Navigating a workplace filled with multiple generations can be both a challenge and an opportunity. Read this blog post to learn how to build a cohesive team, clarify expectations, and find ways to bridge generational gaps for a more collaborative work environment.
“We need to remember across generations that there is as much to learn as there is to teach.”
Gloria Steinem, American Journalist and Social Activist
A weird thing happens when you leave college for your first job. You’ve spent somewhere around 21 years alongside your peers (and more if you went to graduate school). Every group project and probably every part-time job you’ve ever had has meant working with fellow teens and young adults. Now suddenly you’re in mixed company, literally, and you have to figure out how to act.
It’s not much easier being on the other end of things, having to wrangle people who are dipping their toes into entry-level roles for the first time alongside people who’ve been at it for multiple decades. Part of a manager’s responsibility is team building and culture, and that task can feel unwieldy if not nearly impossible: there are so few contexts in which people choose to cross generational lines, and here you are, expected not only to help your people mesh well but to achieve your team’s objectives with consistency and measurable success.
So what do you do? I mean, no one really knows, because people are people, and teamwork is always messy, with or without age differences. But here are some key things to keep in mind and some practical steps to smooth the bumpy road.
Value the Spectrum of Experience
Good teamwork always starts with the individual. If you’re building a basketball team, you build it player by player. At work, your team has been shaped from the ground up, with each individual hired on their own merits because someone, somewhere believed they had what it took to fulfill their role.
The best thing you can do is to take advantage of that individuality and the uniqueness it brings. Make sure your newest, youngest hires know that you value the verve and excitement they bring, with their fresh insights and probing questions. They might not understand why things are done the way they are, and that’s a great thing. It forces you to explain and perhaps reassess your systems, which is the sort of thing that can one day lead to streamlining and simplifying things in ways that directly relate to your team’s success. At the same time, your tried-and-true employees, or just new employees of a certain age, need to know that their wisdom and experience hold weight. Give them opportunities to lean on their expertise, to train new employees in their field and to weigh in on important decisions.
When you have a group of people, and each of those people knows they’re being valued, then you have the foundation from which to build a cohesive team whose differences are its strength rather than a constant source of frustration.
Explain your Standards and be Flexible Where you can
But with any team, there are rumblings here and there about the conflicts created by cross-generational expectations and misunderstandings. What’s important here is that you have clear standards and that you express them consistently. Just how flexible those expectations are is up to you: maybe your Millennial employees have different ideas about email etiquette than your Boomers. You get to make the call about whether there’s a company line they should be toeing or whether there’s freedom in your organization’s communication protocols. And you come out looking like a responsive leader in the process.
More than likely, some things are working just fine. I can tell you with confidence that messing with things just to mess with them won’t make the difference you hope it will. There is no need for mass standardization just for the sake of uniformity. At the same time, you probably know where the pressure points are. You can do a lot to ease tensions by being the bad guy, as it were. If it’s your standard, then upholding it becomes a matter of process and procedure rather than a generational divide.
Mix it Up
I apologize in advance for this reference, but there’s a famous scene in the movie Mean Girls where one character breaks down the cafeteria layout for the protagonist, who recently transferred from a home school situation in Africa. She draws a map, dividing the room into categories such as “band geeks,” “jocks,” “cheerleaders,” and “wannabes.” Thankfully, adulthood is not always like the high school in a teen movie . . . but it’s not always that different, either.
We often naturally separate ourselves into pods made up of people who are perceived as like me. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but in a work setting, where all the moving pieces need to cohere into something functional, we can’t afford to live in silos. When you can, find ways to mix and match teams. Not every week and not for every project, but in low risk, high reward situations.
Or, if you have the freedom to do so, consider the Critical Friends Groups programs which some schools are now adopting. It involves creating groups of teachers from across the school’s disciplines and departments and giving them time within the workday to respond to each other’s issues and ideas while also brainstorming potential solutions and next steps. This model is easily transferrable to any corporate setting, and as long as it’s a light lift (once a quarter, say, rather than every week), it’s an easy way to build rapport between individuals of all age groups in a casual, friendly space where relationships are more prone to blossom.
Make it Social
Of course, the easiest way to promote unity and comfort across a range of ages and identities is to make it entertaining. This is a little tricky. No one appreciates forced fun. There’s nothing more eye-roll-inducing than having to pretend you’re enjoying company paintball or a voluntary-but-not-really happy hour.
But the occasional company sponsored trivia night or pickleball game or holiday party can go a long way. Seeing people as human beings with lives beyond the four walls of your building or four borders of your Zoom makes a huge difference in how we interact with one another. We can only find out that someone is soon to be a grandmother or is practicing for a best man speech in a wedding in casual conversations, and as important as the day-to-day grind is for your company’s bottom line, there are bigger things in life. That’s the stuff of human relationships, and it’s what everything—including the success of your team—is built on. So make the most of it.
When In Doubt, There’s Always PD
There’s only so much you can do on your own. If the pressures of leading a multigenerational team are too much, or if you’re just eager to learn from others who’ve had success in similar situations, consider a training program that covers the latest management strategies. UT’s Business Management Certificate Program, for instance, offers courses on managing and supervising people, transitioning from employee to manager, delegation, assertiveness, dealing with difficult people, and emotional intelligence. Participants choose eight electives from over a dozen courses and learn from working professionals in the field about how to leverage both soft and technical skills. By the end of the program, you’ll have developed crucial and practical skills necessary for all organizational leaders. What are you waiting for?
Andrew Forrester is a writer whose work has appeared in Parents Magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. Andrew also teaches English and creative writing in Austin, Texas, and has a Ph.D. in English literature from Southern Methodist University.
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