Chad (not his real name) was a new hire within a large New York investment firm. A recent magna cum laude graduate of an Ivy League school, he showed up on the first day of training in his new suit, and took his place among 200 top performers in the firm’s auditorium. To him, it felt just like the mega classes he endured in college.
Midway through the afternoon, everyone took a break. Chad laid down on the back row of chairs and closed his eyes, just like he did between classes in school.
But then the training director woke him up and asked if he was okay. “Sure,” he said. “I’m just taking a nap.” And this is how he became the talk of the firm for the next few days.
As much as some young professionals pillory me for portraying them as slackers, I hear enough of these stories to make me think that some in the Millennial generation do not possess a clear understanding of what work is really about! We’re all to blame for this type of behavior:
There are Chad’s parents who may or may not have instructed him on proper etiquette and decorum in public.
There are the media and marketing professionals who have flooded the airwaves with messages of entitlement, convenience and individual rights.
There are the college instructors who should have said, “Sit up and don’t sleep on the chairs!” Perhaps there are even the corporate trainers who failed to provide rules such as “Don’t sleep on the chairs during training breaks.”
No matter what the case, Chad’s brilliance, and that of others like him, is being undermined by this behavior.
Is there a solution? Sure. Stop erring on the side of permissiveness and start correcting behavior that is clearly inappropriate! Parents are parents, not friends. Teachers are teachers, not friends. Managers are managers, not friends. You get the picture. Enough with the conflict avoidance! The only way young people learn courtesy, manners, etiquette, decorum, and professionalism is through instruction and the occasional slap on the wrist (metaphorically speaking).
If young people feel sad, shocked, angry, even momentarily humiliated as a result of these corrections, chances are the lesson will be memorable. Sadly, many employers feel like surrogate parents because a healthy percentage of the emerging generation lacks these characteristics. If you don’t believe me, ask them. Has all this happened in the past? Sure. But now it’s their generation’s time to buck up and start acting like the adults they claim to be.