Old People

Dinosaurs v. Millennials In The Workplace

Working with -- and for -- millennials.

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Angry dinosaurTwo recent articles in the Los Angeles Times Business Section made me chortle. More take downs of the dinosaurs v. millennials work environment.

The headline of the first article, first online on November 24, 2016, reads “A baby boomers guide to managing millennials at work.” For those of us who manage millennials, the article made seven suggestions:

1. “Let them get to know you.” We need to explain a little bit about ourselves. Definitely not TMI, but a sense of who you are in the workplace, your vision and motivations.

2. “Share the purpose of the project, and not just the task.” We’d be surprised, I think, at the number of different ways to approach the same project that the young’uns might have and which may well be better, faster, and cheaper than our old-fangled ways of doing things. However, if you don’t share information, you can’t know their thinking.  Yes, I know that “knowledge is power,” but relinquish that power. The old management style of “command and control” should be dead. Not a moment too soon.

3. Give them feedback before they ask for it. No one likes being sandbagged. Exhibit A is the negative evaluation when there have been no comments along the way. How can they improve if they don’t know the concerns? There’s nothing worse than a bad evaluation that comes out of left field.

4. “Practice empathy.” This is a variation of “walk a mile in my shoes.”  However, at least one researcher (affiliate link) thinks that empathy is overrated. 

5.  “Give them space.” Like—don’t micromanage. I worked for a micromanager years ago and I decided “never again.”  If you’ve been a helicopter manager or parent (e.g. hovering over your employee or kid), stop it right now. How did you learn, except through trial and error and sufficient space to try things out? 

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6.  “Nurture their sense of belonging.”  I don’t care for the words used here, but the concept makes sense. Make millennial lawyers feel a part of the team; they want to align the values with their employer. Contract attorneys never feel the love even on a short-term basis.  More’s the pity.

7.  “Let them have access to technology.” Duh. Millennials have more technology and are savvier about it than we will ever be. Raise your hand if you never learned how to program your VCR so that it always blinked 12:00 (I know, a relic of bygone days, but you get my point.)

The headline of the second article in the Los Angeles Times, published in the print edition a week later, read “A younger boss could hurt job performance.” The story detailed how we dinosaurs can be at risk when we work for a younger boss.  

Stop the presses! (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist.) That’s news? Since most workers are now younger than us dinosaurs, the likelihood that, if we still have jobs, we’ll be reporting to someone younger than we are should come as absolutely no surprise. Almost two years ago, millennials became the largest workforce in the country.  

Many of us slog through workdays because the “Great Recession” crashed our dreams and drained our savings. Reality bites: we have to face the fact that we’re not calling the shots as much (if at all) anymore, and if we are still in management roles, see paragraphs above.

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What happens if your boss is your daughter’s age? Researchers call that “status incongruence,” in other words, the disconnect between career and status norms. If an older worker (and that means anyone protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act) expresses negative emotions about that younger supervisor or manager, the spread of those emotions among company colleagues doesn’t help job or company performance. No kidding. 

The newspaper article referred to an academic research study. The comments are not kind to us dinosaurs. “When faced with being supervised by a younger person, older employees are forced to recognize their lack of progress.” Ouch.  “Working daily under a younger supervisor, older subordinates are constantly reminded that they have failed to keep pace.” The research study suggests that those negative emotions be kept private. In other words, stifle yourself. 

While it’s true that in some cases, it can be lack of progress or failing to keep pace, it can also be us dinosaurs getting laid off, right-sized, down-sized, especially when we’re seen as too expensive.

Not surprisingly, the two articles agree on one aspect of managing employees, whether dinosaurs or millennials:  give them autonomy. Once clear targets and goals have been set and communicated (when the latter isn’t done, it’s Magic 8-ball time), then get out of the way. 

The inevitability of working for a younger person is a fact; it just is a matter of when it happens to us dinosaurs. Age differences should not mean differences in managing people. What works for managing millennials should work for managing dinosaurs. With the exception of technology savvy (and most of us will never catch up on that front), I think the boomer guide to managing millennials applies equally to millennials managing older workers.

Access our dinosaur brains. Every lawyer who has practiced for any length of time has a wealth of knowledge about the law, cases, pleadings and forms, trial techniques and tactics, and especially war stories. We will share all that with you.

It’s not simply about managing older lawyers; it’s about learning what we have to offer in knowledge and experience and what we’ve learned over a lifetime in the law. It’s about passing on the knowledge from one generation to another. It’s about what the next generation will expect you to do as well.

old lady lawyer elderly woman grandmother grandma laptop computerJill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.

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