Bridges Edition of 10/8/2007

2007-10
Bridges - October 2007
Welcome to Bridges, a monthly newsletter published by Robin Fogel, Executive and Career Coach & Consultant. My goal is that these newsletters include practical information that you can use in your work and in your life. If you found the newsletter helpful, please forward it to your colleagues, friends and family.
If you would like to take advantage of a business consultant or executive coach, please email me at robin@coachrobinfogel.com for a complimentary coaching session or visit my website - www.coachrobinfogel.com
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WORKPLACE TRENDS
Have you noticed how many articles there have been recently about the challenges of multiple generations in the workplace? The human resource professionals tell us that this is the first time in history that we've had four generations in the workforce - WW II folks, Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y - and guess what, they have different approaches to work.

The more senior employees complain that the Gen Y employees are impatient, have a sense of entitlement. They point out that they have unrealistic expectations. On the other hand, those in Generation Y wonder what is wrong with wanting both great jobs and flexibility. An article in the NY Times noted that, "Gen Y's are as single-minded in their search for balance as their parents were in their quest for success."

Those same human resource folks mention that, to their credit, this generation comes into the workforce with amazing resumes and experiences. They had to overachieve to get into the colleges they attended. They are smart, quick learners, and technologically savvy. With the looming worker shortages as the baby boomers retire, the smart employers are adapting to this new generation and finding ways to facilitate the interaction between the generations.

Faced with enormous demand for their services, accounting firms are leading the charge to the new work place - recruiting and training Gen Y but also, for example, teaching senior partners how to use text messages, so they can communicate with the new generation. And at a company called Randstad, Business week wrote of the enormous success they are having pairing Gen Y and baby boomers, working as partners on sales teams, with each member learning from the other. The article notes that the workplace of the future will draw on the strengths of all the generations.

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October is a great month to do a little fall decluttering. If your file drawers are filled to capacity here are a few suggestions for managing that paperwork:

-When putting paper aside to be filed, put a note on it to indicate the proper folder.
-Put a "toss" date on all papers before filing in reference files. This makes an annual purge much easier.
-Use the 5-D system when handling paper - Discard (toss), Delegate (send to someone else to handle), Do (if you can complete in less than 5 minutes), Date (put in tickler file for future action), Drop (get off distribution list).

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For those who ask me what it is that I do, I offer coaching and business consulting in the following areas:

-Business Consulting & Executive Coaching - working as an independent sounding board providing advice on staffing issues, developing emerging talent and helping managers sharpen their communication and management skills;
-Career Coaching for career advancement, change or transition;
-Not for Profit Consulting - providing Executive Directors with independent sounding board, consulting on staff issues, board relations and staff development.
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FINAL THOUGHT
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it. -George Orwell

COPYRIGHT: 2007, Robin Fogel & Assoc., LLC. All Rights Reserved. May be distributed and reprinted in its entirety with copyright, subscription instructions, and contact information intact. However, you may not copy it to a website.