This blog was posted as the first of a three-part series on generations in the workplace on a corporate blog on June 11, 2012

Baby Boomers,

My name is Matt. I’m a representative from the Planet ‘Generation Y-Landia’, and I come in peace. I’ve seen it plastered across the galaxy that you, the baby boomers, and us, Generation Y (or if you’re into naming generational groups like bad sitcoms – the Millenials), have difficulty working together.

I’m here to propose a solution.

You, boomers, soon enough, are going to turn the world over to us. This is not a simple baton pass in the relay of life. Y’ers are a tough group to figure out, a difficult segment to communicate with, and hard people to motivate – until now.

We’re difficult to work with because our generation, as a whole, is tough to identify. This is no fault of your own. We don’t know who we are as a generation yet.

Your history is well documented. Everyone knows the wars you lived through, what your universal issues were and the state of America in your youth.  You added exponentially to the culture of the nation.

We have yet to fully change the course of America. Electing Obama was a flicker, Occupy Wall Street was a blip, and more defining moments will come.

But Y-ers and Boomers need each other now.

The one thing that drives us is the one thing you don’t want to give us.  What makes matters worse is we don’t know we want it until we get it. It’s the easiest thing to give when you want to, and the hardest when you don’t.

It’s not money. It’s not a better job title. It’s not even praise.

It’s trust.

It’s the trust of ownership, of responsibility — of your livelihood in our hands. I didn’t know what responsibility was until I was handed a project and could work hard and carry it to victory, or stumble, stutter, freeze and drop the project into the abyss of ineptitude.

The right time will never come if you wait for it. It just needs to happen.

Do not get motivated enough to hand your largest account over to the intern. DO give that intern a project he is held accountable for, and determines the success or failure of. It should not be something you know he can do, and not something you know he can’t do; something in-between.

Watch what happens.

There’s a chance the project might sink like a fifty-pound rock attached to Charlie Sheen’s career. But one failure, and the knowledge you gain from it, will cost less than many small failures and shortcomings over a multi-year career.

More than likely, he’ll supersede your expectations. The pride in success is his reward, and your newfound resource is yours.

The most motivational person I’ve ever worked for is my current boss. She’s never channeled Tony Robbins. What she has done is set me up to succeed by expecting me to reach a bar that’s a little higher than I think I can jump.

The first time she told me, “I know you can handle this”, I thought she knew something about me that I didn’t. I had no idea if I could handle it – but I knew I had to. She put her trust in me, and the credibility of her name behind my work. There was NO WAY I could let her down and be able to sleep at night.

I succeeded. I reached a new peak in my career. It felt great. Better than a bonus and better than a pat on the back for something I could do in my sleep. Success is its own reward.

Since then, she’s pulled this line on me again. And again. And again and again…

After the second time I stopped thinking she was over-valuing me, and realized she was the subtlest, most effective motivator I ever worked for.

You can be her. It sounds hard, but it’s easy. Pass out a little trust. You know how much you’ll be giving out; imagine how much you’ll get back.