Training Talk: Hard-Hitting Articles on Computer Training, Management, and IT-related Issues.

Granted, most Echo Boomers grew up typing and now texting before actually writing, yet technology moves along furiously and they are not necessarily as hip to every new software application or update as you might think. Remember most of them grew up using the Office suite, but like you they learned the version that was common when they were in school, which was probably Office 2003. Yet the newest Office Suite, Office 2007, can be as frustrating for them—or more so—as it is for you.

Why? Because the newest version of Office is vastly, incredibly different than the old version, and many of my Gen Y students share their frustration over where things went! (Here is a link to a handy free Microsoft tool that will show you in real time where things went between the old and new versions of Word).

What did Generation Y grow up using most? Why, whatever was cool, easy, fun, and helped them in school or socially. That translates to: a little Word, PowerPoint, Photoshop and its derivatives, as well as the usual suspects like chat and video software.

What about Excel, Access, One Note, Publisher, and a host of other common and widely-used business applications? Or specialty software specific to a particular piece of hardware, such as proprietary programs used to run industrial machines? And we haven't even touched on mainframe, UNIX, Linux, or other operating systems!

So although these bright stars excel at the speed with which they pick up information and integrate it, don't count on them to be geniuses at applications they have never seen.

That leaves them using their quick minds to try to grok Excel and become a master at it, on their own, just because they “should” be able to (and if you don’t know the word "grok," then you are probably an Echo Boomer yourself!). Yet even they deserve the benefit of some guidance and training, don't they?

Don’t put the world on their shoulders just yet! Obama and the goober-mint has seen fit to do that in the coming years; for now give them the benefit of guidance, training, and encouragement. They are people too and want to know you value them and are regularly investing in them and their futures. Because their futures help determine yours!

Besides, they will be happier, more secure, better-equipped to do what you hired them to do, and ultimately more productive. Now, isn’t that what you want?

Despite the way Generation Y masters technology, I have shown you compelling reasons why even these superstars need proper grounding and training in the software and soft-skills you use for your business. Many of you will ignore this sage advice and keep trying to use these employees as-is, but remember you have to sharpen even your best tools or they become dull eventually.

I hope this discussion has made you think a little more deeply about your Gen Y employees and helped guide your thoughts and budgets on training them. Let me know your thoughts, and until next time we’ll solve our problems Bit by Bit.