Have a read by James Mwangi- EQUITY BANK MANAGING GENERATION Y Sixty per cent of the Kenyan population comprises the youth (18 to 40 years) many of whom are in the workplace. “This is a very unique generation. At Equity, the average age is 26 so I would say the whole bank is literally Generation Y.” This generation Mwangi says, are people who feel they require freedom and dignity. “They are not going to be stereotyped. They want to understand why they do things; they don’t just want to do things. They feel they want the freedom to do it when they want, and how they want.” Mwangi uses management by objective to manage Generation Y. “I tell them this is what I want to achieve. We talk about results as opposed to the how because anytime you talk about the how, there is conflict. They do not understand why things have to be done the way they have always been done.” Mwangi says because of Generation Y as the majority, the bank has made massive investments in Information Communication and Technology (ICT). “That generation hates manual labour that is why we no longer have youth farming. Even if they are in the rural areas, they would rather spend the day at the shopping centre and not with a hoe. You have to give them work that connects with what they think they are. They are a dot com generation – ICT natives.” At the bank Mwangi confesses, Generation Y views him as a migrant, “It is like I migrated to their native land of ICT,” he says and cautions that if one cannot connect with them in their ‘native’ world, he/she cannot provide them leadership. He notes that an organisation must provide them with adequate tools otherwise it will be difficult to retain them because they hate paper work. “For our appraisals, we had to build a very powerful enterprise system. Why? Because they want to assess themselves; they tell you who they think they are, and you tell them why you think they are not. It is not the old way of calling somebody and dressing them down in the name of an appraisal. They want to participate in everything; they want to define relationships it is not you to define the relationship. Therefore, that aspect of understanding and accommodation as a leader is very important. Any leader who is not able to transform will not be successful with the Generation Y.” The youth are a big asset explains Mwangi. In an era of globalisation, Kenya naturally connects with the world because of Y Generation; with an aging population in Europe and the Americas, this means Kenyans are global citizens and can fit anywhere. “I look at my children they no longer take tea in the morning instead they opt for juice. I have to accommodate that. So I also ask in the bank, do they require tea? What do they want? Those amenities that drive them must be made available.” A third factor is providing a good working environment. He says Generation Y want to do something remarkable. “I cannot say I drive innovation at Equity Bank but I drive the environment that allows them to be innovative. They seem to understand the environment very differently from the old generation and as a leader, you need to manage that conflict. I will give you a classic example at Equity – they (Generation Y) do not understand why they cannot come to the office in jeans yet my aged customers in the rural areas cannot understand how they can be served by a cashier who is not in a tie or a skirt suit. The issue is to manage that conflict. Keep on accommodating and explaining ‘the why’ to them.” This according to Mwangi, is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to managing Generation Y.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 11:06:05 +0000
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