The Cranky Middle Manager Show #048  (MP3 11.2 MB 32:33 Min)

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This show was suggested by a listener, Michael Specht, from Australia. He wanted to know about managing different generations in the same workplace. Well, this isn’t QUITE that show, but we do touch on it. It’s about the coming problem of Baby Boomers retiring and not enough new talent to pick up the slack.

Our guest is Robert (Bob) Morison, one of the authors of “Workforce Crisis- How To Beat The Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent”. Remember when all we had to worry about was Bird Flu killing us all?

Show Notes 

 0:00 This week’s show is dedicated to the Legendary Celtic King Conary. Some people knew how to pass the baton between generations better than others.

3:15 Ralph Waldo Emerson has it right… we’re reformers when we’re young, we’re conservatives when we get older. I love Emerson, check him out. You can also read a bit about him in my book if you’re interested.

4:34 Welcome Robert Morison, one of the authors of Workforce Crisis. Is it real or is the Y2K all over again?

 6:24 Doesn’t all that retirement mean lots of opportunity? Sounds like a good thing especially for those of us…. you I mean….. waiting for your boss to get out of the way.

9:24 Do companies get it or not? Most aren’t feeling the pain yet and might wait til it’s too late.

10:30 the book divides workers into 3 camps: Mature Workers,- the oldest boomers or those 65 and above, Mid-Career; 35-54 which is some boomers and some Gen-Xers, and Younger Co-horts.

13:00 Not surprisingly the youngest are least engaged. Check out The Conference Board Study. Why are the Mid-Career types so grumpy and, dare we say, cranky?

• 40% say they are burned out
• 36% say they are in dead-end jobs
• 97% are not surprised by this fact (okay that’s MY number)

16:45 Why are the young so disengaged? Turns out they deserve to feel that way.The whole deal has changed.

19:45 So how do you manage each group differently?

• The Younger Workers need to be involved- coaching, put them on projects. Long shadowing terms and lengthy training don’t work! Some of these folks WILL leave,but leave the door open for them to come boomeranging back.
• Mid-Careers struggle with Work-Life Balance. It’s usually a combination of things that lead to burnout. Offer chances to move around in the organization
• Mature Workers really ARE worth all those big salaries and benefits (most of the time).

28:45 What can managers do about all this? Try a Retiree-Return program. Keep older workers where you can, match them up with younger workers, and find ways to keep the blood flowing- new experiences keep people connected.

30:47 You can look up the numbers at your national Census Bureau or Labour Ministry depending where in the world you are.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.