Whilst I agree that this link does appear tenuous, there are some parallels between the narrative structure of these programmes and the social and cultural ideologies within which they were made. If we believe that many of our adult responses come from the conditioning we receive as children then the link made does become less tenuous. Perhaps it means that the generation Y are more prone to respond to a coaching style rather than the command style because that is reflective of the society they have grown up within. Children’s television is simple the cultural reference point that best reflects the epoch in which it was made. I for one will be including Danger Mouse in as many of the training courses I run from now on.
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The recent Institute of Management survey report was an excellant review of Generation Y attitudes. However, it was also perplexing. From experience, I have developed a stereotype in my mind that Gen Y are much more socially aware and more highly value balence in their future work life. They are much less likely to be sold on a high pressure, high hours career with international assignments that are 'good for their development'. They are much more willing to make their own choices according to their own plans. Bad news for industry is that, I thought, this includes a much higher value placed on the not for profit sector. Finally, I thought, this contributes to a mobile workforce that is much more ready to move companies.
Not so, the survey says. These people in fact do stick around - two-thirds had been in jobs for more than 3 years and they do value their career (60 per cent wanted promotion - 39 per cent staying in their current company. Only 8 per cent were looking to change their direction). Furthermore they are happy to work longer (one-third were working at weekends and another third in the evenings). Good news was that 90 per cent want to work in a company whose values they want to believe in... but then wouldn't most people say that?! Only a third said that they would put their personal life before work. One thing that is not new: us people now in the 'older' generation still struggle to understand the new generation. However, these are challenging the way we manage people and we need to be better at keeping up.
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I'm not too sure that the generations are all that different. Perhaps the older generation accepted poor management practices, verging on abuse, because of severe economic conditons.
If we have a global recession it will be interesting to see its effects both on management behaviour and peoples' tolerance levels.
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In danger of naked emporer syndrome, Tim! It seems to me that the best way of making money out of coaching is in training people to be coaches. People respond and adapt to the culture that they are in. As someone from a previous generation, and an ex-serviceman, I doubt if good managers of my generation would have any problem recognising good managers of today, or vice versa. The same goes for bad management. Thankfully, there are more of the latter than for the former, so I am pretty much guaranteed employment in the HR industry....
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One of the differences that I see between my generation and Gen Y is the access that they have to information. I did not know how good, bad or indifferent any employer was compared to mine when I was making career choices. Employers are putting more information out on (for example) social networking sites in recognition that that is how younger people interact generally. This of course means that there is much more information available - no matter how biased - for them (and all of us if we are interested) to gather... and use to make choices.
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