Diversity Includes Generation Differences

By Patrick Cataldo, Associate Dean for Executive Education

Crossing the continental divide in the Rocky Mountains is easy compared with managing across the generational divide that often exists within today's organizations.

Consider this: I overheard a woman at an establishment in Oneonta, N.Y., lamenting the fact that she could not count on her employees showing up for work. The woman, clearly a baby boomer, was not connecting with her Gen X and Nexter (Millennial) employees. Considering she had 200 meals to serve that day, she had a problem. If only she, or her managers, had considered some training appealing to the Gen Xers' independence and the Nexters' (Millennial) team orientation.

Managing diversity has long meant dealing with issues of race, gender, nationality, and religion in the workplace. Today, however, it is important to include generational diversity. The fact is that the mix of workers has never been greater. Frankly, generational differences in outlook, expectations, and philosophy of work-life balance are as real as those between other groups in the offices of America.

Many factors have led to our current workplace diversity: People are living longer and retiring later; many want to protect their higher standard of living; there is a shortage of experienced and highly-skilled workers; and defining events and trends over the years have created different generational personalities.

In their book Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers and Nexters in Your Workplace, authors Ron Zemke, Claire Raines, and Bob Filipczak break the work force into four major categories. Each group has its own set of influences that formed their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Clearly, the demographics of the workplace have changed and anyone who wants to find the optimum performance of a group needs to understand those demographics and develop a greater sense of personal competency in communication and employee sensitivity and find new ways to promote teamwork.

Is it any wonder that a manager influenced by Watergate and MTV might have a hard time communicating with a staff whose life experiences include Woodstock and the Cold War?

Imagine the friction that can develop when a Generation Xer—born between 1960 and 1980—is asked to manage a group that includes many baby boomers and veterans, all born between 1922 and 1960. Of course the opposite situation can also be problematic. The twenty-something manager was still in diapers when many of her staff were already well into their careers.

Dianne Durkin, president and founder of Loyalty Factor LLC, a firm specializing in change management and employee and customer loyalty, has spent more than 25 years addressing workplace issues, including generational diversity.

"We all have our quirks that come from what society was like when we were being raised," she said. "Learning how we can all work together as a cohesive team, and being able to find the humor and benefits in each of our differences, is crucial to improving employee morale and corporate profitability."

Having worked with Durkin myself for years, I have seen how her dynamic approach and multigenerational exercises can pay large dividends for an organization.

Vickie Maxon, learning partner at IBM, has been addressing multigenerational issues for nearly a decade. She explained why.

"I have found that having this new awareness of generational work styles, core values, and communication differences has an enormous impact on organizations whether they are public corporations, colleges and universities or social service agencies," she said. "When people learn that they each bring a different set of preferences to the workplace based upon their personal histories, they immediately begin to apply this newly learned knowledge in all of their relationships, with colleagues, management, and even with clients."

Are you involved in a generationally friendly workplace? Or do you think you need more understanding of the veterans, boomers, Xers and Nexters on your staff? To find out for sure, check out my blog, "Thinking Ahead in Business." There, I will post a test you can take to see where you and your organization stand. There will be plenty more information there, as well, to help you make sense of this important workplace issue.

This article originally appeared in the Centre Daily Times.