Lead different generations of Airmen with appropriate strategies

[mikeylikey]

Taken from the AF Link site.  It applies to CAP members as well.  It references how to lead and motivate members born in different time periods.  Very interesting read, and I thought how relevant it was to CAP, figuring we have members of the 60+ age bracket and members of the 13 to 20 age group.   

http://www.AF.mil/news/story.asp?id=123096778

NOTE: I fall into the "Generation Y" group, but feel I am more of a "Generation X" type person. 

[RiverAux]

Can't believe there are too many AF members in the "veteran generation" (born before 1945), though we have plenty in CAP.  Similar advice as what was in a CG Aux paper a few years ago http://cos.auxnaco.org/documents/Auxsurvivalin21stCentury.pdf

[Flying Pig]

I think its interesting that over 50% of the AF joined after 2001.

[Eclipse]

Can't believe there are too many AF members in the "veteran generation" (born before 1945), though we have plenty in CAP.  Similar advice as what was in a CG Aux paper a few years ago http://cos.auxnaco.org/documents/Auxsurvivalin21stCentury.pdf

Any study with a typo in the first sentence "looses" me.   

While I'll agree that there are different motivators for different generations - the younger they are, they more focused they seem to be on "what do I get..." versus "what can I give" - to me the key to retention is compelling activities, firm, realistic expectations, and ramifications for poor performance (so the high-speeds feel like their extra effort is actually worth the time).

Any of the above, without the others, gets us where we are today.

[O-Rex]

This is an interesting topic: too bad it hasn't garnered much momentum (guess it's not as sexy as bling, berets & ribbons   )

Lest we forget that human relations is the heart of what we do: accomplishing the mission through people.

Interesting how the U.S. Army tailored is recruiting campaign over the years:

70's: Join the people who joined the Army

80's: Be all you can be

90's: An army of one

00's: Army Strong

Note the shift in focus from being one of the crowd to developing the individual.   Ironic for an institution based on conformism.

Another twist is the recent emphasis towards parents, maybe not as much of a generational thing, but trying to convince Mom & Dad that the bennies if training, discipline and cash for college outweigh the chances of junior coming back missing some parts, if not in a box (after all, there is a war on..)

There are a number is different cultural factors that come into play: i.e., when I was a kid, mom stayed at home, and everyone came to the dinner table, versus latch-key kids and self-serve/catch-as-catch-can meals from the fridge to the microwave.  Interaction with mom & dad (assuming that they're still living together) is on the fly, and filtered through music blaring through the i-pod....

Nonetheless, the playing field levels and the quirks smooth out as each generation gets older.

Consider that most of the kids who danced to Roger Daltrey singing "hope I die before I get old.." are now eligible for Social Security, and just as much confirmists as those they rebelled against way back when.

My own generation that grew up on New Wave Music and Brat-Pack movies is just starting to go gray, and well entrenched in child rearing, careers, and all that goes with it.

. . . . just part of the ebbs & flows of the human condition.

I remember my sociology professor reading a passage about kids growing their hair too long, talking back to their parents, and writing graffitti in public places, then the other shoe dropped: it was written in Ancient Greece 2500 years ago (!)

I love to listen to Cadets when they think seniors are not around, or can't hear them: I think of the Jewish curse, "May you have children of your own someday."