CHAPTER 2
Communicating with
Gen Y
What shapes how Gen Y
communicates?
Remember that their communication behaviours are shaped by the technology that they grew up with:
• They have never heard an engaged tone – phones go straight to voicemail, so they are not used to not being able to at least leave a message for someone.
• They can contact someone wherever they are – that can make them appear impatient.
• All of the tools they use allow and encourage instant responses. The idea that someone would communicate with them and not want a response is alien to them, whereas to Boomers and Gen X communication is not necessarily a two-way process.
• They use collaborative technologies in play and school, so find it strange when they can’t do the same at work.
• Their phone or mobile device is not just a phone – it’s their watch, their music player, camera and notepad.
• They are used to being able to access information on-demand and without moving from their desk by using Google and websites like Wikipedia. This means they may miss out on other sources of knowledge and information, such as talking to older colleagues in the workplace.
• They are used to being able to choose to receive only the information they are interested in, so are quick to hit the delete button when unwelcome communications come in. This can be very annoying to older colleagues who expect them to read whatever they are sent.
• They use different communications media for different purposes. Email tends to be for work; messaging and Facebook for their personal lives. But they do send birthday cards too! In other words, they choose the method that they judge to be appropriate to the messages and the context.
• It is sometimes assumed that their use of instant messaging technology means that they are conditioned into expecting instant responses. This is true only when the situation demands it. In fact, Boomers and Gen X are probably more likely to expect an instant response, and that can be related to power – “I am important so you must reply to me quickly.”
Rookie Buster
The idea that someone would communicate with them and not want a response is alien to them.
What is important when
communicating with Gen Y?
Honest communication is essential. Gen Y can see through spin a mile off. They have grown up in an age of corporate scandal and decline in the public’s trust of business. They do not fall for corporate messaging and spin in the same way that Gen X and Boomers did. It’s not that we were naive – it’s just that we believed what we were told by company bosses. Gen Y have learned that bosses cannot always be believed.
Gen Y could have turned out to be very cynical, but they haven’t. They are just savvy, and they want and demand honest communication. Authenticity, transparency and honesty are essential when communicating with Gen Y, whether you are their boss, mentor, an advertising agency or a company.
Rookie Buster
Authenticity, transparency and honesty are essential when communicating with Gen Y.
What is the best style of
communicating with Gen Y?
It’s no surprise that Gen Y don’t respond well to formal, “corporate” speak. However, you need to guard against trying too hard to be informal, as you run the risk of sounding like a forty-year-old vicar trying to be trendy!
The key is to be honest and straightforward, and this lends itself to a natural style of writing, not a formal one. Even if your writing style is not exactly what they like, they will appreciate that you are not trying to be something you are not. Advertisers understand this, and the new wave of adverts is much more direct and honest. Authenticity really is important to Gen Y. So, for example, don’t try to copy how you think they write – in abbreviated text-message speak, for example. The best advice when communicating with Gen Y in writing is to write how you speak – and very few people speak in formal, corporate language.
Ideally, have someone write for you whose language is accessible and straightforward, and this will improve communications with all the generations. Use writers who can write naturally and informally – if your natural writing style is formal, trying to be informal will sound unauthentic.
Rookie Buster
Use writers who can write naturally and informally – if your natural writing style is formal, trying to be informal will sound unauthentic.
Communication has to be a two-way
process
The ideal way of communicating with Gen Y is to make it a two-way process. Of course that is the best way of communicating with anyone. One-way communication is not communication at all; it is a transmission. Many organizations have developed a bad habit of believing that if they tell people something (in the CEO’s quarterly message, content on the intranet or team briefings, for example) that they are communicating. It only counts as communication if it is a dialogue.
Gen X and Boomers more readily accept one-way communication because that is what they are used to. And the world of work that they have inhabited is one where you know your place in the hierarchy, and engaging in dialogue with people above you in the hierarchy is only OK if you have a valid reason or are invited to do so. Gen Y inhabit a much more democratic world – the world of the internet. They are used to being able to communicate with all sorts of people via email, blogs and social networking sites. One-way communication or messaging is an alien and weird concept to them. Communicating with Gen Y is a two-way process. They assume that if you communicate with them you are inviting a response.
Rookie Buster
Communicating with Gen Y is a two-way process. They assume that if you communicate with them you are inviting a response.
How often should I communicate
with Gen Y?
Bearing in mind that communication needs to be two-way, it seems odd to then think of frequency. The technologies that Gen Y are used to using allow them to have instant communication. Email is too slow now; they use instant messaging instead. And it doesn’t matter whether they are out for lunch or sitting at their desk, they expect to be able to send and receive messages. There is no set frequency that is right. Just keep them informed and communicate as frequently as necessary.
In terms of messages that your organization might want to send out, instead of an email or passive intranet site, consider a blog – that way they can ask questions and start a discussion. If you are worried about the time this might waste – well, it would be wasted anyway, but they would be just talking to one another about it instead of addressing you directly. So communicate using a blog or wiki instead of by mass emails.
Communicating via a blog can also do wonders for increasing trust and engagement – they are more likely to believe that you care about what they have to say if you open yourself up to questions, dialogue and challenge.
Rookie Buster
Communicate using a blog or wiki instead of mass emails.
What shall I communicate?
Often organizations fall into the trap of only communicating what is important to them, not what is important to their employees. The obvious thing to do is find out what people want to know about. If you use an effective two-way communications medium like a blog then you allow them to tell you.
Different things are important to different people, and it is easy to assume that what is important to one group is also important to others. HR professionals usually don’t segment their audience in the same way as marketing professionals do. They treat their employees as though they are all the same. So inevitably some people will be receiving messages about subjects that they are simply not interested in. For example, Boomers may be very interested in getting regular updates on the performance of the organization’s pension scheme. Your Gen Y employees are less likely to be interested in that, but perhaps more likely to want to know about what opportunities there are for training programmes or job rotation. Make sure you communicate on subjects that are important to Gen Y as well as to the other generations.
Rookie Buster
Make sure you communicate on subjects that are important to Gen Y as well as to the other generations.
Dos and don’ts
Don’t invade their social spaces
Some organizations try and communicate with potential and actual employees via Facebook and other social networking sites. I would advise treading carefully with this. An organization trying to “befriend” someone on Facebook is the equivalent for Gen Y of a stranger trying to join in your conversation when you are having a drink with friends in a pub. It is their space and should be treated respectfully – and you certainly should only enter into conversation with them via these sites if you are certain that you have something of interest to say to them or there is something in it for them.
Don’t blog with the intention of advertising or selling
Gen Y will see right through it and you will not be forgiven. Trying to disguise the fact that you are actually selling to them rather than genuinely communicating is dishonest, and Gen Y will not tolerate it.
Don’t use spin
Gen Y’s spin-detectors are pretty sophisticated. If you can’t be totally open and honest in your communication then it is best not to say anything at all. Corporate brochures should have less gloss and be to the point. Many Gen Ys have told me that they don’t believe what corporate brochures say. Rather they go on Facebook and find someone who works for the company in question to find out what they are really like. One company recently told me that they don’t allow their graduates to use Facebook as they (the company) like to control what they discuss. I went on to Facebook and found 30 groups that their employees had set up – all had the company name in their title and some had hundreds of members. They were discussing all sorts of issues including publishing the questions they had been asked in interview, asking for help to find accommodation when they were being relocated, and criticizing the company’s policies.
The point is that organizations cannot control what their employees say about them on websites. Trying to stop them is pointless and can cause antagonism.
Appeal to the emotions as well as the intellect
It’s important to provide more than just logic and rationale in your communications. Communication always works better if you can engage someone’s emotions as well as their intellect. Gen Y are as concerned about whether something feels right and is appealing as they are about whether the logic stands up. In fact that is most probably true of all generations, but the X-ers and Boomers were conditioned that they had to have a solid, rational explanation for something and were actively encouraged to keep their feelings and intuition out of the world of work.
Be prepared to have the “risky” conversations
Gen Ys tend to bring up topics that management would really rather not discuss. Such as asking for the rationale of having to work 9–5 (when there isn’t any sound rationale!). This can be uncomfortable for Boomers and Gen X, but on the positive side, it can encourage those sorts of conversations which, if handled properly, can be very healthy.
Generational differences in
communication styles
Different preferences
Gen Ys spend a lot of time communicating using technology. They are always connected and communicating via their computer or mobile device. They even play with their friends remotely using web-based games. They probably spend less face-to-face time than their older colleagues do on an average day. That is not to say that they are no good at face-to-face communication, but they sometimes may miss the finer cues and subtleties. And their natural tendency is to use technology to contact colleagues rather than going to talk to them or phoning them.
Trust
Gen Ys are used to being able to communicate and connect quickly, if not instantly. They have learned to trust people online, based on whether they keep their promise as an eBay seller or write product reviews that are reliable and honest. They are therefore used to being able to make fairly quick decisions about who to trust. They may need help to understand that older colleagues take longer to trust someone and possibly are even wary of the web and worried about how “secure” it is. Building trusting relationships at work is something that most X-ers and Boomers probably take longer over than Gen Ys expect to.
Rookie Buster
Building trusting relationships at work is something that most X-ers and Boomers probably take longer over than Gen Ys expect to.
Each of the generations can help each other. Gen Y can teach the X-ers and Boomers about the latest technologies, and Gen Y can learn the art of face-to-face communication. Each generation has some adapting and bending to do to realize that one medium is not better than another, it’s simply a question of the effectiveness of different media in different situations and for different audiences.
Power
Boomers and Gen X are used to a working world in which their employers had the power because they could control how much and what information was released to the workers. Information can no longer be restricted nor its release controlled. The internet has democratized the workplace. Gen Y cannot understand a world of work in which those at the top of the hierarchy have access to more information than anyone else. It doesn’t make sense to them. If Gen Y cannot get information from their bosses, they will go to the internet or go to someone outside the organization. The internet of course makes it easy to send information outside the company walls – one press of a button and a confidential email is gone in a second. And if employees get really upset with their employers they can blog about it, write about it on Facebook or discuss it in chat rooms.
Employers still act as if they have control over their information, but of course they don’t. If they ban Facebook access at work, their people can still access it via their own personal mobile devices. All the talk in 2008 about Facebook – whether it should be banned in the workplace, which companies had banned it, the effect on the employees and so on – seemed pointless. Companies were focusing on the wrong thing. The real issue was whether they trusted their people not to spend too much time on non-work activities. People can spend time socializing at work, whether it is at the coffee machine, in the outside smokers’ area or on the phone. It just so happens that the use of Facebook and other websites can be monitored by company IT departments.
It is not that Gen Y want to buck the system; it is simply that they have grown up with the internet, and if you have a computer you have as much access to information as anyone else. It does not make sense to them that companies would want to restrict access. So if you need to restrict access to information, explain why – and make sure it’s a good reason.
Rookie Buster
If you need to restrict access to information, explain why – and make sure it’s a good reason.
Conflict
The older generations are used to one-way communication – typically the management sending messages via memo, the CEO’s quarterly address, and latterly email and intranet. These one-way communication methods avoid conflict, because there is no easy route through which to challenge or question. But in the world of Web 2.0, the media for communication are designed for discourse; the expectation is that you can comment on whatever the other person is saying. This opens up the possibility of conflict, because people can disagree and others can rally round and join in the “protests”. Groups of people can (and do) effectively campaign for or against certain arguments. This can be very uncomfortable for Gen X and Boomers, who are not used to others being able to challenge openly in this way, and it is particularly uncomfortable if it is senior people who are being challenged.
A natural reaction from the older generations is to try and control the argument, to stick to the company line whether or not they believe in it, and to try and avoid getting into dialogue about tricky issues. This makes things worse. The best way to handle such discussions when they arise is to engage with people as openly and honestly as possible. And remember that just because the one-way media limited the possibility of dialogue and disagreement, it didn’t mean that all your employees agreed with you. They were probably chattering at the water cooler instead. Uncomfortable as it is, at least with Web 2.0 technologies you know what people are saying and have the chance to have a discussion with them. That has to be better than having a festering mass of unexpressed opinion with all the damage that can give rise to.
Rookie Buster
Remember that just because the one-way media limited the possibility of dialogue and disagreement, it didn’t mean that all your employees agreed with you.
Coach’s notes 
1. Understand your audience and what’s important to them.
2. Be honest – they see through corporate spin.
3. Communicate informally and regularly.
4. Make communication a two-way process.
5. Don’t try and write in a Gen Y way – you may end up sounding like a forty-year-old vicar trying to be trendy.
6. Think about what they want to know, not just what you want to tell them.
7. Don’t tell, involve.
8. Don’t dictate, explain.
9. Communicate values as well as facts.
10. Consider using a blog rather than email to communicate important messages.
Go for it! Hopefully this chapter has given you insight into why Gen Y is sometimes hard to understand in terms of the ways that they communicate. You now understand why they communicate as they do and the profound effect that technology has had on their communications behaviour. This means that you can discuss with them your different styles, and you can explain why those differences exist. This in itself will help to create positive communications between you and them. And it also opens up the door for you to learn from each other – they can teach you the new technologies so that you get ahead of the game, while you can teach them about how communication works in the organizational setting and help them communicate easily with all generations.
Time and time again Gen Y colleagues, friends and clients have told me that what they want most from their older co-workers is to learn. This is a golden opportunity for you to mentor them – they will love it!
 |
Notes |
