Generation Y | Bertrand Duperrin's Notepad

Yers and corporate IT : the expected divorce is far from happening

May 13, 2011 By Bertrand DUPERRIN 1 Comment

Summary : gen Y-related myths seem to collapse the one after the other. After having been seen as sworn enemies of IT dept’s inflexibility because of their behaviors and the usages that come with, it seems that they’ve given in and happily accept what they’re given. Their opinion on IT departments is even quite positive. The reasons of this gap are worth being understood. Maybe that, for this generation, the struggle is more about the content of work than on tools.

Many things have been said on the famous generation Y. Most of all that this generation, used to simple and efficient tools won’t accept a work environment that looks rather like Jurassic Park and will lead the fight against IT depts found guilty of opposition to change and refusal to listen to the actual concerns of end users.

Members of this generations are now well established in organization and being to have management positions. The time for a first assessment has come. Are Yers the revolutionists we were told they were or, like in many other fields, did they become more consensual than expected (and sometimes feared) and put up with their IT environment without complaining ?

Forrester recently issued a study called “What Gen Y really thinks about your IT department” which conclusions speak for themselves.

• Yers are getting older and reaching senior positions. Now they can start changing things from the inside instead of complaining.

• They feel that their personal equipment is better that what they’re given at work but are not more likely to bring their own at work than the elder generations.

• They’re quite satisfied with the tools they’re provided with at work…and are even more satisfied than the elders.

• They see IT departments as partners rather than enemies :

So, what can we say about those numbers that won’t, in fact, surprise many people and only confirms the gap between how Yes have been oversold and what can be seen on the field ? Many possible answers, one not precluding the others.

• They adjusted to the workplace and fitted in the corporate mould while getting older, having more responsibilities to assume and discovering the constraints of real business.

• Yers are not tech-savvy, sometimes even less than Xers. They’re more involved with the content of work, the way people, work and collaboration models and usages than with tools. Conclusion : the tools they’re given fit well with their current context and what they’re asked, with how organization actually work and collaborate. If Yers had a fight to lead, it would rather be about management, organization and the content of work instead of tools. Maybe the limit of the consumerization if IT is the one of corporate usages.

• IT depts are not as corny as it’s commonly said and are adjusting to today’s world.

Your opinion ?

Filed Under: Intranets and digital workplace, Management & HR, Software & Tools Tagged With: generation y, IT departments, Software & Tools

About the young and their so-called connectiveness

July 22, 2010 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

While attending the last Enterprise 2.0 Forum in Milan, I had the pleasure to see Mark Masterson again and have an interesting talk during a cofee break

He was telling me he heard something very challenging at a panel. Here’s what it was about :

“Are we sure that Yers are connected and networkers to this extent (and it also applies to the following generations) become they grew up in a digital world when internet was a common thing that determined thir behaviors ? Or is it a pernicious effect of a society that is risk averse ? When we were 8, 10, 15, we were able to meet our friends outside, go out for an afternoon or after the school without hearing anything from our parents except “be careful and don’t be late for diner”. Today, with all these kidnapping or paedophilia things, the young are confined at home par parents that are more anxious than ours were and see in Facebook, MSN etc.. the only means to escape from this lock up. They are not connected or networkers by nature but because it’s the only answer they find to face their lack of freedom of move and a world that is overcontrolled by their parents. So it’s the consequence of the reaction to an unfortunate external constraint due to safety reasons”.

Mark told me “I don’t know if this guy is right or wrong but it must make us wonder about some of our assumptions. When I look around me and compare with when I was young, it seems that he’s right”.

And the conversation went on…

- we are both interested in these media and use them a lot so it’s an evidence it’s possible to come to it in a “natural” way, regardless of any generation factor.

- if we have had internet, Facebook, MSN… when we were young and, at the same time, the opportunity to join our friends outside, what would have our choice been ? Obviously, we were quite sure than we would have prefered one hour “outside” with friends rather than one our in front of our computer.

So, even if now that we are 30 and something we use social networks a lot, even if we were interested a lot in computers when we were young, its not sure that we would have used the net as a socializing space if we had the opportunity to do so.

So let’s try to push the reasonning a little bit further. Many “over connected” people seldom have the same behaviros at work, that personal usages seldom bring professional ones and that people even don’t want it to happen.

One explaination could be that as social networking is seen as a way out to lack of freedom embodies by parental authority, it may be logical that it can’t happen under another kind of authority, the corporate one. In short, social networking would be a discharging practice that has to take place out of any kind of regulation or authority, should it be parental or coporate.

At the end it’s another side of the cultural side of social networking. Corporate culture, of course, but local culture too. Generally speaking, it makes us question the relationship between people and the enterprise in a given local and social context. Is the workplace a place for self development or a place for constraints and slavery ? Depending on the answer, could we deduct people appetition for enterprise social networking ?

Phew…. And you ? What do you think about it ?

Filed Under: Management & HR, Society Tagged With: generation y, Social Networking, social networks, Society

What to do with our Yers ?

March 25, 2010 By Bertrand DUPERRIN 2 Comments

Generation Y is now an actual concern for many organizations. Some see them as a danger, other as an opportunity but everybody wonder about how to tame this new population that make organizations tremble with fear. And one question is on all lips : how will businesses adapt.

The issue came back to my mind when I came across this deck by Julien Pouget who had the kidness to gather some verbatims and “instant thoughts” at an event where he spoke. As Julien himself says, that’s only an “instant picture” and nothing more. But I often find these kinds of verbatim useful because they show us how people perceive things and this perception, should it be legitimate or not, argued or not, objective or subjective, actually exists so has to be taken into account.

Those who can understand a few words in french may be interested in the deck, that’s why I share it all the same.

Generation Y vue des Profs et Entrepreneurs

View more presentations from Julien POUGET.

According to my own perception of this generation, here are my takes :

• on a cognitive perspective, they are different from previous generations. They are made to work in the world we live in and intead of managing the Y case I think that businesses that will learn from them will make impressive improvements. Anyway, one day they’ll be the majority so better start now, all the more since they have the right DNA to be successful in an information world. That does not mean they should either deserve a red carpet and that they have nothing to learn from older people.

• an ambiguous relationship with work. If I rely on the informations gathered by Julien, they don’t want to work themselves to death and, most of all, they don’t understand the enterprise world. It confirms what some other surveys already demonstrated [fr] : the shift from a world of entertainement to a world of work is very hard for them, they don’t master the codes and the challenges and, most of all, they don’t care about that.

They want to work as less as possible, are more interested in holidays than in the content of their job and want everything to come to them without making any effort. They want to find a job and that’s why they are curious about integration into the workplace, but they don’t want their job to impact their private life.

I was looking at this deck with a 40yo manager, a kind of manager 2.0, networker, facilitator, who is very comfortable when it comes to working with Yers. He told me “their DNA is useless if they don’t quickly refocus and the beginning of their career may be a violent shock. If they don’t care, the future will remember them as Generation S…for Slumped”. Direct but lucid.

• Revolutionary ? Not at all. Rather apathetic. But, as I was recently told, “let’s see the impact of the crisis on a generation that have always know growth and had high expectations. You know, when they’ll find themselves as everybody, with a rent to pay and engagements to assume, when the real world will catch up with them, they’ll become pragmatic by need, as it happened to all the previous generations”.

• Should we generalize ? In my opinion, not at all. I recently gave a class at HEC (French best business school) and I can tell you the students were tonic, interested, smart and aware of the challenges they’ll have to face in the workplace. A also know Yers from overseas where I have relatives, and I don’t feel they fit this description either. Moreover, how could they demand a 35h workweek, more and more holidays, concepts that does not exist in their world. More, all the studies I read that showed their unsuitability for the workplace were european (and even worse…from french speaking countries) and it’s obvious that Yers are not the same everywhere. I could even tell you about a texbook case : the comparison bewteen a teen that spent his first 10 years in the US and then moved to Europe and his cousin who stayed overseas. Let me tell you they are much less alike than they were a few years ago.

In my opinion, Generation Y is not uniform, neither is the attitude we should have toward it. Businesses have to learn how to take the most from their specificities while refocusing them when needed. Internships will have to become a true discovery, adaptation, acclimatizatin period. A two ways mentorship between two generations that have a lot to learn the one from the other will be essential. Many people say businesses have lot to lose if they don’t adapt to Yers…let me add that Yers have even more to lose if they don’t adapt to the constraints of the workplace. Saying that…the debate become more balanced.

Anyway, we should be aware of not adoption extreme solutions : denying what they are or adopting a submissive attitude toward the Y monster.

Filed Under: Management & HR Tagged With: generation y, Human resources, intergenerational mentoring, mentoring, mentorship, onboarding

Generation Y and Boomers : Together They Can

July 30, 2009 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

One more article that adds to the already imposing amount of Gen-Y related things. I (finally) recently came across something really worth on the subject in the latest issue of the HBR, an analysis relying on a survey conducted across 50 multinational companies and that confirms what we’ve been seing on the ground, even if it does not please those who’d like to find a generation divide where it’s not.

As surprising as it may seem, Yers and Boomers have nearly the same expectations. They want, thought their work, to contribute to something that goes far beyond the business, something that looks like what Gary Hamel called a “higher purpose” in his 12 moonshots. Both are looking for flexibility. Neither one nor they other want too much telecommuting because they value real huan contacts. Boomers are alsovery likely to be involved in networks, rather in order to give something back to the society. They are still impregnated with the ideals of the 70s. Globally speaking, both value social relationships at work. I let you read the whole article to have the whole comparison.

So, at the end, where are the differences that are supposed to radically transform the workspace ?

First, we can wonder why they are so similar. Yers have their expectations, that’s a fact, but even if current organizations frustrates them, they’re not feeling like doing the revolution. But they’ll take the most of every existing breach and use the fact they’re shown as change drivers (self fulfilling prophecy ?) to make their moves when possible, in order to build a workspace that fits their expectations.

As for Boomers, they still have some social ideals, inherited from the end of the 60s. More, they don’t have things to learn anymore from the system and clearly see its limits. They reached a point in their career where they can pull off the masks : they won’t climb the organization chart anymore, are growing away from power and competition issues. It makes them have a vision that’s more collective and less selfish, to distance themselves whose they know the limits. They are also reaching an age when people often want to give, to give back, to transmit their experience to youngers as they know their careers are close to the end. For instance, 65% of boomers like to take younger people under their wing.

Sharing many values, these generations have many things to do together. The article suggests an intergenerational mentorship (humm… reminds me of something) and quotes Cisco and Booz Allen Hamilton as examples. Strangely, these are two enterprise 2.0 successful examples (is it really luck ?). Notice, if you don’t like modernism, that Jack Welch did something similar at GE.

So, is there really any generation gap ?

There is, between Yers and Boomers, a middle generation made of people born between 1965 and 1978, called Generation Y. It’s made of all the people aged between 30 and 40, who merged in the matrix, forgetting their own expectations, and are not very likely to approve the end of the existing system while they are so close to gets the benefits of their efforts (ie replacing boomers) after 10 or 15 years of sacrifice. More, they can’t understand why they should adapt to Yers whereas the previous generation didn’t make any effort for them. That’s why some call them Generation O, that stands for “Organization Chart”.

quadras qui se sont fondus dans le moule, enterrant parfois leurs propres aspirations, et voient d’un mauvais oeil la fin d’un système auquel ils se sont conformés et qui toucherait à sa fin alors même qu’ils sont prêts, enfin, d’en toucher les dividendes (comprenez…prendre la place des Boomers) après 10 ou 15 ans de sacrifices. D’autant plus qu’ils ne voient certainement pas pourquoi s’adapter aux Y alors qu’on ne les pas accueilli avec autant d’égards en leur temps.

In a minority regarding to Yers and boomers taken together, they are the missing link, those who stand on the brakes. Maybe most of them are also facing the “mid-managemer syndrome”. The weight of the two other generations and the beneifts of making them move forward together implies, according to the author, that companies should favor the “Y+boomers” duet.

Do you think that X will move if they are caught in a pincer movement ? Or, making them really feel alone would be like a bomb with a timing device ?

Filed Under: Management & HR Tagged With: baby boomers, generation x, generation y, Human resources, intergenerational mentoring, management, mentoring, middle-management

Story of a professional disconnection

March 14, 2009 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

This little story I’m going to tell you is purely imaginary. It’s neither mine nor anybody’s in particular. But it may become ours, one day.

January 2009 :Back to the office after a few days off. I take five minutes to send my greetings to all my friends. Nothing’s like Facebook to do that. I realize that the access is blocked. It doesn’t matter, I can live without facebook at work. Finally I decide to use email but I take care not to use my corporate email but my personal one, through the webmail.

February 2009 : bad news, linkedIn is blocked too. I have to hire two new people this month…awkward. I think that my colleague Rob, who is a salesperson, will be very angry. There’s no one like him to take the most of a network to pass the more insuperable barriers to get in touch with the right people and close incredible deals. He doesn’t have the best results in the company just by luck. I’m sure he must be in a very bad mood.

March 2009 : I’ve heard that the sparks really flew during the individual evaluation meetings. Robert was accused of dilettantism. That’s true that he had to do all his network things in the evening at home since linkedIn is blocked…so he spent hours waiting for the workday to end. I can understand how frustrated he is. The context is difficult and he feels like his employer is playing against him.
April 2009 : Impossible to find a meeting room on my floor and it’s really starting to get me out of my nerves. I can’t undersand why it started a weeks ago. We are not more that before, the activity is rather decreasing… I have to investigate.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Management & HR, Misc. Tagged With: generation y, internet, intranet, motivation, productivity, security, social networks, web

Survey on the use of IT in french companies

February 20, 2009 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago I was invited by Microsoft to attend the presentation of a survey on the use of IT in fench companies. Two things made it really interesting

• Although the fact new generations were transforming the use of IT, there was no global study to quantify and qualify it.

• The methodology was neutral and exhaustive : they started with general considerations and focused step by step to get to business cases. So the survey provides sociological elements, that were qualified, assessed, turned into busines practices etc… Each step was managed by a specialized partner (Eranos, Added Value, Ifop andt BearingPoint ).

Let’s see what’s in.

Enterprise 2.0 : my predictions for 2009

December 18, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN 3 Comments

Honestly I was not sure I would conform to the annual predictions tradition. Finally, since my 2008 edition was not that bad (shift from “social tools at people’s disposal” to the acknowledgement it needed inclusion in business process) and Susan kindly asks for it, I’ll try to do something interesing this year.

That said, I will divide my note in two parts. As any good “thoughtleader” sometimes mistake predictions for his own wishes, I’ll try to be lucid enough to clearly separate both and end my note with a few pious hopes.

Let’s start !

Danone explorers : In Real Life recruitment 2.0 for Y Gens

November 30, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I was invited by Danone to attend their Danone Explorers event, a moment when the company and students who are looking for an internship can meet.

I already wrote many things about Danone on my French blog but nothing here. I think there are a few things you have to know before reading further.

• The biggest point about Danone is their “dual project”, both business and societal. Every business decision has to take into account its societal effects. The purpose is not to balance business decisions by societal programs but to make decisions that deal with both at the same time. It’s a very important component of the corporate’s culture and management, and someone business focused without any societal awareness has many chances not be hired or not feel comfortable for long working at Danone. For Danone, the way people do business is at least as important as business itself.

• Danone has an informal culture. Of course, plants and factory need very strong processes. But for the rest, “the rule is the exception” or “exception is the rule”. As one of their VPs once told me, “we will always be smaller than most of our competitors, so we need to be smarter, run faster”. Initiatives are welcome and people are encourage to share ideas and best practices together by themselves.

• A survey showed their clients and partners valued a lot this culture, this “Danone Way”. It proved that it was identified as a key factor of performance, inside but also outside the company. A few years ago it made Danone’s people realize that their culture, one of the most intangible business assets, was a key performance lever.

• Many things to add…this company is worth being known and studied. Really outstanding !

What’s interesting in Danone explorers, is that Danone tries to seduce members of the famous Generaton Y and, as a consequence uses all the levers that are supposed to be efficient with tehm : proximity, discussions, exchanges, personalized dialogues, transparency, games, adult to adult conversations intead of parent to child.

Of course, in these times, we can expect a “full 2.0″ approach to tool such a logic. Not at all.

Enterprise 2.0 is the occasion to invent the win-win two ways mentorship

July 31, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

One of the points of the generational aspect of enterprise 2.0 is that we have to deal with both people who master tools but is not experienced enough to design a suitable use in a business driven context and people who master business issues but is not easy with the new tools and find it hard to see what they’d be useful for.

One good solution would be to set up a “two-ways mentorship”. In the one hand, Gen Y people who show their elder what can be done with web 2.0 tools and in the other hand, “Gen X” and babyboomers who teach them how to develop business oriented practices when using them within the company. I’m even sure, once they’ve seen what’s possible, they will find business uses that even web 2.0 addicts would not have thought about, just because they’ know business very well and tools have been demystified.

One only thing is needed : the will to really address the subject and a voluntarist approach. As Wachovia is doing.

What do you think ? It’s very “2.0″ with moving from a “parent to child” to a “parent to parent” relationship.

baby boomers , Entreprise 2.0 , generation X , generation-Y , tutorat , wachovia