Leaders in organisations today need to stop complaining about how 'weird' Generation Y is. They should be lucky that Generation Y isn't in fact weirder. Because Generation Z is. Weirder that is.
In 2011, the first co-hort of Generation Z (born after 1994) are finishing their Higher School Certificates. This is a generation that has never experienced a world without the internet, and soon they are entering our workforce in huge numbers. Over the coming years, they will be your apprentices, your graduates and your bosses.
I set up my first hotmail email account in 1994, the same year that this year's HSC graduating class were born. But I spent my hybrid youth playing both indoors and outdoors, and email was something I did with my friends in the US. With my friends in Stockholm, I actually socialised in real, as opposed to in 2nd Life.
Generation Z doesn't know a world without the internet. They don't know what it feels like not to be interconnected, wired, linkedin and hyperconnected 24/7/365. If you think that Generation Y are weird and not very well adept at emotionally intelligently communicating with their bosses face2face, or belly2belly, you should be really worried about a generation that has grown up on an intellectual diet of LOLs and BRBs to enter the workplace, as our workplace grows from accommodating 3 generations to 4 generations.
What do you think on this topic?
To get further insights on generational misfits, tune into Anders Sorman-Nilsson's podcast on iTunes now to see how misfits are directly relevant to change management and innovation.
Link: http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/anders-sorman-nilssons-espresso/id272826474