went to school. As baby boomers retire, ‘Xers’ are stepping into their shoes but for how long? Their mantra is “I work to live” and not the other way, unlike the older generations. Many of them even ‘walked out’ on establishment to do their own thing long before their baby boomer seniors.

Look, these guys practically grew up coming home from school to an empty house (latchkey kids) so they are typically self-sufficient and could operate without much oversight. They are self-reliant and goal oriented. ‘Xers’ love flexibility, feedback and reward, they usually want this reward immediately. They are so resourceful and work better when the stakes are high, stretched target. In their desire and struggle to keep home and work separate, they try as much as possible to avoid being available 24/7 preferring informal channels of communication over lecture style briefing and long meetings.

Gen X begot the Millennials, one of my favourite generations, and by far the most dynamic to date. My other favourite being the budding and bubbling Generation 2020. This piece is all about them, and I shall now turn to these two generations for the rest of this piece and its part two.

The Millennials’ birth period is also dynamic as researchers seldom agree on the beginning and the end of their birth period. If there be any consolation, let me adopt the following as authentic. “Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are the generational demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 as ending birth years”. In fact, Generation 2020, the generation after them was practically carved out of this range. As you’ll see when we get there, it is nothing short of secession.

This group’s dynamism also shows forth in the variety of names and aliases by which it is known and called. Millennials probably have the most appellations of all the generations before them, and even the one after them. Take this for a starter, Generation Y, the Millennials, the Nexters or Generation Next, Generation www, the Digital Generation, Generation E, Echo Boomers (because they are the children of baby boomers), N-Gens and the Net Generation. They have also labelled themselves as the NNF (Non-Nuclear Family) Generation, the Nothing-Is-Sacred Generation, the Wannabees, the Feel-Good Generation, Cyberkids, the Do-or-Die Generation, and the Searching-for-an-Identity Generation, and so on.

You may want to ask me why not pay attention to my generation, the Boomers? My answer is simple. This column is about leaving a legacy, it is about motivating those who still have enough energy left in them and are willing to play to their strength. And in this era of not-too-young-to-run, my team is motivated to pour the good things of our lives on to the willing and ready among the upcoming generations. Why am I not motivated by my generation? Though I’m not saying exactly that, experience has however shown me, both in the corporate setting and in the fellowship, that my generation thinks they have seen it all. They think they know what you are about to say, they want you to say whatever and quit the stage, etc.

But the Millennials are hungry for apply-able knowledge. They want to ask questions; they want answers. They are asking what happened if when the older generations went to the university they lived like kings, how come the Millennials are living like paupers in the same schools? How come many pages of so many library books are missing? This is a generation with so much energy that working with them in the office, in NGOs, and in the church is a pleasure and a very rewarding experience. One other encouraging factor is, whether we like it or not, this is the generation we would hand over to ultimately in all facets of human endeavour. Better put, these are the ones that will take over. Oh yes! there are rough edges, even to the point of wondering at times if these Millennials would ever fit into the ‘killing field’ of the corporate world. Patience, my dear, patience. Whoever saw gold in its raw state? Which generation is immune to rough edges? Solutions to intergenerational differences in the workplace and the society at large include patience, resilience, agility and increased understanding thereby turning the differences into advantages. The aim is for this article to assist in providing such solutions.

Enjoy.

To be continued…

Acknowledgement/Sources of Resources for this article:

1. Several clip arts and snippets from the Internet to drive home my points
2. A couple of ‘SmartTips’ courtesy, Concentrated Knowledge Corporation. soundview.com
3. Over 25 years practical experience managing people and handling people issues
4. BezaleelConsulting Group Library bezaleelconsultingrw.com
5. A very informative article titled “Move Over Millennials; Generation Z Is Here” by a Gen ‘Xer’ dad, David Stillman and his Gen 2020 son, Jonah Stillman.