The Marriage of Technology and Leadership May 26, 2009
By Scott Sheaffer
Many New Millennials are managed by Baby Boomers. If you are over 31 years old, you are not a New Millennial—commonly defined as someone born between 1978 and 2000. Baby Boomer generation managers are probably not even aware of how they may be impeding the progress of their younger New Millennial employees. It is one thing not to add value to your employees, but it is downright sinful to get in their way.
Through the years, many people protested changes in communication technology. "Why do we need the telegraph? Communication should be face-to-face or via letter." Then, "What's wrong with the telegraph? Who needs a telephone? There goes privacy and productivity."
Fast-forward 130 years. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are on stage. If you are familiar with these Websites, you are most certainly a New Millennial, or at least you think like one. Good for you. These three Websites are changing how people communicate in ways that someday will dwarf the impact of the telegraph and the telephone.
These sites facilitate social and business networking. Facebook and Twitter have hundreds of millions of users. They provide a common platform for people to connect. The communication is usually short, fast, and frequent—interestingly, that is exactly how the New Millennials like to learn. Initially, social networking Websites were thought of as little more than toys for kids and young adults. This is no longer the case. They increasingly are becoming business communication tools. Peruse any of these Websites, and you'll find thousands of corporations that have an official presence. Companies today are spending big marketing dollars to display attention-getting media on these sites. Microsoft now owns a stake in Facebook. Investments are flowing into these tools because the potential is only beginning to be realized. Follow the money and you follow the trends.
Here We Go Again...
Most Baby Boomers feel employees waste time playing on these social networking sites. "What's wrong with the telephone?" they ask. "We have e-mail and text messaging. You cannot have privacy when your personal data is stored on the Internet."
Sound familiar?
Here is the irony: Because Baby Boomers do not, for the most part, enthusiastically embrace these new ways to communicate, they are restricting the forms of communication New Millennials are most comfortable with. Baby Boomers want to lock down the use of these Websites at work. History is being repeated in a way that makes the youngest in our workforce less efficient.
In reality, these social and business networking sites are only in the embryonic stage. Children who grew up with the Internet are now only about 15 to 20 years old. They will enter the workforce en masse in the next two to seven years. Their level of comfort and efficiency with these tools will move well beyond where we are today. If you need to get up to speed on these new tools (and you should), click here for quick tips.
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