Managing those pesky Gen Y workers...

Why community counts. This is what news managers haven't "gotten" yet. Insanely good work derives from community. Long hours? If you are having fun and are part of a community, who notices? My colleague noted that at RTNDA/NAB, managers (read "over 40s") were flummoxed about how to manage "Gen Yers." ( The generation following Generation X, especially people born in the United States and Canada from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.) The new workers don't want to work weekends or the graveyard shift, they don't want to sacrifice their personal life/space for an entry level job that pays around $20K per year "like we all did" say the managers. The managers just think the Gen Ys are spoiled or lazy. Why did the over 40s ever work like dogs for small pay? Because they saw themselves as part of community that was larger than themselves and that they wanted to join. They were wiling to work "too hard" for the pay because the payoffs were in terms of getting recognized by peers and "making a difference." The young are no different today. It is the businesses that are different. When everyone "knows" that the large corp you can work for will screw you on any promise of a pension, try and avoid giving you benefits, and cut costs by firing you if they can improve the bottom line, why should the young worker sacrifice for that? Look at indy publications. The workers there feel they are part of a community. They work hard because they see themselves as assembly-line workers in a word-spewing sausage factory. Journalism, reporting and writing are as rewarding as they are taken seriously as communication . When words are treated like interchangeable parts of and assembly line product and any interests or special skills one possesses are superfluous because a medicre product will fill the space as well as one's best work, who does care? It would be illogical to devote one's life to such an enterprise. Toyota showed the world of manual assembly work that treating workers like intelligent collaborators works better than treating them like interchangeable parts. It might be time for news organizations to step out of the corporate silo for minute and consider the gains that can come from a community friendly organization. Ubantu is free and open and "will always be free" according to its principles. However, the support business around Ubantu is where those devoted to the community of ubantu can work to make money. I can begin to the outlines of an Opensource media community, and I think my Gen Y students can too. Can you?

Which is easier to foster, brand or community? It is difficult to tell, but my bet is that brand is easier. Brand can be made more recognisable with the aid or PR, marketing and strong business and partner relationships. The science of brand is measurable and can be divided into boxes and spread out across your staff. The science of community however is far more difficult. Communities are delicate collections of people with varying opinions, experiences and prejudices (both positive and negative) on technologies and companies. Traditional uses of marketing and PR are entirely inappropriate for community relations, and it instead requires a deep understanding of community, people and a commitment to the principles that the community is ingrained in. If there is an attempt to subvert these principles, the relationship breaks down.

tags technorati : opensource ubantu community genY