I’m sure that at some point in your working career whether it be long or short, you have had a disagreement with your boss or questioned their reasoning for making a certain decision. Have you ever wondered why you have such a different outlook on the way things should be done from the way your boss wants things done? Well, if you’re a child of the eighties, then the chances are that your boss is a Baby Boomer, and you are part of the Millenial generation. You view work much differently from the way your boss views work, but you don’t have to butt heads forever. There is a way for baby boomers and Millenials to co-exist together in the workplace. However, the only way to do so is by understanding each other. I don’t expect Baby Boomers to care about wanting to understand us, so I’ll give you more details about how to understand Baby Boomers and how to apply it to the work place in order to thrive in your company and get promoted.
The Company Comes First. The first thing you need to realize about your boss is that he or she probably got in their position by bending over backwards for the company. Don’t ever bash the company policies in front of them. To your boss, the company policies are the Bible. He may disagree with a policy or think that it’s overkill, but he’ll make you follow every new idea or piece of work that is pushed down to him or her and you’ll be expected to do it with a smile. We are not like that at all. We don’t give a crap about the company. One thing that you have to realize is that older generations were promised to be taken care of by big companies as long as they were loyal. They were taken care of in the form of fully paid pensions. Our generation and the Gen X generation know nothing about pensions. We live in the world of self-funded retirement accounts such as a 401(k). Sure, the company will give you a match, but it’s not the same. Thus, we give more priority to our social life, friends, and family over a certain company. Please don’t misinterpret this as me saying you should become a company man or woman. What I’m saying is that you need to understand that your boss probably is one, and it will help you relate better to them if you remind yourself of this fact.
Act Like You Know Nothing. If you’re boss is older, they want to feel like they know more than you. They don’t want to feel belittled by you, nor do they want some young punk to disagree with them about an issue that they’ve been dealing with before we were born. You’ll need to walk a fine line when it comes to making your point. However, don’t just nod and agree with everything your boss tells you. You were hired to make critical decisions, come up with fresh, new ideas, and bring some life back into the company. You will need to find a way to make your suggestions and explain your position without coming across as a young know-it-all. Sometimes young people have a tendency to come across as knowing everything, and we come across as whiny and bull-headed.
Show Some Respect. If your boss is as old as your dad, the chances are that they have kids your age as well. Show them a little respect, and they will show it back to you. There is not much else to say about this other than treating them as you would treat your parents. I’m sure that Baby Boomers don’t want to hear that you are thinking of them in that regard, but they’ll appreciate it if you treat it that way.
Get To Know Your Boss. You don’t have to hang out on the weekends, but often you will find something in common. Use that to your advantage by talking about what you have in common instead of always talking about work or even worse, your work performance. Look, I know you can’t think of anything you actually have in common, but there has to be something.
Be A Hard Worker Or At Least Act Like a Hard Worker. Like I said above, even if you love your career, it’s not number 1 on your list. Family, friends, and my faith are definitely well above work for me. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to work hard. Let’s face it, it’s not in our nature to be work-a-holics, but the unique thing about twentysomethings is that we are innovative and efficient, so we can typically get things done much quicker than some of our co-workers. The bottom line is that if you want to be successful in life, you’ll need to work hard. The problem is that older generations will supplement meaningless busy work during down times. We would rather work 4 hours straight and have 4 hours to do other things that interest us, when our bosses would rather look busy for 10 hours to make it look like they are putting in the long hours. This is a major problem in my eyes. I think companies are losing millions of dollars per year by housing workers to sit and “work” for 8 hours, when in reality, the job requires 4 to 6 hours of actual work. Workers begin to find a way to make it look like they are busy for 8 hours to avoid getting in trouble. The temporary solution until companies realize that they should implement a flexible work schedule is to clearly document all of the work you completed each day. Make sure it is easily accessible to see how much work you completed each day so that your boss can see what you’ve done they catch you surfing on the web for cheap airline tickets.
So, do you agree with these differences? How do you co-exist with your boss? Once you can better identify the person or people you work for, the better you will be able to perform your job better and move up the ladder quicker.
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