4.5 Generational diversity
Understanding generational expectations is useful to explore the needs of both your employees and students.
The generational differences, experiences and expectations of those established within the workplace, or joined during lockdown who may have been furloughed or made redundant, to those starting in their first job will be very different from those in the organisation pre-COVID-19. Their confidence levels, needs and expectations will vary. Those who joined during lockdown might never have met their team in person, and those who have come straight from formal education will have had an unprecedented experience of a continual cycle of formal education adapting during lockdowns.
It is likely that their skillset and levels of understanding of how to behave in a workplace may need to be developed and supported. If their initial experience was working remotely, in-person work environments will be an adjustment, their digital capabilities will vary, and their resilience may be lower than expected.
Most organisations will have a diverse generational workforce. While it is sensible to consider their values and beliefs and work styles, it is also important not to assume that all Millennials are ‘digital natives’ or that Baby Boomers may not be tech-savvy. Depending on their roles within the organisation and experience, you need to consider the individual. It is important to understand the environments that different generations have been exposed to, their education, work expectations and access to technology. Understanding how to bring different generations together to learn from each other can be beneficial to an organisation, to encourage diversity and different perspectives.
The infographic from Generation Z [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] provides a useful overview of the traits, characteristics and values each generation may bring to the workplace.
Activity 13: How to build trust across generations
Timing: 25 minutes
In the video contributors share insights into generational needs. As you watch, consider how you could develop a culture of better inter-generational understanding in your organisation.
Download this video clip.Video player: hyb_1_2022_sep116_expectations_of_generations_compressed.mp4
Transcript
GEMMA HALLETT:
There's so many opportunities through degree apprenticeships, apprenticeships, online learning, bite-sized courses, micro-credentials, boot camps, academies. Back when I was leaving school, the options were limited. The options are massive now. And what we need is the world of work to start to see, actually, we can get them in early. We can train them up the way we want. We can train them in-house. We can train them through different providers.
But for young people, it's getting to work early, earning that skill, learning and earning. In this economy, it's a difference between leaving with debt or leaving with a degree and no debt. There are so many options.
And I've met young people in the valleys that are upskilling through various micro-credential courses that are running side hustles, self-taught through YouTube. There's incredible opportunities out there now. University is one route. [LAUGHS] Sorry, but there's so many more.
I have learned so much from young people. I've been studying Gen Z. But before that, I was working in education. So I was constantly learning about what helps my young people, helps them learn better. And what I've seen is this acceleration of this bite-size, on-demand generation. It's not just about what they consume, but it's how they engage. And it's their behaviour and how they learn.
So it's about taking that constant on, constantly available to learn. And YouTube is the second largest search engine for a reason because its bite-size. It's instant.
And what I'm learning from Generation Z is these young people telling me they want to constantly learn. Learning is not this kind of historic, linear, one academic year in one kind of subject. It's actually, I want to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And I'll pick it up as I go along, and I'll drop it because I have access to all of it.
We have people in industry making decisions. And we're still coming from the hierarchical kind of perspective. It's, OK, we've always done it this way, so we'll continue doing it this way. And we're coming up against barriers and blockages. But all you've got to do is speak to young people, or speak to the people you're employing, speak to the people you're working with. What works best for you? And I think that takes away the barriers.
So what we've got to understand from young people, if I take you on a bit of a journey, we've got Gen Alpha now who are entering primary school who are used to trying to turn TV over with a swipe. They are the swipe generation, the touch generation.
One of the things I'm really excited about in the future of work is not necessarily the work itself but the environment. So we've got Gen Z who have grown up on their devices and the next generation of employees are coming in bite-sized, ready to learn, wanting to learn, wanting to pick up new skills, actively doing that in their own time. I think that's such a crucial kind of mindset that we can really embrace and get out of their way and allow them to continue to do that in the world of work.
And we know that hybrid working, remote working was coming anyway. The pandemic has just accelerated that. So it benefits Gen Z, and it's something they've always kind of aspired to do. Not everybody. I don't want to generalise. But the Gen Z I speak to, young people I speak to, are quite excited at the possibility of being remote, not having a 9 to 5. It suits their bite-size, on-demand kind of lifestyle.
JESSICA LEIGH JONES:
So within my organisation at iungo, we found that younger people coming into our organisation, digital natives, whilst they were very familiar with using collaboration tools, they couldn't actually use Excel particularly well. So as part of our onboarded process, we had to provide specific training around using Excel and developing Excel formulas.
For our more mature individuals within the workforce, it was actually those collaboration tools that they struggled with. So I can think of a specific example where somebody would only upload their work when it was completely finished, and that was a real frustration for the digital leaders who were saying, well, you need to create the file from within Google Workspace. And everybody needs to be able to see it, and everybody needs to be able to kind of contribute to it.
And that was a real culture shock for this particular individual because they were concerned about being criticised for not producing a finished product. So we came to a compromise with that, where this person would develop the documentation from within the drive but would put a PDF version in once it was completed. And so I think that really helped to bridge that generational gap within the organisation and to respect the cultural clash, if you like, of the digital natives and the more mature workers that we've got.
It's quite straightforward to teach people how to use digital tools, but using them effectively for collaboration is sometimes a little bit more challenging. So I think it's really important to educate people around digital workflows and moving away from single-siloed roles within an organisation where a person is responsible for a particular function.
And that's what they do and not doing anything else, to actually move into a model where we've got more of a fluid organism-type structure where we are using the brain power of different people within our organisation to contribute to building something better than any one of us could do individually. And that's really the power of digital and the power of digital collaboration tools.
JONATHAN MORGAN:
The skills and digital transformation coming from the next generation are already amazing. The next generation already teaches us about how to use social media, how to embrace new technologies and use them without going on-- it might have been a six month training course. Now, it's download an app and start using it and make amazing things happen.
Digital transformation at that level is great. But what we would also like to see from people coming into an employment situation is that the tools that are used, the office tools, the document tools, the spreadsheet tools, the collaboration tools, that the time is taken by the new employees to really dig into those and learn them really well. Because they're key on a day-to-day basis for productivity.
So maybe the new generation, they have this amazing ability to take on new things and learn cool gadgets really quickly for the benefit of the company. But there's an underlying level of detail on day-to-day tools that shouldn't be forgotten, and it's hard work to learn them.
ELISE LOCKYER:
So the different demographics that you've got within the organisation are always going to be present. And whichever generation that you are focusing on, there are theories that different people bring different "ways of working." But they really group all of these people. Millennials act in a certain way. Gen Z act in a certain way.
And I think the reality is that it comes, for me, back to your values and behaviours as an organisation and what you're trying to achieve. It comes back to the purpose of the business. And if you're really clear on the purpose of the business and who you are and your values and your behaviors, they should be adaptable to whichever generation that's entering the workforce.
Now, I guess the challenge that you do have with hybrid and remote working is different people at different times in their lives may be either more or less comfortable with technology. So it's making sure that you're understanding and having the conversations on the way in with those individuals about those skills and understanding what we can do to support the development of those skills through training and onboarding processes.
For those that are coming in to their career for the first time, the challenge is that they would be sat at their home, potentially, on their first day. They won't have people surrounding them. They won't have a clear list of to-dos, or training, or guidance, which they might have done had they been in the office. And they don't pick up on the anecdotal conversations and learning that you just absorb when you are in an office environment.
So some of the things that we've had to do is be really, really clear around how we have started documenting all of our processes, procedures, how-to in little nuggets, little break-down aspects of information where people can pull on that as and when they need it.
And so you've got a directory of information where people can obtain what they need when they need to obtain it via a technology system to enable that they've got the skills, the needs, the requirements to do their role, but of course, that they can always call on people in and around them through a buddy scheme or through kind of their people team if they need someone to call on just to ask any additional questions over and above what's documented.
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You may also wish to watch this optional video Why GQ is the kind of intelligence we all need | Poornima Luthra | TEDxOdenseWomen in which Dr Poornima Lurtha explains the three tools to develop generational intelligence (GQ), minimise micro-aggressions, and build trust each and how these could be applied within your own context.
Transcript
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POORNIMA LUTHRA:
A few weeks ago, I was driving home from having bought my 8 and 10-year-old son’s new shoes. You know how quickly children’s feet seem to grow. On the way home, my 10-year-old son said to me, ‘Mom, thank you so much for my new shoes. They’re so sick.’ Now instead of being thrilled about the fact that he actually remembered to thank me by himself, I was stuck on the word sick. Who says sick, and what does sick even mean?
So of course, I proceeded to ask him why he couldn’t have used more positive and in my opinion appropriate adjectives like nice, cool, or amazing, to which he replied, ‘Mom, that’s just how my generation speaks.’ If you’ve had similar experiences at home, in the grocery store, or in the workplace, then you’re probably looking for answers on how to better manage generational differences. In the workplace, in spite of anti-age discrimination laws, ageism still exists.
Some of you may remember the 2013 time magazine cover, The Me Me Me Generation. Millennials are lazy entitled narcissists. Or you may recall that in 2007, Mark Zuckerberg said young people are just smarter. I think he may have forgotten that it’s the baby boomers Bill Gaetz and Steve Jobs who led the information revolution that even made Facebook possible.
More recently, I’ve heard the term OK Boomer being used as a retaliation against the older generations view of the young as being the Peter pan generation unable to grow up. While these are age related biases that are blatant and obvious, there are many times when they aren’t. I’m sure many of you have been in meetings where the phrase, ‘Oh, but we have always done it this way,’ has been used to continue with the way something has been done by the older generation.
I met a line manager who was extremely frustrated with her Millennial reports. And she said, ‘They really need to learn to walk before they can run.’ I met a young man who was part of a team leading the digital transformation in his organisation. And he casually commented that he thought that the new app being launched was way too techie for them. And by them, he was referring to his older colleagues.
And our business partner was sharing with me how often she hears hiring managers tell her that they would prefer younger candidates. Bad habits have been formed yet. These are micro-aggressions that you and me are producing or experiencing every single day. And why are we doing this quite simply it’s because we do not trust each other across the generations to be good enough at our jobs. Speaking of which, why should you trust me to be speaking about this.
Well, I’ve spent the last 12 years teaching diversity awareness to numerous groups of millennials and corporate talent of all generations. I’ve also spent this time researching generational diversity and writing case studies on organisations that have seen a need to address this. And after all this while, I still find that age tops the list of biases that are witnessed or experienced in the workplace, a view supported by the 2019 State of Inclusion Survey conducted by Deloitte.
Ageism still exists because we simply aren’t conscious or aware of these biases that manifest themselves as microaggressions, a term coined by Dr. Chester Pierce in the 1970s. Microaggressions are subtle and indirect biases that can be mistaken for a casual comment or even brushed aside as humor, where even the recipient may not be aware of the bias being communicated.
The rapid changes in the area of technology as well as in politics, economics, and society have created micro generations. Groups of people born in shorter segments of birth years sitting on the cusp of two generations having qualities of both those generations. In fact, this gives them an upper hand at being able to navigate across those generational differences of the two generations that they straddle.
In today’s organisations, we see five generations and micro generations coexisting at the same time. And we have the micro generations of the annuals and the wise annuals. Some of you here might be seniors who had a childhood without computers or the internet, who came of age during the bubble, and who like the millennials do probably enjoy more frequent feedback.
There may be some of you here who are wisenialls, who are part of the millennial selfie generation, and who also see the benefit of working collaboratively to solve the world’s biggest challenges like Generation Z. Here we are, a few weeks away from 2020. And in 2020, those under the age of 33 will form 50% of the global workforce. Here in Denmark, the millennials will form 40% of the workforce next year.
At the same time with increasing life expectancy, those born in the 1950s and 1950s are still very much an active part of society. And in 2020, the baby Boomer generation will form 25% of the global workforce. In my conversations with managers and leaders, managing generational differences is a key concern. And yet according to keys annual global CEO survey, only 8% of CEOs put age inclusiveness as part of their diversity and inclusion strategy.
While we all know the many benefits of diversity, what we do need for more inclusive workplaces for all ages is generational intelligence. The capability to work effectively in a multi-generational environment, to embrace micro generations, and minimise microaggressions. Generational intelligence or GQ, no it’s not the men’s magazine, can be nurtured at the individual, team, and organisational levels.
In nurturing GQ, we become conscious and aware of these microaggressions in and around us. While some of us may already be aware of cultural and gender microaggressions and we may even call them out, how many of us are really aware of age related microaggressions. When we become conscious, we start listening. And we find that these in fact do exist in our workplaces, and they affect a number of workplace factors.
The compositions of teams who we hire, who we promote. Microaggressions affect how engaged we feel in the workplace and how innovative our collective ideas are. At the heart of GQ is the need to build trust across the generations and micro generations. To go beyond the name calling towards a deep level of respect for the value that all ages bring.
Now imagine for a moment that you’re at a family wedding, where all the generations and micro generations are happy, feel respected, and are engaged on the dance floor. The bride dancing with her father, a seven-year-old boy dancing with his mother. Effortlessly, naturally. So how can we build GQ in ourselves and in our organisations, so that our interactions across generations can be just as effortless and inclusive and be built on trust?
Here are three things that we can do to build GQ. First, map your generations. For many of us, we may not know which generation we are from, let alone the people that we work with. Knowing who is a baby Boomer from Generation X, an xeniall, a millennial, a wisenial, who from Generation Z is the first step.
If you like me have looked at generational stereotypes out there and thought to yourself, I don’t really fit in with the generation I’m supposed to be from. I have some qualities of Generation X, but I do enjoy increased flexibility, more frequent feedback, and I’m pretty comfortable with technology. Then you like me could be an xeniall, sitting on the cusp of Generation X and the millennials.
Organisations that are able to map the generations at those that are able to meet their needs. Next, nurture generational empathy. With the generational map in hand, the key to nurturing generational empathy is to understand each of the generations and micro generations. What events influence their lives, what motivates them, how they prefer to communicate, and what their attitudes to it’s teamwork and technology are.
This understanding helps us to rationalise someone’s behavior, reduce misunderstandings and conflicts, and simply makes it easier for us to work across generations. It isn’t about fixing the young or the old. It is about developing this understanding to enable us to use more mindful communication, customised feedback, and targeted motivation strategies to be able to navigate across the generational differences.
At a large pharmaceutical company that was very keen to improve the communication across its generations and micro generations, everyone was encouraged to experiment with communication tools. What they found was that when interacting with young millennials using WhatsApp or instant messaging was appreciated and preferred. No surprises there. But it showed that the organisation understood and respected their preferences.
Older workers were then trained in the use of these tools much to their delight because they could now communicate instantaneously with their grandkids and became the cool grandparents. In fact, mutual mentoring is a great way to build trust and respect across generations and micro generations.
And finally, be an ally of all ages. I met a man in his mid-forties who was undergoing a major career shift. And he kept hearing people joke it off saying, Oh, you’re just having a midlife crisis. You’re at that age you know. And he didn’t recognise that those were microaggressions. We are so conditioned to thinking that these microaggressions are so normal. And calling them out simply means that we don’t have a good sense of humor or that we’re oversensitive.
I met a 31-year-old woman who had recently been promoted to be the CEO of her company. And she kept hearing people comment how young she is, wondering how she would do her job, and how she got there in the very first place. One of the key techniques that I encourage my trainees to do is to engage in tough but respectful conversations by the coffee machine, at lunch during meetings, to get fellow colleagues to think about micro generational differences and microaggressions.
Asking the right questions in the right tone can be extremely powerful in getting the other party to have those aha moments when discovering a bias that they didn’t even know that they had. So the next time you notice a microaggression, you could ask questions like, how did you get to that decision? Why do you think that? What led you to that conclusion? Or that’s a really interesting way of looking at it. Why did you say that? Just be honest, when the person that has to answer these questions is yourself.
And here’s a golden tip. A truly inclusive organisation is one where everyone is encouraged to be vulnerable, to discover their biases, and be rewarded for doing so. That is real trust both ways. Looking into the future, one of the key trends for diversity and inclusion is to expand the areas of diversity that we’re looking at. Ageism is the one that affects all of us. We were all young ones, and we will all grow old eventually.
In fact, many cultural and gender biases actually stem from generational experiences. This makes it even more critical for us to put generational diversity on the inclusion table. Some of you here might be wondering, well, why do we need to look at this now? After all, we’ve always had generations in the organisation.
The young, the old, and those in between, big deal. Well, let me ask you this. Do you want to become the older generation that has always done it a particular way, or do you want to be sandwiched in between and play that toxic role, or do you want your children or grandchildren to enter a workplace where they have to wait for opportunities rather than being trusted with opportunities based on their abilities?
My vision for the future is a workplace, where all generations and micro generations trust each other. A truly inclusive workplace where we can all bring our whole selves to work. I stand before you today and xeniall. Join me in fighting these microaggressions in and around us with these three simple steps for GQ. Map your generations, nurture generational empathy, and be an ally of all ages. Thank you.
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