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Winning the Generation Game
Building successful work relationshipswith co-workers of different generations.
Winning the Generation
Game
Winning the Generation Game
Are you
frustrated by an
older coworker
who is
hopelessly out of
date with
technology?
Winning the Generation Game
Do you find younger co-workers disrespectful and demanding?
This is the first time in American history that we have had four different generations working side-by-side.
Winning the Generation Game
Learn to understand each generation, how to interact with them, and what is important to them.
My how far we have come…
History TriviaWhy do brides carry flowers?
History Trivia
Why do we hold a “wake”
prior to a funeral?
Be glad you don’t work with THAT generation…
They don’t look like much fun
at all…
My Generation
What generations are here today?
Generation Gap
Each generation has
different values,
different ways of
getting things done
and different ways of
communicating.
Learning Objectives
1. Define the five generations
2. Identify what is important to each generation
3. Gain appreciation and respect for each generation and what they bring to your work place
4. Learn tips to communicate effectively with each generation.
Veterans 1922-1945
• Private
– Do not often share their inner thoughts
• Hard Workers
– “Pay your dues”
– Irritated when they perceive others are wasting their time
– Career identifies who they are
– Work hard because they feel that it is the right thing to do
• Formal
– Communication
– Dress
– Organizational structures.
• Respect for authority
Veterans
• Social Order
– Everyone has a place
– Other generations may view this desire for social order and placement as bias, prejudice or even racism or sexism
• Trust
– Word is his/her bond
• Things
– Love their “stuff”
– Pack rats
– Remember the depression days and going with out
• Historic references
– The Great Depression and World War II
Communicating with Veterans
• Use more formal communication
– Do not shout across the room
– Be careful to give email a more formal feel
• Avoid discussions involving personal life
• Let them see that you are doing your share
• Explain how you spend your time
– I work from home after the kids go to bed
– I come in early
• Follow chain of command
• Use formal titles instead of first names
• Scheduling a meeting rather than dropping in
• Use a historical reference to sell them on an idea
– They often use what worked best before
Edith and Archie Bunker
Veterans
Need to “pay your dues”
Irritated when they perceive others are wasting their time
Career identifies who they are
Formal dress
Respect for authority
Everyone has a place
Perceived as being prejudiced and/or sexist
Remember the depression and going with out
Baby Boomers 1946-1964
• Work to Live
• Highly competitive
• Sacrifice for success
• Value respect
• Personable style of communication
• Favor a drop down approach to management, like Veterans
• Hard Work - Boomers started the "workaholic" trend
– Necessary to move up to the next level
• More flexible than Veterans
• Change is good
– Credited with reshaping corporate culture and casual dress codes –dress down days
Baby Boomers
• Committed to climbing the corporate ladder
• Show me generation
• More team oriented
– Throw out command and control style of Veterans
• Anti Rules and Regulations
– No more rules for the sake of having rules
– Will question while rules exist
– No more “because we have always done it that way”
• Challenge the system, fight the “man”
• Inclusive, accept people on an equal basis as long as they can perform to their standards
• Civil rights
Communicating with Baby Boomers
• Be open and direct
• “Show me" generation,
– Body language
– Charts, graphs
• Answer questions thoroughly
• Give numerous details
• Avoid controlling, manipulative language
• Present options to show flexibility in your thinking
• Face to face or electronic communication
– Less formal
– More detail
• Acknowledge expertise
– Desire recognition and respect
Baby
Boomers
Personable
Reshaped corporate culture
Casual dress
Show me generation - body language is important.
Team oriented
Questions why rules exist
Inclusive, accept people on an equal basis
Fights for a cause
Highly competitive
Generation “X” 1965-1978
• Entrepreneurial
• Invest in their own development rather than in the organization's
• Cautious with relationships
– May appear disloyal -experience has shown that employer relationships are not always reliable
– Loyalty definition much different than Veterans and Baby Boomers
– Loyalty may mean two-weeks notice
“If you want loyalty, get a dog”
• Clear goals
• Self reliant, do not like to be micro-managed
– Manage their own time
– Solve their own problems
Generation “X”
• Value information
• Need continuous feedback
– Use the feedback to adapt to new situations.
• Flexible
• Independent and Creative
• Quality of Work-life
– Hard workers but would rather find quicker more efficient ways of working so that they have time for fun.
– They were latch key kids
• Work / Life Balance
– Boomers work hard to move up the ladder
– Xers are working hard so that they can have more time to balance work and life responsibilities.
Communicating with Generation “X”
• Dislike office politics and chain of command– Present the facts– Don’t play games– Ask for feedback
• Short cuts get their attention
• Move quickly - be prepared to make a decision
• Multi-taskers– Don’t be offended by multi-tasking– Learn to multi-task to gain respect
• Learn their language and speak it
• Use e-mail as your primary communication tool
• Talk in short sound bytes to keep their attention
• Share information immediately and often
• Informal communication style
Generation “X”
Latchkey generation
MTV – grunge and hip hop
Casual dress
Smaller generation
Cynical – but so was everyone
Entrepreneurs
Resent Gen Y because they will work harder/longer
Highly educated
(thanks to hard working Boomer parents)
Cuspers
• Also called
– Late Boomers”
– The13th generation
– Generation Jones, from the slang “jonesing” or craving
• Generation lost in the shuffle now coming in to the spot light
• President Obama
– Practical idealist
– Not as naïve as Boomers
• “Boomers were flower children out changing the world.
• “Cuspers are “wide-eyed, not tie-dyed.”
• Identify with more than one generation
• Value tradition but are more flexible
• Embrace technology although it is does not come as naturally to them as Xers
Cuspers
You might be a cusper if…
• You know who shot J.R.
• You learned to swim when "Jaws" came out....and still carry the emotional scars to prove it.
• Your "cable remote" was connected to the TV by CORD!
• Your parents paid $2,000 for a top-loading VCR that was almost the size of a coffee table.
• You found nothing strange about Bert and Ernie living together.
• You remember having a rotary phone.
• You rode in the back of the station wagon facing the cars behind you.
Generation “Y”
1979-1994
Generation “Y”
• Don’t like to be labeled Gen Y, it is too much like Gen X, prefer Millennial
• Lofty goals – but NO idea how they will reach them
• Aim to work faster and better than other workers
• Pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers
– Lots of structure
• High-performance and high-maintenance
– less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management
• They want flexibility
– telecommuting options
– Ability to go part time or leave the workforce temporarily when children are in the picture.
Generation “Y”
• Huge multi taskers
• High expectations of employers
• Question authority– They questioned their parents,
and now question employers
• Need to be challenged– Ongoing learning and
professional development– Creative challenges
• Don't expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long
• Want immediate responsibility
• Want constant feed back– Grew up getting constant
feedback and recognition from teachers, parents and coaches
– Don’t always know how to handle the feed back
– They are very hard on they and assume the worst
Generation “Y”
• Like the structure of a 9-5
– Although they are always ‘plugged in’ they are much more aware of their desire for a work/life balance than prior generations.
• Do not retain information well with lots of data is given to them at one time, instead, they learn best with quick ‘sound bits’ and are very visual learners.
• Function best under micro-coaching.
– They need lots of attention and constant mentoring.
– Very structured childhood - school, then soccer practice then piano practice then supper then homework
• Foster productivity, with team leads to help micro-coach
• Pier to pier mentoring works well
• Like to collaborate and love to share their opinions.
• Motivated by time off and recognition.
Generation “Y”
13th place is GREAT!
Communicating with Generation “Y”
• Don't talk down to them; they will resent it
• Show respect through your language, and they will respect you
• Use e-mail and texts as primary communication tools
• Use visual communication to motivate them and keep them focused
• Encourage them to explore new paths or options
• Constantly seek their feedback
Idea Hamsters: People who always seem to have their idea
generators running.
Mouse Potato: The online, wired generation's answer to the
couch potato.
Ohnosecond: That minuscule fraction of time in which you
realize that you've just made a big mistake.
SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage.
Uninstalled: Euphemism for being fired.
Work space specific perceptual abstraction: Day dreaming
Inter-departmental liaison facilitation: Lunch with a colleague
Generation “Y” Language
Generation “Y”
• They are a person, not a category.
• 95% say work-life balance is important. A lifestyle includes work. Work is not their lifestyle.
• 68% decide day one if they're staying long-term
• 71% are actively looking for new employment.
• 80% expect their (first) employer to provide formal training.
• 82% of "Millennials" value a career that does some good in the world.
• They are the most educated group of people in history. Listen.
• This is the most electronically and socially connected group ever. Watch.
Generation “Y”Tens of thousands of hours of video games and Internet use
They can quickly process information and have excellent hand-eye coordination
Huge multitasking abilities
Networks, not hierarchies
Open collaboration rather than command
Enablement rather than control
The view Boomers as “talkers” and themselves as “doers”
They volunteer and donate more than Baby Boomers and Gen X
They are more socially conservative than prior generations
They are reversing Boomer trends
Violent crime down
Tobacco and alcohol use down
Lower teen pregnancy rates
Generation “Y”
Gen “Z” 1995 - 2010
• Do not know a world without Wi-Fi
• Called Millennials on steroids or the Wii generation
• Multi-cultural, multi-racial
• Pluralists, raised in diverse homes
• Blurring of gender roles and races
• Gamers – they turn everything in to a game
• Digital junkies – they don’t verify their sources
• Experienced the effects of 9-11 –always at war
• Conscientious, hard working, mindful of the future.
• More conservative than Gen Y
• Largest portion of population
Gen “Z”
• Just entering the work force.
• Want more than just a job – want to make a difference
• The believe they need to work harder than Gen Y
• They volunteer to gain work experience.
• Money means success
• Expect to work for at least 4 companies during their career.
• Facebook annoys them a bit but they feel like they have to use it.
• Instagram, Snapchat preferred because their parents don’t use those apps
• Want their employers to incorporate social media, wearables and virtual reality
Gen “Z”
The Lab
World of Dance Season 2 winners
Communicating with Gen Z
Communicating with Gen Z
• Despite their emersion in technology, prefer face to face
– They want to be taken seriously
– They need trust and can get a better read on you
• Dislike over simplification – the world is complicated
• May need coaching on written work
– They have been abbreviating and using emoji's
– They are less adapt at conveying tone
• Communicate about opportunities for development
– Want to be judged on ability, not hierarchy
– Challenge them
• Like Gen Y, they want lots of feedback
Gen Z
Survival mode
Less collaborative and more competitive
Simplify things
Pursue career AND make hobbies a job
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Go beyond Gen Y desire to move up quickly
Will take multiple roles in the same company
Generation Alpha 2010 forward
• They will be the most formally
educated group ever
• They will “live in the moment”
more than any other
generation.
• Are predicted to live at home
well in to their late twenties
Generation Gap
Generation Gap
How to Get Along
• Veterans work well with Gen Y
and Z
• Boomers have a lot of experience
and know how to navigate politics
• Gen X can multi-task without over
doing it. Leave them alone and
let them work.
• Gen Y can reverse mentor Baby
Boomers and Veterans
• Gen Z will work harder and faster
Seven core traits
Cemented by about age 12
We can modify our behavior
Maintaining modified behaviors causes stress and burnout
Traits versus generation
Extremely Very Somewhat Somewhat Very Extremely
The red arrow indicates a statistical bell curve
Arrow is normative or 50 percentile
Traits versus generation
Traits versus generation
How do the core traits compare to the behaviors?
How to Get Along
Use tools to discover
CORE TRAITS
They outweigh
generational differences
Get to know each
individual
Figure out what you
have in common
How to Get Along
Questions?
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