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ATD Blog

Giving Thanks for Similarities—and Strategically Ending Generational Warfare

Wednesday, November 19, 2014
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In recent years, as Millennials began entering the workforce, everyone seemed to argue about and overemphasize differences among the generations. Indeed, for every carefully authored article on Millennials, there have been hundreds of discordant comments that complain about everything from “these are just stereotypes” to “this topic doesn’t matter.” 

This sort of discourse has made it difficult to distinguish the answers to some key questions: 

  • What is really changing with the Millennial generation?
  • What can organizations do to proactively engage, retain, and develop the future workforce? 

I suggest it is time to take a different approach. For instance, when we work with clients at Career Indulgence, our philosophy is to decrease resistance and make change easier to swallow by focusing on what the various generations have in common. This approach creates a safe atmosphere that enables the real issues to bubble to the surface—and leaders to effectively guide the organization. 
Here are three key similarities shared among the four generations in the workplace, especially between Millennials and Boomers, which organizations should capitalize. 

Love for mentoring. All generations like some facet of the concept of mentorship. Millennials look for mentors actively and love being mentored. Gen X proactively mentor new hires and have mentors for their own career development. Boomers like to mentor and informally pass their knowledge on to others. 

In fact, a 2014 international study by the MSL Group revealed that the word most Millennials use to describe their manager is “friend.” This answer ranked first in United States, U.K., and Brazil, second in China, and third in India. Capitalizing on mentorship can bring great benefits to your organization by building positive culture, creating more opportunities for knowledge transfer, and increasing engagement. 

Preference for face-to-face communication. This shouldn’t be news to anyone. A study by Millennial Branding and American Express found that 62 percent of Millennials prefer communicating with their Boomer managers in person. 

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All parties seem to agree that while some communication is more effective and appropriate using technology, there is an appropriate time for face-to-face interaction as well. Capitalize on this similarity by setting strategic guidelines for communication methods and creating engaging face to face interaction opportunities. 

Struggle with information overload. All generations struggle with the overload of stimulation and information from technology. From the young to the old, we all look for methods to maintain efficiency, sort the important from the unimportant, and focus on delivering results.

Technology has been a game changer from many aspects, and this is one that affects us all. Everyone can benefit from more simplicity in organizations. By focusing on this similarity, organizations can solve a real challenge of the future workplace. 

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Moving forward 

Why should organizations capitalize on these similarities instead of differences? Consider the stat that in the next five years, it is predicted that five Boomers will retire for every new hire. Now consider the consequences of focusing on stereotypes in the workplace: creating a culture of mistrust and blame, defining organizational strategies based on single statistics vs. deeper trends, and alienating employees.   

Can we really waste our time focusing on what’s different to create practical strategy to close the talent gap? Instead, we need to focus on creating a culture of collaboration that can effectively transfer knowledge while engaging and maximizing the capabilities of the next generation. 

Here’s my challenge to you: Start appreciating the similarities the four generations in the workplace hold and throw out the comparisons we so often see. When you do, you’ll discover the true patterns and trends and be able to create a strategy that sticks—with Millennials and Boomers alike.

About the Author

Crystal Kadakia is a two-time TEDx speaker, organizational consultant, and best-selling author, known for transforming the toughest workplace changes into exciting possibilities for our digital world. As a consultant, she brings organizations into the digital age, reimagining people strategies with clients in areas such as career development, learning culture, inclusion, leadership development, and employee engagement. Past clients include General Mills, Southern Company, Monster.com, Sierra Club, and other organizations.

She is the co-creator of the Learning Cluster Design model and the co-author of the related book, Designing for Modern Learning: Beyond ADDIE and SAM (ATD Press, 2020). This model empowers the revolution of the training industry for our Digital Age by showing L&D how to design a set of multiple learning assets, available across the flow of work, to deliver a performance goal on the job.

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