Managing Generations at Work

Age or “stage of life”?

As managers, we do our best to understand why a behavior is occurring before we address it. Why isn’t your direct report responding to emails? Is it because they’re Gen Z or is this their first office job? Why does a team member feel strongly about working from home? Are they a millennial or do they have caretaking responsibilities?

Research generally concludes that being in different generations has minimal impact on work-related attitudes. This isn’t to say that age or experience aren’t real; however, if you gather a team of similarly-aged peers, they’ll have different life experiences, work trajectories, tech skills, and personalities. 

Taking a life-development perspective can help shift away from age-based generalizations, since everyone has different work-life conflicts at different times. Knowing what is going on in the individual's life helps understand their needs and preferences and the types and level of support that empowers them. Life, skills development, and the workplace are dynamic and can change at any point. Ongoing check-ins are a great time to learn about these changes in your team’s lives, share your own, and work together to adapt accordingly. 

Generations and Stereotypes

If research shows generations aren’t impactful, why is there constant discussion about them in popular culture?

Generations help simplify complex issues. They help our brain process meeting new people and understand behavior quickly, but often inaccurately. In other words: it’s a stereotype. It’s much easier and quicker to decide that “Gen Z is better at technology than Gen X,'' than to list and analyze their individual experiences and what technology they've interacted with in their life. Older and younger workers are more likely to experience age meta-stereotypes where they worry that others have these beliefs about them.

Combating stereotypes requires ongoing effort and intentionality. It can be easy to go on auto-pilot when you’re busy, but it’s worth the effort to pause and reflect. Stereotypes are harmful because they assume being in one generation determines attitudes, values, and behaviors. They can not only affect how we interact with each other, but can also cause anxiety, division, and misunderstandings which can hinder trust and collaboration.

Strategies for Bringing your Team Together

Foster a welcoming environment through open communication about the harm of stereotypes, norms in the workplace, and the team’s  shared goals:

• Model a conversation: Share your own experiences with misconceptions, and make a commitment to your colleagues to disregard generational misconceptions and address problems directly. When you start these conversations, you model the positive impact of  an open mind to your direct reports.
• Establish and Revisit Communication Norms. Is your team struggling with communication? Are emails or calendar events being ignored? Do you seem to use GChat for different reasons? Is a text message the only way to get a hold of someone? It might be time to revisit the expectations and norms around communication. The workplace changes, and what made sense three years ago may be different now. The Quick Guide to Flexible Teams has guidance on how to clarify communication expectations within your team that everyone can agree on including what types of technology people use and boundaries people may have around using personal devices for work or responding to messages outside of work hours. The only successful plan is one where boundaries are respected.
• Connect to shared goals. What impact does your team have? Identifying how your team meaningfully contributes to the University is the key to clarifying your team’s purpose. The Quick Guide to Orienting to Results can help in defining your team’s purpose. You and your team members are all working toward a shared goal. Though you may have different opinions on how the work should be done, who is doing it, and what needs to be prioritized, focusing on your common purpose can help with team performance. 
• Focus on engagement. Everyone wants to feel valued, autonomous, connected, and respected in the workplace, no matter their age. The U’s Employee Engagement drivers and the discussion questions that accompany them can support  you in understanding your team members’ preferences and how those affect their work. 

You’ve seen first hand that individual differences on your team are more meaningful than stereotypes. The diverse experiences your team members have may cause tension, but leading your team in embracing these differences can help your team to successfully collaborate cross-generationally.