Some call their parents from the office five times a day. Some receive a bad review and quit their jobs, moving back home on their parents' urging. Others rely on their parents to weigh salary or compensation packages while some have seen a parent stomp into the workplace to rebut a bad review or boss's criticism.
Given the potential loss of clients if a key firm contact leaves, uncertain and poor economic times make the need for succession planning even more urgent. The situation is magnified when prospective successors are not fully prepared to step in. Next-generation partners lacking business generation and client relations skills leave a firm on shaky ground.
The challenge of embracing age diversity is building up to be the talent employment issue of the next five years and beyond. With the pressure for "more, better, faster" with more money at stake and...
Some of you already know I am a big New York Mets fan. (In fact, I aspire to a part time job as Mr. Met, the mascot, but that's another story.)
Firms are struggling with the generational divides because they make these blunders:
* Assuming that people of other generations have the same work life goals and objectives as you do.
While the generations share the desire for meaningful, stimulating work and opportunities for growth, the younger generations are very serious about having a life outside work and searching for "balance." Their dual-centricity can benefit a firm, but managers need to be open to reinvention of traditional work structures and rewards.