Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe

Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe
By Jessica Twentyman

Published: May 28 2009 21:39 | Last updated: May 28 2009 21:39

“To read the criticisms about the Net Generation,” writes author Don Tapscott in his latest book, Grown Up Digital, “you might conclude that they are a bunch of dull, celebrity-obsessed, net-addicted, shopaholic exhibitionists.”

Such a bleak view, he goes on to say, belies the fact that the children of the baby boomers – now aged between 12 and 30 and reared in an era of digital technologies – are poised to transform society in profound and largely positive ways.

In the workplace, he adds, their aptitude with technology and willingness to collaborate could provide their employers with a real source of competitive advantage.

But whether they are referred to as the Net Generation, digital natives, Millennials or Generation Y, this new tribe of employees can only make its mark if the businesses they work for are able to accommodate and capitalise on a host of new attitudes, beliefs and ways of working.

“Listen to young people,” Mr Tapscott urges business leaders. “Put them in the driver’s seat alongside you when designing work spaces, processes, management systems and collaborative working models.” In other words, be prepared to make big changes in order to unleash the power of these new employees.

Are businesses ready to heed that advice? In truth, many are not, says James Callander, managing director of recruitment consultancy FreshMinds. “This new generation is well-known for its unrestrained ambition, but its largely unparalleled handle on technology presents a significant management challenge,” he says.

“I think one of the biggest problems is that older members of the workforce feel scared of looking foolish in the face of new technology and are threatened by these younger peers who seem to hold all the cards.”

He observes two common approaches to tackling this challenge. “The first is almost a ‘divide and conquer’ approach, consigning technology to different divisions or units in the business. But the internet and mobile technology is now so all-encompassing ... that separation is all but impossible. The second and better approach is to encourage younger workers to train and enfranchise their older colleagues.”

In principle, that makes good sense, because while they may be reluctant to admit it, older business leaders have much to learn from their younger co-workers, says Urs Gasser, executive director at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and co-author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives.

As principal investigator on the Digital Natives project, an academic collaboration between the Berkman Center and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, he has devoted the past few years to studying how people who grew up immersed in digital technologies interact with the world.

Three characteristics distinguish a digital native in today’s workplace, he says. The first is their relaxed attitude to information disclosure; the second, their aptitude at social networking; and the third, the very different way they process information, as compared with previous generations.

It is this first trait that causes business leaders most concern, according to Prof Gasser. “Digital natives are generally more open about themselves and have fewer reservations about sharing their thoughts and opinions with the world.

“The fear is that this will lead them to share information about their jobs and the organisations they work for, without reflecting on how appropriate it might be to divulge information that might be considered confidential or commercially sensitive.”

Tackling the issue is a matter of education, he argues. Where corporate policies are thoughtfully applied (and observed), that propensity for self-disclosure can be a positive force, building trust between colleagues and opening the door to deeper collaborations.

It also offers organisations a chance to get to know young employees better, to understand what motivates them and the best ways to channel their energies to reap better business results.

But it’s the second and third traits that offer companies the greatest chance to get ahead. “For years, organisations have been investing heavily in knowledge management initiatives to tap into the collective expertise of their workforce, but the results have been mixed.

“Suddenly, the cultural barriers to information sharing are crumbling with the emergence of social networking and the rise of a new workforce that is more than comfortable with working online with their peers to solve a problem.”

This, he says, has huge implications in many aspects of business, such as developing products, identifying market opportunities and generating sales leads.

But the issue of working hours can be contentious, says Claire Schooley, an analyst with IT market analyst firm Forrester Research. “Work-life balance is paramount to Millennials. These young people do not work by the clock – rather, they work by the task. Let them know what they need to do and when assignments need to be done. With mobile technology, they’ll be online at night completing projects.”

As the connected world evolves, it is therefore vital that organisations adapt policies and tools to suit the style of new workers. In economies where the working population is ageing, this may not just be desirable but essential to survival.

Grown Up Digital, by Don Tapscott, McGraw Hill, 2008.

Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Basic Books, 2008

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009