There’s an old school mantra that advises “do not underestimate the competition” because knowing your competition is necessary in order to build strategic advantage. Yet from a Gen Y perspective, many of those same competitors are potential collaborators.
If we were to offer a mantra of advice in regards to competition it would be to “seek opportunity to collaborate rather than compete” which makes it ever more frustrating that the older generation, people we would also like to collaborate with, continue to deny the talents and capabilities of my generation.
Even an over educated, under experienced MBA student knows that success comes from being able to climb the greasy management pole. You don’t do that by trumpeting that you know it all or that Facebook is the interface proxy for enterprise applications.
Try that in this economy and you’ll be at the head of the queue when the next round of pink slips are distributed (sic). You can only know that from having worked in enterprises, experienced the nuances of management practice and negotiated the politics of power. Source
This comment completely fails to recognise that management hierarchy’s are not the future. While they might have worked for the industrial revolution, entrepreneurship, collaborative, mobile, networked teams are the future of our knowledge economy.
Political Hierarchies vs Collaborative Teams
Sorry, old guard but we don’t actually need to climb your “greasy management pole” because with today’s technology we can connect and circumvent your traditional hierarchy’s to collaborate and build businesses of our own.
Rather than politics, power and vainglorious titles we aspire to work together as co-founders in recognition of our interdependent need for each others talents, skills and trust.
Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.
Dismissing the fact that we are tech natives, and assuming that we need to be “employees” fails to recognise that we are creators of our own future.
Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Perhaps it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic, like our collaborative spirit, may be the best form of work organisation for a knowledge based economy.
We are a generation influenced primarily by peers and friends.
It’s a fact. In a world awash with information we’ve become adept at questioning the messages feed to us by the media so in order to make informed decisions we turn to those we trust and know. Traditional advertising, barely even registers with us.
Instead of watching TV you’ll find us engaged online and on the move. While the odd Facebook ad might generate a click through (relevant to our social profile) in general, unless it’s funny, sexy or otherwise “hot” it probably won’t even measure on our radar.
Unfortunately, the non profit sector is one where these “general” rules can’t be applied because it’s probably not funny, selling sex can be a crime and hot involves sub Sahara living conditions.
Where traditional advertising and marketing don’t apply it becomes even more important to engage Gen Y through peers, friend and the communities in which we interact. Here at Worknow we rate online communities and networking tools as the most effective way to reach and communicate with Gen Y and luckily for us, we’re not the only one’s backing online community.
The approach we recommend involves creating and maintaining a community – a permission asset if you like – that attracts, captures and leaves a legacy of goodwill around the interactions that occur for your brand or organization on a daily basis. Source
Champion of a cause
Time Trade is a tool to help empower recipients of charity, by valuing their experiences as a means to help others – to provide recognition for the Champions of a cause. As you can watch below, empowering champions is a common theme in of Youth Marketing for Non Profits
If you’d like to hear more about how Non Profits can engage with Gen Y we are holding a workshop at the biennial New Zealand National Volunteering Conference on the 28 – 29 October 2009 in Wellington Town Hall. For more information on this years conference check out the Volunteering New Zealand Website Our abstract aligns with the one of two conference themes:
Volunteering Tomorrow: New Opportunities – new ways for volunteering
And will incorporate concepts on:-
* Generational diversity
* Volunteering in community development
* New and interesting ways of doing volunteering
With John Keys announcing a $152 million package to create new work, education and training opportunities for unemployed young people we’re feeling even more confident that our vision around helping the youngest working age generation transition into work will find support on many levels. Well, we hope that it does but at the very least we’re reassured to learn that our mission aligns with the concern of our current Prime Minister who said yesterday:-
I am concerned for our young people.Those aged 18-24 are the fastest growing age group on the Unemployment Benefit, representing a third of all those who receive it.
The number of young people who wanted a job but couldn’t get one has more than quadrupled in the past year, leaping from less than 4000 in June 2008 to nearly 17,000 by June this year.
My concern is that for a young person starting out in their working life, a long period of unemployment could be very damaging. Source
Quid Pro Quo: Using Time Trade to Encourage Young People to Volunteer
When we looked at solving problems relating to work it was quickly evident that young people are the demographic most in need of solutions. So we got together to identify ways we could help them transition from study to work.
Lacking the work experience needed to gain value from our contractors’ marketplace we focused instead on ways that we could help them build the necessary work expereince, skills and references.
By incorporating unpaid work into our formula and encourage volunteering through the concept of Time Trade, we identified ways to:-
1) provide a measure of value and recognition for the development of a peer mentoring scheme, using time credits.
Enlisting alumni to mentor upcoming graduates about work life and career paths. Those graduates, in turn, trade their time to perhaps tutor fellow students who in turn again volunteer in their community and build valuable work skills.
2) provide incentive and reward to encourage more young people to volunteer, using time credits.
We believe volunteer work develops a service orientated work ethic and skills that assist the study to work transition. Some of the skills we know volunteers can develop include:-
Leadership & team building skills
Relationship building skills
Communication skills
Negotiation skills
Creative thinking skills
Organisation & time management skills
As Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett points out encouraging Gen Y to become involved in our communities creates win-win situations. Her comments about the Community Max Scheme could as easily apply to Worknow:-
“This is all about providing opportunities – we see this as a very positive approach to addressing youth unemployment while helping fund useful community projects… I believe this is a win-win situation.”
Where we differ is that we intend the growth of youth volunteers to be a permanent fixture of tomorrows communities hence the development of out Time Trade platform.
Dr Seyfang of the University of East Anglia has conducted some insightful and inspiring research into the effects of time banking in the UK
Case study research, which provides evidence that time trade can provide tools for promoting community development and overcoming social exclusion. I have recently read and would recommend:
Seyfang, G. (2004) Time banks: rewarding community self-help in the inner city. Community Development Journal 39:1 62 – 71 Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Seyfang, G &Smith, K. (2002) The time of our lives: using time banking for neighbourhood renewal and community capacity building. New Economics Foundations: London Download PDF Here
10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the workforce and slowly but surely people are beginning to accept that aspects of our Gen Y work ethic, our project orientation for instance, are more suited to work in a knowledge economy.
AUSTRALIA’S pre-eminent demographer, Bernard Salt, has stepped into the debate on whether Gen Y is work shy by declaring they’re not lazy but they have to adapt in the downturn.
“In fact they’re incredibly hard-working within the areas they are interested in. In fact they work quite assiduously when they are engaged by a particular project,” he said.
While always nice to see people portraying “Gen Y” (Gen We as I like to call us) in a rare but positive light it remains evident that Mr Salt still expects us to conform to the norms that he works by. Norms that perpetuate the myth that happy and worker are divergent states of being.
“With the global financial crisis the wheel is turning and it’s time for Gen Y to adapt,” he said.
“It’s important for Gen Y to realise that work is not a form of entertainment. You should not be jumping out of your skin for eight hours of work.” Source
Fair call, it’s not a party but what Mr Salt’s discussion fails to recognise is that there exists other options to remaining an unhappy, under challenged, albeit adaptable employee.
Gen We Entrepreneurs
Research indicates we have an entrepreneurial spirit that makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks. As the most highly educated generation we are armed with knowledge and insight and chomping at the bit to apply it to work life.
Those that expect us to be so desperate for employment, during this recession, that we will just adapt to be more like the old guard was at work, may be disappointed to find we are indeed well equipped to adapt but simply not as dependent on traditional “employment” as previous generations have been.
Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves. With the right team, building a company need not be as risky as it has been made to look. With today’s networking tools is it’s becoming second nature for us to find, connect and work with each other
Worknow, like Trademe, for services on a networking platform.
Six months ago I did not know either of my two co-founders. I met Jamie by applying for a house on Trademe. Josh and I connected through shared networking circles – Intersect Facebook and Twitter.
Today we are evidence of the collaborative teams and new ventures being established using networking technology to connect talented, passionate people.
We encourage and support a more entrepreneurial work ethic by providing tools to help other people connect with each other to create solutions, new knowledge and work opportunities.
Time Trade aka Time Banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.
In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.
Here at Worknow we are building an online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members. Our Time Trade system comes online August 2009. For more information check out these links:-
I had an interesting conversation with an intelligent gentleman, yesterday afternoon, who held the belief that Gen Y does not exist. We are, he said, “the same as any generation”.
Now I don’t like to be stereotyped on the basis of my age but I would sooner be Gen Y than merely the “same” as the old. Yet there’s always the option to perpetuate a more accurate describer – Gen We.
Y Generation We, not X or B.
That we are different is what we, Gen X & Boomers have in common. Each “generation” has in some way or form changed the status quo on those that came before, it will happen to us too. So this “generational” issue and blame game is more about people’s inability to adapt and accept differences than it is age.
Yes, ideally, people shouldn’t be stereotyped by age. Yet we are simply not that same, and somewhere a line has to be drawn to help us build a clearer understanding of our differences, so that we can all work together.
That I don’t want a 9 – 5 employee role does not mean that I’m lazy. I just know that my most productive work hours are from 10am – 3:00pm and 7pm – 1am but I’m happy to work 10+ hours to suit my lifestyle.
That I constantly seek new challenges and ongoing feedback around expectations and performance, I know seems demanding and needy to some. But I grew up in a world that has taught me to be performance orientated and continuously improving.
& sure, I’ve had more than 5 jobs in five years because I know what I want and if my plans can’t be achieved or my values respected then there’s no mutual benefit and it’s time to move on. I’m instinctive, goal orientated and I adapt quickly to change.
Same Planet, Worlds Apart
Back to yesterdays conversation. I can be a bit of the antagonist, when given cause to express my own beliefs. It’s the same characteristic that made becoming a lawyer the only career option I was ever advised to follow.
I wish I’d had access to more advice before pursuing that education path but oh well, live and learn. Thankfully, I’m not a lawyer and I’ve learnt lessons in tact so I simply asked:-
“OK. Do you use LinkedIn?”
“Yes,” he answered.
To which I replied, “I don’t”.
Point proven. We are not the same.
Worknow Community
If networking involves building connections amongst peers, then clearly LinkedIn has much more to offer the over 30 demographic. With millions of members LinkedIn is indeed a brilliant concept. Yet it is time to tailor the idea for a more entrepreneurial and lifestyle orientated generation.
Here at Worknow, we are gathering a community of talented people that seek new more collaborative and flexible ways to work together. Why? because we believe networking technology can help foster and harness the collective potential of existing communities and distributed groups but we simply don’t connect with LinkedIn
A wise person once offered me a very simple piece of relationship advice
“…make sure you talk about and discover what you each value…”
Now, I took that advice and to my dismay discovered that this guy that I was into thought “democracy” more important than my most fundamental life values.
This simple revelation was a turning point in that relationship and eventually, try as I might to think “…perhaps it didn’t matter…” the ever widening gulf between our personal values led to the demise of said relationship.
Lesson Learnt.
Finding Common Ground
As a new venture team, one of the most important activities our team undertook was taking the time to sit down and share with each other our goals, our dreams and our values and discuss what we hoped to achieve with Worknow.
We came up with a list of guiding values and our statement of intent which is simply:-
to create a world class business that helps people and effects change.
We also took the time to discuss our strengths and potential weakness’ which, as you may know, have more in common than many people expect and through this process discovered that we are a very strong team.
People. Our Greatest Strength
I can say with confidence that out team is one of our greatest strengths, we are talented, motivated, skilled and experienced but more than that we are aligned. We found our common ground and the shared purpose towards which we, as a team and individuals, aspire.
But it is not just our team that I mean when I say people are our greatest strength. It is everyone that we come in contact with during this process.
In order for our business to work we need to discuss and discover what other people value and aspire to achieve. And in learning these things find a common ground upon which to collaborate and achieve shared goals.
It’s starting to get a bit text book right, but honestly the more people we talk to the more feedback we get, the more questions we are asked and the easier it becomes to clarify and refine exactly how we will achieve our goals.
Worknow Community People
We are gathering a community of talented people that seek new more collaborative and flexible ways to work together because we believe networking technology can help foster and harness the collective potential of existing communities and distributed groups.
I studied business extramurally because, as far as I could see, the best way to learn business was simply to get involved. I planned to gain real life business experience while building and diversifying my skills in preparation for “one day” when the right opportunity came along for my own venture start-up.
I never exactly knew when that “one day” might be but I’d been pretty generous and given myself until 35 to discover it, on the basis that I would intuitively know the right opportunity when I saw it. And so in early March 2009 my one day arrived and I was ready.
Status Quo, Schmo
Jamie’s idea to develop an online contractors marketplace to help people find work, immediately struck a chord with me.The idea was, in essence, exactly what I needed and wanted for myself.
It was a means to encourage and support business creators, owners and collaborative teams. It was everything I wasn’t, but wanted to be and I immediately recognised his idea as a means to achieving my longest held work aspiration – to build a company that could truly help people.
We are quite happily, not in keeping with the status quo. Indeed as statistics bemoan rising unemployment I tend to see the job losses as inevitable because for social innovation and change to occur one must in some way destroy the old.
For all practical purposes this meant; if I was actually going to help people be their own boss; if I hoped to promote entrepreneurship and new business creation as a viable alternative to employment; if I was going to prove work existed but that the way we connect with it was changing; I simply could no longer work as a full-time employee
Making the Change
Mentally, in a recession leaving my only secure source of income was a pretty tough call to make. But in life we must take calculated risks. I was determined that money would not hinder my pursuit of the dream and in that decision alone I have learnt lessons for life, about the potential to get work done without the need for cash – ergo Time Trade.
Practically however, it is not at all hard to work your way out of a job. I’m not particularly proud of the way I left my last employee role but it was best for both parties. Indeed the hierarchy and their methods of control and authority, even their use of these words – when I aspire to collaboration and leadership – are driving factors in the development of Worknow.
Worknow
We are building this community and marketplace on the belief that 1) networking platforms can help us find connect and work together in new ways and that 2) there are other talented people here, that seek new more collaborative and flexible ways of working.
With this blog I intend to relate my experience as a business creator, owner and contractor, in hopes that my journey may encourage others along this path.
I have aspired to building a startup company since the day I realised that I could positively help people by creating new jobs. Thank you, Arthur Jordan (FiL) for broadening my view of the world to include enterprise development and inspiring me to purse what is now a passion for new ventures
Connecting with others
Since then I have orientated towards other successful entrepreneurs and outstanding leaders who have also taught and inspired me:-
This includes the two talented young men with whom I have the privilege of working:
* Jamie Mac Donald
* Joshua Vial
Not Y but We – Generation Change Agents
I am inspired and excited to have met many rising stars of late and I looking forward to meeting and working along side many more of you in the future.
We do not need research or statistics to know that we, the youngest generation in the workforce, are the future of new business creation in Aotearoa.
The more we work together the stronger we are. I hope to find others that share this belief and connect us so that we can help each other.
About the Author
I was blessed with a family that taught me the importance of love and faith, adventure and trust. I am eternally grateful for the people that I love. I can never thank you all enough but I love you and I trust that love is enough.
