visionomics®

Age Matters

Visionomics®, a series of COPE- and ABO-approved business-building courses, will be held at this year’s International Vision Expo East show. The courses focus on strategies for assessing and maximizing practice profitability. In this series of articles, Eyecare Business—the official trade media partner for Visionomics—will feature some of the program’s speakers. This month, Gary Gerber, OD, founder and Chief Dream Officer of The Power Practice, Franklin Lakes, NJ, discusses his course, “Know Your Millennials and GenXers,” at Vision Expo East.

Regardless of where you fall on the generational spectrum, you must have the skills and knowledge to relate to all generations. The generations—Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (also called Millennials)—have their own characteristics and ways of approaching work and life. I’m going to focus on the latter two. To understand their motivators is to be able to connect successfully with them in your professional life, whether they are your patients, staff, associate doctors, or outside professionals.

GEN X

Generation X takes employability seriously. For this generation, there isn’t a career ladder; there’s a career lattice. They can move laterally, or stop and start careers. Their career path is fluid.

TRAINING. As a mentor, you’ll want Gen Xers to work with you, not for you. Start by informing them of your expectations and how you’ll measure their progress, and assure them that you’re committed to helping them learn new skills.

EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT. They value their life outside of work, and will be motivated by flexibility in the workplace. Gen Xers work best when they’re given the desired outcome and then turned loose to figure out how to achieve it. This means a mentor should guide them with feedback and suggestions, not step-by-step instructions. They will not waste time complaining; they’ll start circulating their resume.

GEN Y (MILLENNIALS)

This is the Internet generation.

TRAINING. There is a great need for training here, but it’s most effective when put into videos. Want to connect with these employees? Put your training videos on YouTube and direct them there.

EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT. Gen Yers expect encouragement and instant gratification. You’ll motivate them by establishing an awards-based system and giving them flexibility regarding when or where the work gets done. They don’t expect to work at one company for 40 years, so work hard to retain the good ones, but expect a turnover.

Why is it good business to keep tabs on the generations? Every generation has always complained about the gap, and the gaps have always been there. They are just bigger now. So, you need to recognize the gaps and use them to your advantage. EB