Posts Tagged ‘Gen X’

Live Blogging from Citibank

December 17th, 2008

Non Profit Training

I’m attending a workshop in Sioux Falls, SD today on “Adapting to a Changing Financial Reality For Non Profit Leaders,” sponsored by Citibank. The workshop facilitator, Kate Barr of the Nonprofits Assistance Fund in Minneapolis, has helped our group of about 60 participants discuss and generate some good ideas in these uncertain (OK, kind of scary) times.

The Big Announcement

We also heard some big news from our friend Bob Sutton of the South Dakota Community Foundation. Help is on the way for South Dakota non profits. The Bush Foundation of St. Paul, MN will make a $2 million grant to help build capacity for non profits of all kinds in South Dakota. Over the next two years, the money will be used by the SDCF to:

As Christine Sorenson filled us in, the SDNPA has had several fits and starts since it’s original founding in 1998. Christine and other volunteer board members were here today to restart the fire based on Bob’s big news. The plan is to put full time staff in place by 2011, with help from SDCF and the Bush funds. A website should be up soon at http://sdnonprofit.org.

Working With Generation Y

One conversation that popped up just before lunch centered on the differences in generations in the non-profit workplace. Since Mike has been blogging some good stuff about this topic, I thought I’d share some snippets:

Kate talked about how “young people” (she referred to a 23-year-old colleague in her office who emails her when they are sitting 10 feet from each other) just do things differently. She contends Millennials (also referred to as “Gen Y”) have a terrific ability to adapt quickly and easily to new situations and tools, and have learned a way to work (effectively multi-task) that is new to most of us.

“And that is exactly what we (non profits) will need,” said Kate, “The ability to truly handle multiple priorities at once in a changing world.”

Other comments about Gen Y and the future of non profits:

“Young people today want real responsibility. Give it to them, let them become the leaders.”

“(Millennials) have mastered such a different way to communicate. Though challenging for some of us, that’s quite an asset.”

My Take

Like Mike said in a recent post, I think the best way to communicate with each other is to just remember we are not “Millenials” and “Baby Boomers” and “Gen Xers.” We are human beings.

While I totally get what Kate is saying about the important role those multi-tasking youngsters will play/are playing in the leadership of non profits (and communities), it saddens me to think about the never-stop-switching, short-as-a-smurf attention span that is becoming the aspiration of good leadership. I deeply believe the best path to change is a relatively slow, focused one. What do you think? (Just click “Comments” to jump into the conversation.)

Props

Thanks to Citi for the great (and free!) learning today. The crowd was about 1/3 rural, and there was active networking going on. Also thanks to Kate for sharing her well of knowledge. She writes a helpful blog called Balancing the Mission Checkbook–good stuff for even the teeny-tiniest of non profits.

One more question: Did I unintentionally exclude myself from that “youngsters” category by referring to Smurfs? My favorite was the wise old Papa Smurf, but Smurfette was quite striking. :-)

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Gen Y Characteristics

December 10th, 2008

The videos I posted about Gen Y created some interest last week, and I need to follow up with more information.   Let me begin with a couple follow points. 

First, there is no perfect date for separating when Gen X ends and Gen Y begins, but I think it makes sense to say there’s a cross-over sometime in the late 1970s.

Second, there a ton of people out there who are billing themselves as Gen Y experts–not as many Gen X experts (but that shouldn’t be surprising since Gen Y’s were born with parents who have been lavishing them with attention their whole lives).

In fact, I haven’t found enough good information on Gen X to feel comfortable posting about them, but I’ll keep working on it.  Until then, I’m going to share information about Gen Y. 

Ages of Gen Y:  late 1970s to 2000

Other names associated with Gen Y: Millennials, Net Generation, iGeneration, Echo Boomers, and Google Generation.

 

Characteristics of Generation Y

 

 If you want to learn more about Gen Y, check out the following sources:

(More to come soon on ways to engage generation y in your organizations and communities.)

 

Update (12-15-09):  Since posting this article, I have written several other posts about the characteristics of Gen Y and how it relates to rural communities.   A few of the more popular posts include:

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