To make a point about the difference among generations X and Y, Fire Chief Dave Kimbrell of Hall County (Ga.) Emergency Services removed his suit jacket and dress shirt to reveal the Hawaiian shirt underneath—something he thought the “Gen Y” members of the crowd would appreciate. After all, they would likely respond to a casual, more laid-back presenter.

In his class Friday morning class “Understanding the ‘New’ Generation”, Kimbrell outlined the basic differences between the Veteran Generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X and Generation Y — also called the Millennial Generation — and then offered ideas for how best to work with these young “millennials.”

The Millennial Generation is comprised of people born between 1982 and 2002—people between the ages of 7 and 27. Kimbrell described millennials as being influenced by a handful of factors, including sometimes overly involved parents, the “self-esteem movement,” the “customer service movement” and, possibly most significantly, gaming and technology, and casual communications.

Parents of millennials (Baby Boomers) are typically very involved, explain everything to their kids and want them to question authority. The result: Millennials are “master negotiators,” Kimbrell said. “They will negotiate with anyone, including fire officers, about anything.”

And these parents have also contributed to the Generation Y “self-esteem movement.” In essence, “helicopter parents,” famous for hovering, offer their millennial children continued feedback, including praise, which this generation comes to expect and need from people in authority.

As for the “customer-service generation,” Kimbrell explained that millennials are used to having access to anyone and everything 24/7—something previous generations did not expect.

Additionally, as one would expect, millennials are strongly influenced by technology and gaming. “Gaming teaches them to take multiple pieces of data and make decisions quickly,” Kimbrell said. As a result, they are used to multi-tasking and get bored with singularly focused tasks. “They’ve been plugged in since they were babies,” he added. “And they don’t live in an 8-5 world.”

Finally, the word “casual” easily describes the way millennials communicate. E-mail is the best example. “Millennials wouldn’t know how to format a letter,” Kimbrell noted. And, of course, staying connected via cell phone and social media is extremely important to them.

With all this in mind, Kimbrell explained that instructors need to balance the use of technology with their more traditional philosophies of teaching—all so millennials don’t “tune out” in class or during training.

Further, for people with this Information Age mindset, doing is more important than knowing, and they have zero tolerance for delays. Thus, millennials are prone to wanting to know how to do something without really understanding how or why—something officers must be prepared to deal with.

Fortunately, millennials are true multi-taskers, which means they can retool and recycle their skills until they find something—or their officer helps them find something—that occupies their attention.

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