Re: Skills training back on the agenda (2013-10-21)
When I was in my late 20s you’d have got a blank look if you’d asked me to fix a leaky toilet, repair the water softener, exchange a bicycle inner tube, or change a broken light fixture. Indeed, without the funds to engage a repairman, I’d have been sitting in the dark, itchy, smelly and bereft of transportation.
Put a millennial into that situation and they’ll YouTube, Google, Wiki, or use social media to access their global network of trusted friends until they solve it.
So I really struggle with these ongoing discussions about our growing skills shortage.
Given this huge millennial base (about nine million strong, and 15 per cent unemployed), complete with their extensive networks and built-in resourcefulness, how is it possible?
It seems to me that, left to their own devices, they can get so much more done in so much less time than we baby boomers ever could.
They’re so much more confident, supported and informed about their decisions than we ever were.
Every step they take goes through a whole battery of questioning and reflection.
Is the problem really a missing skillset or is it our approach? Could it be that baby boomer business owners want to hire ‘Minnie me’s,’ people just like them: employees who’ll be loyal and satisfied by the mere hope of promotions; whose performance can be measured by their nine-to-five desk presence; who’ll follow the rules, avoid rocking the boat, and put in the required hours until retirement.
Unfortunately there aren’t too many 20-something baby boomers out there and millennials don’t tick that way. As products of child-centered education, they grew up with little more than ‘tasks’ defining outcome and ‘rubrics’ describing success criteria, nothing in-between.
They learned early to get the job done with the resources available to them, in whatever way they saw fit, picking up new skills along the way. It’s what we taught them — lifelong learning.
We didn’t teach them to be final products when they hit the job scene, or to motivated by the money, career progression, or retirement plans that most corporate cultures are built on. So we shouldn’t be surprised that they see little value in management by office hours or optics; that they’re motivated by the domino effect their task has on the big picture; by steep learning curves, by empowerment; by recognition of their progress and use of good judgment; by adaptability-demanding opportunities, by flexible work options; by regular or even per task feedback; by autonomy; by self-improvement; and by stimulating events and engaging interaction.
Suggesting that millennials don’t quite measure up smacks of our failure, not theirs. Maybe if we fussed less about this obscure missing skillset, and took a long, hard look at our corporate cultures and ‘perfect fit’ hiring practices, we’d find workable solutions — ways of turning the quarter of a million Canadians who’ve been jobless for more than six months into working, productive citizens; and ways of lifting this enormous limitation on our economy’s growth.
Angela Hobbs
Red Deer