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NALS MEMBERS TODAY
PART I – GENERATIONS
Who is the NALS member of today? She
is 20, 30, 40, 50, and even 60 something. She is new to the legal
field or she’s been around for a while. She is a receptionist, a
legal secretary, a legal assistant, a paralegal, a law office
manager. She works in private or public law offices, mortgage
departments of banks, title companies, and corporate legal
departments. She may work in a job that provides litigation support,
such as court reporters, process servers, or document management
companies. The NALS member of today is many and varied.
With such an inclusive and varied
membership, not to mention an enormous pool of potential members,
what can NALS do to meet the needs and wants of our membership? That
seems to be the age-old question. It is a question that is too large
to address in one issue of Legally Speaking. So, we’ll take this
issue in parts: generations, retention, recruitment, and creative
thinking.
This issue will deal with generations. We need to have an
understanding of the fundamental differences between the generations
before we can examine the needs based on job categories. We need to
know what each generation values, what their work ethic is, and what
world events have shaped them. Let’s look at each generation
separately.
Silents/Traditionalists/Builders/Veterans
– This group has many names, but they include those born between,
roughly, 1922 and 1943. Their core values are: dedication/sacrifice,
hard work, conformity, law and order, patience, delayed rewards, and
honor. In their work environment, they believe in hard work and duty
before fun. They respect authority and adhere to the rules. These
values and work ethic were shaped by the Roaring ‘20s, the stock
market crash, the Great Depression, World War II, the GI Bill, and
the Korean War.
Baby Boomers or Boomers – This group
is called the Baby Boomer Generation or the “Boomers,” and includes
those born between 1944 and 1960, approximately. Their core values
are optimism, team orientation, personal gratification, health and
wellness, personal growth, youth, work, and involvement. In their
work environment, they believe in working efficiently, in personal
fulfillment, and going the extra mile. They crusade for causes,
desire quality, and question authority. They can be considered
workaholics. Their values and work ethic were shaped by the McCarthy
hearings, the discovery of the Salk vaccine, the Civil Rights Act,
the Peace Corps, Vietnam, Woodstock, Kent State, the moon landing,
and the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and
Robert Kennedy.
Generation X/Gen X-ers/X-ers – This
group includes those born between, roughly, 1961 and 1980. This
group’s core values are: diversity, global thinking, balance between
work and home/life, techno-literacy, fun, informality,
self-reliance, and pragmatism. In their work environment, they want
structure and direction and they want to eliminate or finish the
task. They are very skeptical and rely heavily on themselves. The X-ers’
values and work ethic were shaped by 24-hour media, Women’s
Liberation, Watergate, the beginning of the energy crisis, the
Challenger disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, AIDS, and being
the first generation of Latchkey kids.
Millenials/Nexters – This group
includes those born between 1981 and 2000, approximately. Their
values are: optimism, civic duty, confidence, achievement,
sociability, morality, street smarts, and diversity. In their work
environment, they are goal oriented, techno savvy, tenacious, and
tolerant. They are entrepreneurial and are excellent multitaskers.
Their values and work ethic have been shaped by having busy
over-planned lives, the Oklahoma City bombing, internet and cell
phones, virtual reality, the Columbine High School massacre, and
September 11th and the terrorist threat.
A careful look at the core values and work ethic of each generation
will give you a better understanding of the forces at play in your
chapter – how they think and what they believe to be important to
them.
Take some time and compare these
overviews to your chapter membership. Which generations do you have
in your chapter? Where do they clash and where to do they have
common ground. As you look at your membership, keep in mind that
there are overlaps between the generations and not everyone in each
generation has all of the traits listed. These are generalizations,
but they will give you a sense of your chapter’s makeup.
In the next issue, we’ll cover how
the differences in core values and work ethic has an effect on our
ability to retain the members we have. We’ll delve more deeply into
what motivates each group and how to pull on the strengths of each
group to help strengthen our membership and increase our retention
rates. |
