GALT Consulting LLC

One business owner calls another owner over the phone to discuss details about an upcoming collaboration.  The 2nd owner's phone is busy, so the 1st owner leaves a voicemail.  "This is Frank, please give me a call when you get a chance".  The day passes and the 2nd owner doesn't call back.  The owner was really being rude, right?

But which owner was being rude?

The 1st owner thinks the 2nd owner is rude for not returning the call.  The 2nd owner thinks the 1st owner is rude for not leaving more information on the voicemail.  The 1st owner is a baby boomer and the 2nd is from Generation X (GenX). 

Consider this.  A study by Sprint showed that a person under the age of 30 is 4x more likely to return a text message than a voicemail.  Why?  The 2nd owner would tell you that a text is much less intrusive than a phone call.  Phone calls are necessary, and the GenX person will spend lots of time on the phone, but he wants to prioritize his communications.  The voicemail left by the 1st owner was vague.  The 2nd owner could stop everything, pull out of a meeting, and call back the 1st owner only to find out that he just needed the answer to a simple question...  one that could've been answered in 5 seconds with a text message.

The 1st owner is upset.  Why don't business people today have any business etiquette anymore.  When someone says they need to talk to you, they need to talk to you and you owe them the common courtesy of a return call.  The next day, the 1st owner leaves another message, "call me back", frustrated the whole time that he has to do this.

People are fundamentally wired the same way, but generational experiences cause differences that can cause difficulties in the workplace.  Baby boomers grew up waiting their turn.  They played the game, moved up the ladder, and now they get to run the show. 

GenX workers don't want to wait.  They saw their parents work hard in jobs to wait for their time only to lose retirement or get an early-leave.  Baby boomers complain about a lack of loyalty in today's young workforce, and GenX'ers and younger agree... but one side is talking about worker loyalty and the other is talking about company loyalty.

No solutions here (yet), just pointing out the differences.  Is this something you have experienced?