Millennial Megan:
Megan is a twenty-five year old rising star manager for an international women’s fashion shoe store. Her staff turnover is 70 percent lower than the company average. She has quickly become a turnaround specialist and is often sent to under-producing retail stores to make them profitable. She has a 100 percent success track record.

Unfortunately, Megan’s managers don’t know she is planning on leaving. For the past six months, Megan’s Gen Xer manager has been sending her terse e-mails focusing only on what else the company expects her to accomplish. The only positive feedback Megan has received has been in the form of pay increases and increasingly challenging assignments. Megan doesn’t feel connected to her manager or to the organization. She doesn’t believe her manager actually likes or even appreciates her. She sees the pay raises and difficult assignments only as a sign she is “making money” for the company. Megan wishes her manager would make time to come by the store personally or at least to call her on the phone and express appreciation for what she has accomplished.

Megan knows she is a valuable employee, so she figures she can get another job with a company that truly appreciates its successful managers and makes them feel like they are part of a healthy family, not just a hatchet woman dispatched to clean up messes.

On the other hand, the Gen Xer manager believes the company is showing Megan how much it respects her by giving her freedom and space to do what she thinks is necessary. The company and her manager are not micromanaging her but just saying, “Here’s what I want, and here’s when I need it by.” They are showing their appreciation through appropriate pay increases. That’s what respect and appreciation look like from the generational vantage point of the Gen Xer manager.

Generationally Savvy Solution:
Communication is key! Both Megan and her manager could benefit from understanding one another’s Generational CODES. Armed with that information, they would have a better professional relationship. Megan would have a desire to stay in her current job, and would continue to benefit her current employer.