Influence

Gen Yers don’t work for The Man…

Managers love to inform Gen Yers of the realities of the workplace. My favorite admonition is that I must “pay my dues” before I can make any significant career decisions for myself. I love this because it invokes a response in my head that is so dismissive and humorous, I immediately open up an IM to my friend Beth and tell her about this oldhead preaching bullshit off the company soapbox.

We banter back and forth for a bit, and by the end of our conversation we’ve both built a new wall. A wall between us and them. We are insulating ourselves from the bullshit. We don’t believe in the practice of “paying our dues”, and anyone who tries to convince us otherwise gets a hand to the face and a DO NOT CROSS line. They will talk, but we aren’t listening.

We work for ourselves.

Gen Yers view their relationship with companies as a partnership. We will contribute an uncanny amount of energy to a project that we believe in. But, we want to know the answers to the important questions: What will I learn from this experience? How is this benefiting me? In what way does this repetitive, boring work you just asked me to do provide value to the organization?

Now, imagine if the answer to any one of these questions was, “Sometimes you just have to pay your dues.” To a Gen Yer – hell, to anyone – that is a smack in the face. The above questions show interest, curiosity, and an eagerness to contribute. By answering a question with “pay your dues”, you are dismissing someone’s genuine interest to learn and instead forcing them to accept a fate outside of their control. Couple things: (1) no one likes to not be in control, and (2) no one likes to be dismissed.

“Due Dollars” let us choose when, where, how and why to pay invest our dues.

OK, so we all realize that we’re not going to be the CEO of a huge company the day we graduate undergrad. But chances are that you think you could be at least a VP! I’ve thought it a million times myself: “This work is ridiculously boring and unnecessary. I’m brilliant, and I have nowhere to focus my creative energy right now. Why don’t they outsource this work to some admin or IT guy in India so I can focus on what’s important? I would be awesome as a Sr. Manager or VP, but the only ladder up is on the other end of the trench – and damn is it gonna take a long time to get there!”

The notion of “Due Dollars” is simply a different way of thinking about doing your work. By understanding that we have control over our own “dues”, we feel much more empowered to make decisions – big decisions. Long ago are the days of arbitrarily “paying our dues” whenever our manager decides it’s a good time to give us the “pay your dues” pep-talk. Now, we can control when, where, how and why we pay… no wait, invest our dues.

Every time I invest a Due Dollar, I’m buying one share of experiential knowledge.

I like to think of it this way:

I have – let’s say – 1,000 “Due Dollars” to invest in any experience I want. Now, imagine I get stuck in a job or on a project doing terribly repetitive, boring work. My manager eventually admits that, “the work you’re doing is pretty mind-numbing, but we all have to pay our dues.” (what I hear is “Shut up, know your role, and get crackin on the bitchwork.”) It’s a safe bet that I’ll be holding my Due Dollars close to my hip. Why would I invest in this kind of experience? I’m not gonna give up these valuable Due Dollars for her!

Admittedly, I’m investing some Due Dollars in any work I do (mostly in the beginning, on the “upslope” of the learning curve) because I am inherently gaining experience and knowledge through the work. But I’m getting a very low rate of return for investing my Dues Dollars in this experience. Remember, I’m investing in experiential knowledge with my Due Dollars. How much knowledge am I going to gain from sitting in the same room with the same people everyday editing the same document 168 times?

Managers: ditch the “pay your dues” pitch. Ask questions instead.

Now, let me paint a different picture for you. My manager sits me down a couple weeks into the project and asks me the following five questions:

1. “What are you passionate about?”
2. “What are your career goals?”
3. “What do you hope to learn during your time here?”
4. “How do you learn best?”
5. “How can I help you achieve these learning goals?”

She then relates to me by helping me learn about myself, the project (or job) and my career:

1. “Here is what you’ll be doing over the next three months: ______. Let me explain to you how your work adds meaningful and tangible value to the project/organization: _____.”

2. “Some of the work you’re doing will be a little repetitive and boring – I find that listening to music helps me stay upbeat and focused. Feel free to give it a try!”

3. “Why don’t we do this: come up with a list of learning goals that you’d like to accomplish during your time here. Send them to me and we’ll review them next week. As long as you promise to work towards them, I promise to help you. The whole team is doing this exercise so that we can help each other work towards our individual goals. My objective is to help you succeed in your career, not just in this job.”

Now, the actual work on this project could be exactly the same as it was on the last project I described, but in this case I have my wallet out on the counter itching to invest my Dues! This is the best deal around! In return for my investment, I understand the impact my work has on the project, I learn how to set and keep goals, I have control over my learning, I gain a great mentor, and I get to listen to my iPod!
What a deal!

Not Quite Yet Managers: Know Your Investment Strategy

Remember, the more Due Dollars you invest, the faster you can gain experiential knowledge. But this isn’t always the case. Just like the stock market, you can make a poor investment.

Think about how some people excel faster than others – the ones that excel seek out the situations that align with their strengths in such a way that they gain the greatest potential return on their Due Dollars investments. In other words, they find their “sweet spot”. But then within that situation, they know how to diversify their portfolio, if you will, by expending large amounts of energy (Dues) in some areas – the areas that count – and very little in others.

This should be the goal for all of us.
Here are some Due Dollars – don’t spend them all in one place!

To help my fellow Gen Yers, I’m giving each one of you 1,000 Due Dollars. Here are the rules:

1. You can invest (not spend) them anywhere you’d like, and on anything
2. You are investing in experiential knowledge
3. Invest wisely – unlike the stock market, each investment opportunity will have different returns for each individual
4. This currency is nontransferable and may only be redeemed for cash only after the last Due Dollar is invested. (Your earning potential skyrockets once your Due Dollar balance reaches 0)
5. The faster you invest it, the faster you realize your ROI. But keep in mind that each opportunity doesn’t have the same rate of return for each individual
6. Look for diamonds in the ruff. A project or task may seem mundane, but many times there is an opportunity for you to do much more interesting work as a supplement to what your manager asked of you – diversify your portfolio!
7. However, get done what needs to get done first! (or you’ll get PWND). If you finish a task early, look for ways to innovate and achieve some of your learning objectives. Oh, and managers always love options… give them some!

The faster you gain the knowledge necessary for you to make moves on your defined career path, the faster you excel towards your career goals. The faster you reach your career goals, the faster you reach your highest earning potential! Now, that’s a lot of power.

ryangeist Corporate Life, Generation Y