Every generation has characteristics that make it unique and distinctive. Bringing generational diversity together in the workplace can be very powerful—but can also present a unique set of challenges to employers.
Norm LeMay and Steven Kaufman
Walk into any waste hauler in America and there’s a chance you’ll see employees from four generations in the office: Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millenials. This is an unprecedented first in business history. Thin retirement savings, longer and healthier lifestyles, and “60 is the new 50” are some of the reasons why employees are extending their careers. That means more age diversity in the workplace, which can lead to some significant challenges as the different generations try to work together.
The factors that shape the way each generation thinks, acts and makes decisions are very different. In a world of “One person’s treasure is another person’s trash,” it can be all too easy for one generation to dismiss the contributions and working styles of another. If businesses are going to thrive in this competitive economy, everyone needs to work well together regardless of their age and background.
That’s why a new term called generational competence has been making headlines. It refers to the changes a company must make to meet the needs of these four distinct generations. This goal of this article is to help your company identify and toss the problems that come with a multigenerational workforce and to put a flexible and effective generational competence plan in place.
What is Garbage?
We’re going to use the term “garbage” in this article, and by that we mean any thoughts, beliefs or opinions (or TBOs) that have no value anymore and that hamper your company’s ability to move towards its goals. TBOs can take the form of dismissive behavior (“That young kid can’t teach me anything”), outdated management styles (“They’ll do it my way no matter what!”) and internal conflict (a Baby Boomer and a Gen Xer who can’t agree on anything). The goal is to get rid of that trash and use the space that’s freed up for something new and more productive.
The Four Generations
The first generation is called Veterans: men and women born between 1920 and 1945 and who would be in their late sixties and older. They have lived through some epic events in 20th century history: the Great Depression, two world wars and the Korean War.
The second generation is known as Baby Boomers: they were born between 1946 and1960 and would be in their early fifties to late sixties. They were shaped by a time of huge social and political change: the advent of rock and roll, the tragedies of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Watergate and Vietnam.
The third group is called Gen X, born between 1961-1980: they are in their early thirties to early fifties and were influenced by events like the Berlin Wall coming down, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, the OJ Simpson murder trial and the first Gulf War.
The fourth generation is called Millennials: they were born between 1981 and 1995 and are aged 18 to early thirties. Key events for Millennials include the Columbine and Virginia Tech school shootings, the 9/11 attacks, the Global War on Terrorism, and corporate scandals such as Enron.
Now that we have defined the generations, let’s look at how each one thinks.
Because they lived through a time of scarcity, Veterans are experienced at scrimping and saving. They are very loyal and have usually worked at one company for decades. They grew up believing in the value of hard work more than finding personal meaning in it. Because of the difficulty of their circumstances, their creativity and resourcefulness give real meaning to the proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Veterans are used to face-to-face contact and tend to respect authority, rather than automatically challenge it.
Baby Boomers are the opposite of their parents. They grew up in a time of economic expansion and security. As they matured, they began questioning the kind of future their leaders were creating. This led Baby Boomers to shake up the status quo and wrestle with traditional notions of authority. They embrace diversity, value collaboration, are passionate, driven, and view their careers from the point of view of “live to work.”
Gen Xers were raised in the time of downsizing and corporate restructuring. More than likely, both of their parents worked very hard at their jobs and they saw firsthand the burnout that resulted. With job security a thing of the past, this generation of latchkey kids replaced “live to work” with “work to live,” focusing on finding a balance between work and family life.
Millennials are the first generation to grow up completely immersed in the digital age. Computers, smart phones and the Internet are second nature to them. The means they’re flooded with choices and they’ve translated that into flexibility: multitasking, working from anywhere, and getting things done faster. Their philosophy is “Work my way,” with devotion to their careers but not necessarily to their companies.
There are many other characteristics that define each generation, and some characteristics that are common to all. For example, we all look for meaning in our work and we all want long-term stability and happiness. The traits that we’ve presented paint a global difference between these four important groups (see Figure 1). Now, let’s focus on the types of garbage that is generally associated with each generation.
The Garbage
Because Veterans are used to holding on to things physically, it can be difficult for them to let go of things emotionally. Conversations about relationships or feelings can be difficult for Veterans and they have strongly-held TBOs about how people should conduct themselves in the office. This may lead to foot-dragging and resistance to change and make informal work environments uncomfortable and awkward.
Baby Boomers bring a lot of ego to the table. They shook up the world their parents built. They were agents of monumental change and sometimes expect others around them to adopt the same attitude. Baby Boomers will question authority, especially if it’s autocratic or imposed. Since Baby Boomers prefer personal contact to work through issues and solve problems, they may rebel against the more impersonal methods of text and email.
Gen Xers grew up watching the decline of long-term loyalty to employees, so they have a natural, inborn sense of skepticism, along with some deeply-felt TBOs that support their sense of caution. If their company doesn’t provide what they need—diversity, challenge, or responsibility—they’ll jump to another firm to find it. They also expect a two-way street when it comes to authority: “I’ll learn from you but you also need to learn from me.” That can create tension between Gen Xers and their managers. Because they grew up solo, Gen Xers are more self-reliant and want to get tasks done without overprocessing them.
Millennials value freedom and autonomy. They’d rather send an e-mail than visit someone’s office, especially when they’re multitasking (something they do very well). Because they’re inundated with information from all of their technology sources, it is harder for Millennials to sort out the garbage from what truly has value. They also engage their world in terms of information soundbites: a short Facebook post or Twitter quote or a photo on Instagram—and they generally assume this information is factual and accurate. This can spill over at the office, where they may not dig deep enough to distinguish between value and garbage.
This generational trash also creates garbage for the company, the biggest of which is one generation discounting what another generation can accomplish. This creates drama within a company that can severely impact its competitive edge. The last thing a firm needs is employees who say, “I don’t care about your opinion or solution because the way you think is different than the way I think.” When TBOs like that run rampant, productivity and morale almost always take a hit.
How does all of this play out in the office? Let’s say a mid-level manager calls a meeting to discuss how to get more out of the weekly staff update. The Veteran will ask what conference room the meeting is in. The Baby Boomer will ask if the meeting is truly necessary. The Gen Xer will groan about the redundancy of having a meeting about a meeting and the Millennial will ask if he can attend via teleconference. If you’re the manager of this diverse group, it can be very challenging to get everyone in the same room, let alone on the same page (see Figure 2).
The Goals of a Generational Competency Program
Your company’s generational competence program should have two universal goals:
- All employees will value the contributions of others, regardless of their age.
- All employees will support the overall mission of the company and provide the maximum value to its customers.
Does that mean you generational competence program should focus on one generation versus another? Should you expect different results or make exceptions for members of different generations? Absolutely not! Sure, generational trash is different, but one is no more or less harmful than the other. That means every employee should be held accountable for how they contribute to the generational competence of the company. You may need to make some adaptations to the way your team may work, but not at the cost of compromising your company’s core values or diverting it from its mission.
At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel like they’re an important part of the team. They want to feel like their opinion counts, that they matter and they know what’s expected of them. Most important, they want to succeed at whatever job they’re hired to do and bring to bear to that job all of the experience and skills they possess. If you want the best people, you have to create the best environment. One way to do that is to remove any TBOs that are generational garbage. Let’s focus on the specifics of how to do that.
A Five Step Plan to Get Garbage Out of a Mult-Generational Workplace
Step 1: Aware
There is a fundamental principal when it comes to tossing out the trash in your mind and in your office: before you can get rid of it, you first have to become aware that it exists. That’s why the first step in dumping multi-generational trash is to make yourself and your team aware that it exists. Talk openly about the generational differences in your company. Use the charts and diagrams in this article to point out the different ways each generation thinks and works. Discuss the kinds of garbage each generation might bring into the organization. This will help raise awareness of the issue and help employees see the garbage for themselves.
Also, as you have these discussions, make it a point to kill the stereotypes. Point out the differences but emphasize the unique qualities each generation brings to the company. To raise awareness, create a course on generational diversity through your HR organization. Bring the issue up at staff meetings. Create a handout on generational differences. Search the terms “multigenerational garbage” and “generational competency” online. Whatever your method, don’t shy away from raising the topic. That’s a great way to start tossing generational garbage out of your office.
Step 2: Accept
Awareness is the first step to understanding, but to make a real change, your team needs to accept the differences between the generations. The best way to do that is to create a belief system inside your company that truly accepts and honors the power of a multigenerational workforce.
Have representatives from each of the four groups create a “Generation Declaration.” This can be a statement of principles for your company that memorializes your commitment towards minimizing age-related conflicts. Have some fun with this! Make it rhyme or have a company-wide barbeque with the reading of the declaration as the main event. Humor goes a long way to cutting through tension and it’s a great way to thaw out any inter-generational ice. The goal of the document is to take a stand against multigenerational garbage. What better way to do that than to get members of different generations working together.
Step 3: Adapt
The best companies are those that learn to adapt. Once your team has formed the basis of your generational competence plan, the next step is to ask, “What changes do we need to make in the way we do things around here?” Can you offer flexible work schedules? Are you willing to conduct meetings in non-traditional ways? Can you boost the use of technology and face-to-face contact to create better communication? The goal is to make specific adaptations that will makes each generation feel more comfortable without overindulging any single group. Some specific adaptations that can be made for each group are:
Veterans
- Encourage face-to-face communication
- Have them create knowledge transfer programs
- Provide technology training sessions
Baby Boomers
- Ask for their input and listen to their suggestions for change
- Give them leadership positions where they can build both team and group consensus
- Offer personal feedback whenever possible
Gen X
- Increase autonomy; reduce rules and red tape
- Offer flexible work schedules and support requests for work/home life balance
- Explain reasoning clearly and concisely without being dictatorial
Millennials
- Speed up the pace
- Offer technology solutions to internal and external problems—incorporating their input
- Deepen Millennials involvement on the team and give them real responsibilities
Step 4: Mentor
A Veteran has valuable insight on policy and workflow gleaned from decades in the workforce. A Millennial has an extraordinary command of technology and can get things done in with blinding efficiency. How can these two people overcome a 40-year age gap and help one another perform better at their jobs?
The answer is mentoring. Put diverse members of your staff on a team, give them a specific task, and let them use their unique skills to cross train one another. Encourage each generation to pass on what it knows, whether it’s information about the task, the way they solve problems, or methods to identify and toss any TBOs that are holding the organization back. Working closely in this way creates opportunities to strengthen relationships and build rapport amongst your staff—not to mention building respect that comes when an employee says to another, “I didn’t realize you knew how to do that!”
Mentorship does not take the place of in-house training, which is a great way to disseminate information about your generational competence plan. Mentorship augments formal training because the interactions it creates knowledge transfer between employees. The strength of a company can be measured by the free flow of information inside of it. Mentoring is a great way to facilitate that flow. Encourage the Millennial to teach the Veteran how to use their iPhone and encourage the Veteran to teach the Millennial best practices for researching a problem. Assigning people to teams where you know a mentoring relationship can develop will pay dividends now and in the future.
Step 5: Reward
We all love to be rewarded for a job well done. It’s motivating and it makes the time and effort we expend worth the investment. When it’s time to say, “Job well done!” you’ll want to be choose the best way to approach each generation.
Veterans respond well to traditional and formal methods of recognition: financial remuneration or a plaque or a letter from a senior executive. Baby Boomers enjoy increased responsibility, additional perks, or direct praise from their manager or colleague. Gen Xers welcome offers of flex time and anything that increases the “fun factor” of their job description, while Millennials respond to more autonomy and increased responsibility given they are at the early stage of their career.
Also, consider the way in which each generation might respond to the announcement of their reward. Veterans and Baby Boomers don’t mind being recognized in front of peers, while Gen Xers and Millennials might feel more comfortable one-on-one or written communication of their reward.
Unique and Distinctive
Every generation has characteristics that make it unique and distinctive. Bringing generational diversity together in the workplace can be very powerful—but can also present a unique set of challenges to employers. By identifying the garbage that each generation brings, and putting a generational competence plan in place to identify and dispose of it, companies can use the differences between generations to develop and refine their competitive edge.
Norm LeMay and Steven Kaufman are co-authors of the book The Garbageman’s Guide to Life: How to Get Out of the Dumps. If you’d like to see a video of this article, or if you’d like to download a free worksheet that can help your company kickstart its own generational competence plan, visit www.GG-AGE.com.
Figure 1
Every generation has its own unique characteristics.
Figure 2
Every generation produces its own unique form of trash.
Images courtesy of The Garbageman’s Guide.