By Nancy Friedman, Customer Service Expert; President of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training

A young gal, about 25, preparing to sit in one of my presentations at the NAR conference in DC came up to me with arms crossed and in a slightly defensive mode says, “You’re not going to tell us how bad we are, are you?”

“I’m not,” I said, “and would never. Why, what happened?” She said the speaker earlier in the day ripped on the Millennials. And they were offended. I didn’t ask much more, but she was very frustrated with what the speaker said about ‘her’ generation. And he wasn’t even one of them.

Let’s face it. Every generation is different. Yours was. Mine was. And more will come. And each was difficult to understand – and don’t often meet out own expectations. Yours, mine, our folks and so on down the line. And will continue to as well.

Our new video program Generations@Work, available on our platform at www.serviceskills.com, provides an excellent look at what’s happening with this new generation. The group in the program are Millennials. They are given real questions and we get real answers.

They’re not ‘bad’ people. They’ve been labeled, as many of the generations have before us, and are fighting to fit in.

There are 8 short segments about work styles, their connections, and coaching; as well and employing and retaining.

If you’re having a few thoughts about this ‘new’ generation and would like to explore the why’s etc., this particular series will fit the bill.

The Millennials I’ve talked with are bright, exciting, mostly energetic and smart. They may lack the ‘they’ve never been shown’ gene. And because they’re smart, they do want to know how to be better. I hear it over and over when they’re at my programs. “Thank you Nancy. You opened my eyes to how I can be better.” I’m not saying they didn’t ‘receive’ the information. I’m saying maybe they didn’t listen to their parents. Did you? Most of us didn’t. So outside training for this group seems critically important.