Leading Across Generations

Never before in our history have we had 4 generations in the workplace – Veterans, Boomers, Gen X and Millennials.  Veterans make up roughly 10% of the workforce, Boomers 45%, Gen X 30% and Millennials the remaining 15%.  With each generation comes diversity, different experience and their challenges.

Boomers are largely in management roles within our organizations and they have the task of inspiring and connecting with the other groups.  The 5 main misconceptions is that everyone wants:

·        To be the same

·        The same thing out of work

·        To be promoted

·        To be a manager

·        To live up to “your” expectations

 

What inspires one generation will not work the same with other generations.  To be an effective leader you need the tools to work with different kinds of people that have different ideas, expectations and desires.

How many times, for example, have boomers said, I can’t connect with young people these days, they aren’t interested in working for a living?  You need to be connecting at a level that you have never done before.  Our human relation skills need to be better than ever if we expect to connect with the different generations to produce postitive results.

Do you have the skills that will allow you to connect and effectively lead the different generations in the work place?

RESPECT

R        Relate to commonalities

E        Explore differences

S        Seek to understand

P        Promote inclusion

E        Embrace new thinking

C        Celebrate uniqueness

T        Tap into possibilities