A couple years ago, I visited the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. There is an entire room there devoted to the Generation Gap, as it was covered in the 1960’s. A quick read of the headlines and a glance at many of the photos revealed that the desire of children to challenge their parents’ mores remains relatively unchanged 50 years later. Nevertheless, the gap between generations overall is closing, according to a new book by the Pew Research Center called The Next America. Whatever divide remains between parents and children, the gap is not reflected to nearly the same degree in the workplace despite many media and consultant-based claims to the contrary. In 2007, ASTD published an article summarizing a variety of credible research that revealed the generation gap in the workplace was only “skin deep,” and believe it or not, “all generations share the same values.” The result of the mythology and, to some extent, the excuse-making surrounding the alleged challenges of dealing with those darn kids, we’ve not taken advantage of the opportunities we have to better leverage our complementary skills and sensibilities to create even more effective teams and produce even better results.
Fortunately, the tide may be turning a bit. In the October 20, 2014 Wall Street Journal, a C-level executive of a technology company summed up her lessons learned from leading talent this way: “…you must create a culture where everyone – all generations – can prosper. When you do this successfully, you instill a sense of purpose in your employees, inspire them and help your company thrive. Your culture becomes a competitive advantage for your company to endure and grow…” I couldn’t have said it better…so I didn’t!
The reality is that most differences of emphasis in what people value in the workplace are the result of where they are in their lives and careers. This can create some separation between people, but not in the way that you think. Younger workers without families may devote more hours to work as their empty-nester colleagues may choose and/or be able to do as well. But the same younger worker may be pursuing additional education in the evening and her older colleague may be training for a triathlon or caring for an elder parent, and so on. Guessing what people value or need is far less effective than just asking them.
Even when they intend no harm or disrespect, I’ve encountered too many leaders and even more rank-and-file managers who default to the language of division, and the assumptive thinking it suggests. “I can’t motivate her – she’s just coasting” or “these kids want me to be excited that they showed up” or “they want feedback and coaching…ALL the time!” I’m sure you can add any number of other negatively-tilted critiques. Some could be true, but the mistake is to accept any of them without actively seeking to gain a greater understanding of the person and what they’re really looking for. The technology executive mentioned earlier cites a case of a young worker who resigned unexpectedly telling the executive that her reason for leaving the company was they didn’t have enough happy hours. The executive came to realize that what she was being told was that the departing employee wanted “emotional equity” in the company through more opportunities to have meaningful social connections with her colleagues.
So how can we, as leaders, apply the knowledge that, as workers and people of all ages and career stages, we have much more in common than not? And, how can we intentionally unleash the greater potential of our organizations by providing what our people need substantively and emotionally? The cool thing is that what we should be doing as leaders isn’t affected by different generations, they’re just reminding us of what we should have been doing already. Here are a few places to start, or to do more with:
• Know what buttons your people have and press them…it’s your job—When I led a system-wide leader development program for a large health system, I heard in nearly every session that younger workers wanted their managers to be excited to see them. This was shared with me most often with palpable exasperation. The leader would become even more exasperated when I asked them if offering a warmer greeting was too great a price to pay to help better engage a valued member of their team. Then they’d pause…and the light would come on. Just by offering an enthusiastic greeting at the beginning of a shift, they could score big in terms of the effort and attitude of their people. To be sure, some needs are more challenging to fill but seeking to understand by asking questions and exploring solutions is a heck of a start, and it tells your people that you are interested in knowing them and open to better supporting their success.
• Positively reinforce what you value—There are two parts to this:
1. Talk to you your most-valued people first. I am always surprised when I hear from leaders that the people they talk to the least are their best people. In business development, we say that if we’re not talking to our clients, our competitors are. Your competitors may be wooing your best people in your absence, or they may just be wondering why you spend more time with people who aren’t as valuable as they know they are…either way, you’re better off talking to them.
2. Don’t bury the lead. If you say one thing to any of your people, tell them what you value the most. It is remarkable how many leaders begin a feedback conversation with a criticism. Working my way through college at Radio Shack, I had a manager who liked to tell me “it takes four ‘good mans’ to offset one ‘aw [shucks].’” He didn’t mean it quite this way, but I’ve adapted this to mean as leaders we should earn the right to have more effective conversations about performance deficiencies by taking every opportunity to focus on things we value.
When coaching leaders to be more effective in performance conversations, I encourage them to be attentive to the following:
• Start by letting your associate know that the primary purpose of your conversation is to learn how you can better support their success
• Share – in very specific terms – what they do that you value, and ask how you can support them in continuing to do this, do more of it, and/or help others do it
• [Optional] Invite them to suggest something else they might do to be even more effective, or you might offer something you’ve observed them do but not as consistently as they might. These are development opportunities not “areas for improvement”
• Sponsor partnerships—or be a matchmaker. As you learn more about your team, look for opportunities to put people together to take advantage of their complementary strengths. Mix people thoughtfully and be transparent about what you see as their respective assets and how they may grow and benefit from working together. Then provide the space and the resources they need to make the collaborative magic happen. The new energy alone that’s gained through challenge and contribution is worth any perceived price of admission.
All told, the message is this: as people, we have differences based on many factors that aren’t as simplistically explained as Gen this or that. More importantly, difference is an asset if properly understood, addressed, and applied. We can throw up our hands as leaders when facing difference, or throw our arms around it. I’m a hugger, so I embrace it. Be a hugger too – it leads to great things, and it feels pretty darn good.
Jeff Lesher, Principal at entreQuest, blends his deep knowledge of organization design, human capital, and leadership with a pragmatic approach drawn from his own business experience and eQ's philosophy to help eQ's clients focus on their core purpose and move people effectively to action.