Craving to have a better understanding of this important issue, the subject of “Managing Generation Y” theme has transformed into a real and authentic subject of debate, a good opportunity for professional meetings, within the workshops organized in Bucharest by AIMS Romania and Dale Carnegie Training Romania.

Attracting mainly the representatives of the middle and top management of various key industries in Romania, such as Retail, Banking, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Business Process Outsourcing or Pharmaceuticals, the bi-monthly meetings have revealed both interesting information and useful feedback for the organizers and guests. Starting from a theoretical framework based on interactive presentations and continuing with colloquial conversations and the sharing of opinions, the conclusions that were drawn in the end have proven to be more than useful and valuable in getting a better understanding of the representatives of the Generation Y.

In short, here are some of the most interesting issues that have resulted from the debates carried out along with the Romanian industry professionals:

Certain banks have started holding workshops on the subject of Generations.
Gen Y must understand the overall picture and the results expected from them.
“Why” is an important component of the feedback directed towards Gen Y: why they are participating in a meeting or not; why a project must follow certain steps or a certain procedure or not, etc.;
Gen Y multitask, they want to collaborate, to learn, to be involved in as many projects as possible and everything must happen… as soon as possible;
Gen Y need flexibility and understanding from their manager; a good manager for them is also a coach/mentor;
Gen Y want constant feedback/feedforward; they need acknowledgement and many times a simple “thank you” or “good work”, can be motivating.
Gen X: they are independent, they want to learn, but they want to do it themselves, and not from a mentor/coach; they rarely ask for feedback; they follow the rules; they are creative;

Abstract: About Generation Y:

Managing Generation Y - a must for leaders

Generation Y or Millennials is a universal concept which revolves around that generation of young people born approximately between 1980 and 2001, a generation that is mostly represented by students or college graduates, mainly that particular “revolutionary” generation of young people and teenagers that is exposed, amongst others, to the new trends and lifestyles, but especially to new communication technologies. A generation that is obviously, but also unexpectedly, starting to be so different from its previous generation (for America - the `Baby-Boom-ers` or `Generation X`).

Generation Y is the most frequently encountered name in the academic works, however, teenagers themselves would much rather be called Millennials, Net Generation, Google Generation or iGeneration. It is an extremely numerous generation, that is strongly particularized at an ethnic and social-cultural level, including youth that, in most cases, is extremely well prepared and in which great investments have been made at an educational level.

As these young representatives of Generation Y are starting to join the groups of employees in numerous fields and industries on the market, an ever stronger need takes shape - to better understand what they are like and how they operate, what types of attitudes and professional contexts motivate and inspire them, how they can be determined and stimulated, in short - how can they be understood and coordinated by their employers. And all of these in order to deliver the necessary performance at their work place, and in order to be in harmony with their team and organization.