I know a few of you cringe when I use a sports analogy, but having attended last night’s NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis you are about to read one.
Coach K (Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University) is a 63 year old boomer that teaches classic basketball fundamentals. His team came out for pre-game warm-ups all wearing the exact same attire, doing the consistent team drills and acting very disciplined. He has now won four national championships and is a legend. Coach Brad (Coach Brad Stevens of Butler University) is a 33 year old Gen X that is on his second career (he started in corporate America in advertising for Eli Lilly). He understands basketball and really grasps how to build teams. His team participated in pre-game warm-ups dressed in all varieties of Butler wear, preparing in their individual ways, many wearing iPods and enjoying the moment.
While I’m probably more “old school” when it comes to sports fundamentals, I was reminded last night how important it is to adjust my believes as a leader based on who I am leading. While Coach K won, Coach Brad gave Duke more of a game than anyone thought they would. Teaching is one thing, but building a cohesive team is often more than simply providing direction. Sometimes you have to bend and let the team do some of “their” thing.
Have you needed to make adjustments to your leadership style to effectively lead Gen Y’s? What did you do differently?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Boomer 61, Gen X 59
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To manage the future workforce, managers need to deeply understand the world in which the employee lives. A statement similar to this was in an Organizational Leadership textbook for one of my MBA classes.
To some extent it is true, managers need to engage their employees in dedicated conversation about their career goals and objectives. I believe that one difference between the Booomers and Gen X, is that Gen X has a longer viewpoint. Gen X is more likely to want to work in many capacities instead of working a linear path.
Perhaps, it is difference in the environment in which we were raised. Technology was changing so fast between 1965 and 2000, that our educational system couldn't keep up and it became harder to relate the education to the work.
As a Gen Y'er I see things from a different perspective. Yes I think it's great for managers to adapt and embrace different styles to achieve cohesion and productivity, but I also think that Gen Y and those that are being managed, also need to adapt and understand their managers style.
Being in a rotational program has taught me the key to a successful management/worker relationship is understanding, interpreting, figuring out, and adapting to other people and their styles. Yes hard work, talent, motivation, etc. helps, but looking back over my past two (and seeing in now my third), I feel like there was a pivotal time when things started to make sense, I understood what made my manager tick, and once I was able to adapt and realize that, I was able to gain considerably more from my rotational experience.
Maybe I havent experienced someone who was willing to adapt as much as I was, again, I'm still very young in my career and haven't experienced a large breadth of styles, however I feel there is a responsibility (if desired) on both parts to work on understanding one another. That being said, moderation is key, I 'd rather see someone be themselves than try to be someone else in an attempt to be 'cool' to Gen-Y'ers.
This brings up an interesting, but sort of off-topic discussion taken from the perspective of an organization. Should a large multinational corporation with, lets say, defense business, implement social media tools, allow Facebook, blogging, instant messenger, etc. to appease and attract Gen Y talent? I know two large organizations one that starts with a G and the other that starts with a U (both short 2 or 3 letter acronyms) that have taken wildly different approaches to this and have had varying degrees of success.
Nothing has changed with the leadership paradigm. What changes is the way one implements it !!
Circa 200BC- Sun Tsu teachings are still be used in various leadership roles.
How we get the message across is what brigdes the GenX vs GenY.
Typically, I come from a b/g which is technology oriented with a PM role. In the good old days, we had the formal SDLC , water fall methods as a PM approach to solutions. With today's current methods, the water fall method will fail with the "Agile " coders who are used to Web SaaS based implementations. so we need to approach these "rogue coders" with a practical approach. So we sit with them an set up the 'cooking sequence'. They cook (code) , we taste (test) and if all is good we repeat the process with the next iteration /feature and move upward and onward. This is far in contrast with the Water fall method, where all the coding was done before testing began !
As a trainer, I recently worked in a facility whose workforce spanned four generations: GI's, Boomers, Gen X and GenY.
My biggest adjustment was language, i.e., communication. The message was always the same and the outcome expectation was the same. The presentation required finessing. As you noted, it's important to adjust. It's equally important to know what to adjust. Presentation, format, media, pace, etc.
What was interesting was how easily each generation adjusted to the immediately preceding or succeeding generation. Skipping across generations required a bit more attention.
Nathan - YES.
The one that does not will be left behind.
John
John, I wanted to drop a long – overdue message to say that I really enjoy your fresh perspectives on both LinkedIn and your website, and while I don’t always see a lot of responses to your posts, please don’t think they are not being read.
So we have Clarkson, GE, and UTX in common? We should get together some time to compare notes.
John, you forgot to mention Coach K's artificail hips and the fact that he listens to classical music just to complete the picture. :-):-)
Two points:
1. Butler has not been a true mid-major for quite awhile. They've been up there which makes it no surprise that they gave Duke a game. And since Duke was not really that good during the regular season, you gotta give Coach K credit for having them peak at the right time.
2. Duke won the game. Full stop.
I would suggest that there is really nothing of an overarching nature to be learned from that game except that there are usually many different possible successful pathways to the same goal and that you should take the one that works for you.
A good leader is dynamic and thought and approach. Each situation is different requiring a new perspective.
winning takes heart, then it needs to be backed up in skill and stanima to carry it off. Where did Duke excel over Butler? Where did Butler look like a possible "upset?"
I don't watch sports, but played in school, so this is from first hand experience.
The first thing I did was to get more familiar with the new "ways" and values emerging from this different generation. I quickly found out that your listening skills have to be improved as you have to better understand the "language" and the behaviors which may be very different than the ones you are familiar with. In addition, you have to be more open minded and work on your sense of self-control while you are getting exposed to new ways of doing things. I have always put a lot of emphasis on learning as a way to get better. Challenging paradigms and the "established ways" is a good thing. It is the process you use to do this that is the issue.
luck = opportunity meeting preparation...... guys having coached for a long time dressing in the same uniform ipods has nothing to do with it... both teams got there because of their talent, skill and coaching... Butler had the toughest road to get there while Duke got better and faced 1 stiff challenge in Baylor. Coach K is 1 of a kind but don't look past his talent the 3 amigos are very good Singler a pro as well as Smith and Scheyer close to a pro... Zoubek will play overseas so no slouch team w/ Thomas who was the most heralded coming in just a great role player! The beauty is the moment and the? u ask yourself is Butler a 1 hit wonder or will they maintain this high quality of excellence.
There in lies the beauty of the one we Call Coach K 30 years of success not just one shining moment! He unlike others has continued to prepare for his opportunity to be lucky enough to survive a half court shot!
Certainly, there are many leadership styles, but any one particular style used is predicated on the situation. Both Coach K and Coach Brad understand this; it's detailed in their playbooks. But, what is note worthy here is the value both place on character and teamwork.
John Wooden, arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time, coached by these values and delivered 10 NCAA National Championships. Coach Wooden is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach K has 4 National Championships; he is in the Hall of Fame. Coach Brad has many more years ahead, but certainly is showing the signs of potential in his pursuit of excellence.
By the way, Indiana native Coach Wooden's hometown is ~ 1hr drive from Coach Brad's hometown. Do you think Coach Brad is indoctrinated with the Coach Wooden philosophical buidling blocks of coaching?
Certainly, there are many leadership styles, but any one particular style used is predicated on the situation. Both Coach K and Coach Brad understand this; it's detailed in their playbooks. But, what is note worthy here is the value both place on character and teamwork.
John Wooden, arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time, coached by these values and delivered 10 NCAA National Championships. Coach Wooden is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach K has 4 National Championships; he is in the Hall of Fame. Coach Brad has many more years ahead, but certainly is showing the signs of potential in his pursuit of excellence.
By the way, Indiana native Coach Wooden's hometown is ~ 1hr drive from Coach Brad's hometown. Do you think Coach Brad is indoctrinated with the Coach Wooden philosophical buidling blocks of coaching?
Great post. Simply put, we will all have to adjust at one point in time. Things change so much, and we have no control over that so we just have to adapt, even by just a bit.
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