Leave it to Beaver

by Don Harkey

Are you imaging the opening theme of "Leave it to Beaver"? I am more than imagining it right now. What a different time! Even though it was just a TV show, it does highlight a different view people had on the life of an American family. Compare that to a relatively modern view of family presented in the show "7th Heaven". Now imagine a workplace where you must work with both Reverend Camden and Ward Cleaver.

A couple of years ago, I saw a speech by Dr. Cal LeMon, of Executive Enrichment Inc, entitled "Ending the Generation Wars at Work". The presentation focused on the differences between the generations and how each should be managed. In short, this is what he said...

Baby Boomers believe in growth/expansion, enjoy being 'on stage', are optimistic, have a developed social conscience, practice teamwork on the job, pursue their own gratification, are too political, and are workaholics. According to Dr. LeMon, the shrine to the average Baby Boomer is a Country Club. How do you "motivate" boomers? Listen to their stories, give them public recognition, provide perks, remind them of the power of their name recognition, and involve them in decision making. (Remember from past articles that motivation is driven by a person who feels competent, autonomous, and related to a given task)


Generation X people are what Dr. LeMon calls the "Xterra Generation" (after the SUV). They want to balance their career and family, don't want to "pay their dues", are materialistic, are cynical, are impatient, interested in lots of things, and are not committed to their jobs. How do you "motivate" a Generation X person? Give them constructive criticism, allow them to have fun at work, use technology, utilize mentoring and give them lots of things to do (they can multitask).

Generation "Next" or "Nexters" are called the "Best Generation in 100 Years". They have a rare combination of being technically savvy and have great verbal skills. They spend lots of time reading (video games actually replaced TV time, not reading time according to studies), are optimistic, passionately ethical, goal oriented, and work well in teams. They are "motivated" by being given plenty of orientation, ignoring typical gender roles, working in strong teams, good training programs, and mentoring.

Perhaps just as telling as the above information are the photos Dr. LeMon chose for each generation when summing up the presentation. The Baby Boomer shows a well dressed professional woman sitting in a nice symmetrical office at a nice desk with her hands crossed neatly on the desk. The Generation X person stands with a scowl on his face, arms crossed in defiance, starring intently at the camera. The Nexter is smiling and listening to an MP3 player while looking off camera as if looking to the future.

I think there is some interesting information and insight in this analysis, but overall, I think it is a Baby Boomer view of the generations. Imagine the domesticated hippy evaluating the life of the grunge fan who grew up watching Ronald Reagan. If you look at the "motivating" factors for each generation, you will see a pattern. Competence, Autonomy and Relatedness. Of course the issue is "what is a generation competent at?" and "what does a generation relate to?".

A good friend of mine who happens to be a Baby Boomer, recently left me a message on my phone. In my voicemail greeting, I ask the caller to leave their name and a brief message and offer the option of sending a text message for a potentially faster response. He joked on his message, "I'm surprised you ask people to 'Tweet' their response to you" (using Twitter, an online social networking application). This isn't really a generational thing, its more of a competence thing.

I grew up with computers. In grade school, our classroom had an Apple IIE and by junior high, we were taught to program in Basic. By college, I had my own computer and began using email. Today, not only do I blog, I also use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (follow me at http://twitter.com/donharkey) as well as the full suite of Google products. I own an iPhone and text message regularly. I do these things as tools for my work and as a way to balance my life.

As we grow older, we tend to stick with the things that have always worked for us and learn new technologies a little slower. I don't think Baby Boomers are anti-technology, I think they just haven't been submersed in it. In fact, I know a few Baby Boomers who use Facebook and Twitter... they see the value in it.

The point here is that generations do have differences based on the world they grew up in. They have different experiences that give them a variety of competencies. However, they are motivated by the same things... competence, autonomy, and relatedness... just in different ways!

...and just for the record... I think Generation X gets a bad rap!