Episode #9: Understanding Generational Diversity in the Workplace
May 08, 2024Season 1Episode 9
Joy
Join forces with us, Sharon Wilson and Cindy LaCom, as we tackle the unique challenges of effective communication within the vibrant fabric of a hybrid workplace across generational cohorts, from Boomers to Gen Zers. We delve into the digital era's impact on work lives, discussing how to maintain a robust company culture and addressing the digital nuances that different generations bring to the table. For those looking to lead teams that thrive on diversity, this conversation is the blueprint for embracing and adapting to the wide variety of communication styles that define our age-diverse work environments.
We unfurl the complexities of intergenerational dialogue, steering listeners through the preferences and cultural backdrops that shape how each generation communicates. We share actionable strategies perfect for HR professionals, executive directors, managers and employees aiming to cultivate an empowered, innovation-rich workplace where every voice is heard and valued. From fostering mentorship between different age cohorts to choosing the right medium for your message, this episode is rich with insights on creating a dynamic and inclusive culture that leverages the best of what each generation has to offer. Tune in for a provocative episode about building bridges across generational divides, ensuring that every team member, regardless of their age, feels productive and empowered.
Join forces with us, Sharon Wilson and Cindy LaCom, as we tackle the unique challenges of effective communication within the vibrant fabric of a hybrid workplace across generational cohorts, from Boomers to Gen Zers. We delve into the digital era's impact on work lives, discussing how to maintain a robust company culture and addressing the digital nuances that different generations bring to the table. For those looking to lead teams that thrive on diversity, this conversation is the blueprint for embracing and adapting to the wide variety of communication styles that define our age-diverse work environments.
We unfurl the complexities of intergenerational dialogue, steering listeners through the preferences and cultural backdrops that shape how each generation communicates. We share actionable strategies perfect for HR professionals, executive directors, managers and employees aiming to cultivate an empowered, innovation-rich workplace where every voice is heard and valued. From fostering mentorship between different age cohorts to choosing the right medium for your message, this episode is rich with insights on creating a dynamic and inclusive culture that leverages the best of what each generation has to offer. Tune in for a provocative episode about building bridges across generational divides, ensuring that every team member, regardless of their age, feels productive and empowered.
Welcome everyone to Transformation Talks. The intention of our podcast is to provide tips, strategies and inspiration to transform workplaces, communities and lives. I'm Sharon Wilson. I'm the co-founder and chief mindset and growth officer at Transforming Culture Consultants, and I have with me today our other co-founder, Cindy LaCom, our chief impact and inclusion officer.
Sharon Wilson:
In our last podcast, we talked about road rage in the workplace, its gendered elements and the potential damage that aggression and anger can play, both on the road and in the boardroom, in your offices. As we said, it's easier to respond on the road, where anger is typically more transient, than it is in the workplace, where we often have to navigate an angry or aggressive co-worker on a more regular basis. Now, how's the best to respond to that? We might say Well, how should we behave to protect ourselves and our colleagues without taking too great a risk or, conversely, without becoming overly passive in the face of bullying behaviors? Well, one question at play here is both obvious and complicated. What are my best communication options? We might ask ourselves. How do I respond clearly and effectively? How do I share my concerns in ways that will make the most sense and be most likely to get the response I want?
Sharon Wilson:
We want to return to the question of communication in this podcast, albeit in a slightly different context. The reality is that, for most of us, a hybrid work culture is here to stay, and return to office mandates aren't seeming to work. In fact, a recent study published by the Katz Graduate School of Business should suggest that, while mandates don't increase profit, they can make workers less satisfied with work-life balance and more likely to look for another job. This really raises a really pressing question how does a business create a sense of culture in this new hybrid workplace? One key answer focuses on communication and within that context, one central element has to do with age diversity. Now we communicate changes all the time. Many in the early 90s swore they'd never use this new fangled thing called email. Well, remember that. And some came to texting only begrudgingly. I definitely was one of them. Some embrace Zoom or Google Meet or Discord, while others long for the days of face-to-face meetings and personal phone calls.
Cindy LaCom:
Exactly. But whichever communication style we like the most, we have entered a new era where effective communication increasingly depends on cross-generational cooperation and a growth mindset. That asks an even perhaps demand that we're open to learning and thinking about things a little differently, and this includes communication and technology. So before we launch into this, we really want to acknowledge up front the challenges of virtual communication. We know that they're real and that for some they're very pressing. A recent Forbes advisor analysis found that almost 60% of workers say that digital communication makes them feel that they have to be available more often. And even if that can be good, it can also be really challenging. Almost half report that their productivity is being negatively impacted by ineffective communication and this can diminish trust, security and a sense of empowerment and control. They can be stressful trying to figure out how to strike the right pole or deciding how to interpret a co-worker's text. Why does Marissa use so many ellipses? Doesn't Andy know I'm using emojis? Ironically? How come Joanna doesn't even use punctuation? Why does Janna sign her name at the end of her texts? What are the roles of a group chat and, more generally, is this really the best way to get my message across? There are so many questions, and I think that a number of them are, or might be, grounded in assumptions and stereotypes about age. For this reason, it's imperative that we learn to recognize and then resist those stereotypes. Because of hybrid work and tech-based communication aren't going away, neither is diversity of age in a workplace. We have to figure out how to make this work, especially because a majority of employees in the United States use digital communications for up to 20 hours each week. Really, think about that. You may be sitting there nodding your head or you might, like me, be a little bit surprised at that and then reflect on it and realize, in fact, yeah, that's exactly what I seem to do. The reality of having to make it work is further supported by the fact that we currently have five generations working together in the United States for the first time, and while many businesses and organizations build a more inclusive workplace culture with the courts we support, too few actually consider the challenges and the opportunities intended upon having different age cohorts and generational diversity in a workplace.
Cindy LaCom:
So what is an age cohort? It defines a generation as a group of individuals who share the same political, economic and social events during the early stages of their lives that have shaped a similar sense of beliefs, their core values and a set of behaviors. So we understand that this is based on generalizations. A 45-year-old who was raised in Laraville, tennessee, may have really different experiences than the 45-year-old has grown up in the city of Manhattan. But I'm going to offer just a couple examples to illustrate what we need For most of what's called the silent generation and needs of the folks who were born before 1945, living in the shadow of the Second World War, with vestiges of the Great Depression and the experiences of a financial boom.
Cindy LaCom:
For many, these were really profound events that shaped their values about work and progress, and the reality is that, even if they didn't pin Woodstock, most of the AV boards born between 1946 and 1964 were still shaped by Woodstock, by the moon landing, by the idealism that inspired both events. Gen X, on the other hand and these are usually the generation born between 1965 and 1979, gen X was shaped by the fall of the Berlin Wall, by global movements that embraced democracy and the rise of the personal computer, which prompted, especially at the beginning, a world of information at their fingertips. So for many Gen Xers, change and hope for the future was really a widely shared value, but this is coupled with there being the first generation to experience higher rates of divorce as children and an increased skepticism about marriage and the nuclear failings is actually when we begin to see divorce rates, crime and race for marriage decline. In contrast, for millennials who were born between 1980 and 1994, the mass shooting at Columbine shocked a nation into recognizing that our schools aren't safe and that mass shootings might be a new reality, which of course, we understand that they are.
Cindy LaCom:
While 9-11 marked the youth of millennials in ways that many previous generations just couldn't quite imagine, and more recently Gen Z and this is the age cohort born after 1995 but before 2012, there are first what many call digital natives. They've witnessed the election of the first black president in their country, but also the backlash against Obama's presidency, including a huge spike in hate groups. They've grown up with increasing political partisanship that's becoming even more extreme and which is really seriously undermined a belief in our government and in democracy. For them, social media is the wallpaper of their lives and for a lot of Gen Zers, covid and quarantine are hugely powerful experiences that have impacted their mental health and their sense of community, while social media has contributed to the kind of self-surveillance and a sense of always being on screen. They're permanently available for public concerns.
Sharon Wilson:
Yesenia, that is really fascinating and these examples really help make sense of what you mean when you talk about generational diversity and, as you said, different age cohorts bring diverse values and foundational experiences into the workplace. They're motivated by different factors and generational cohorts tend to have different ideas about work boundaries, including work-life balance. If baby boomers expected to start and retire from the same organization, the idea of company loyalty can be a difficult sell to a Gen Z generation which is seeing their parents and grandparents follow their path and they see them oftentimes dumped during a layoff or short-shifted or shifted in terms of retirement promises. Right, but there's a lot of evidence that different age cohorts bring different preferences for communication and professional etiquette into the workplace as well. For example, a 60-year-old may see texting during a meeting is rude or self-indulgent, but their 25-year-old colleague may believe it's perfectly acceptable to text a member in another state during a brainstorming session or to use their phone to research the most recent data on marketing while meeting with their team. While the first seek such behavior is rude or see it as rude, the latter sees it as part of innovation and on-the-spot problem solving. Our point here is that these perspectives aren't right or wrong, good or bad, they're just different.
Sharon Wilson:
Embedded in these examples are communication patterns that different age cohorts typically have. Boomers tend to prefer face-to-face, phone or email communications. Generation Alex tends to prefer more informal and flexible communication email text, perhaps Facebook. Millennials have grown up expecting communication to be more instant, responsive and informal. They tend to prefer digital exchanges and to expect prompt responses. Finally, gen Zers have worked remotely for most of their careers and some have finished their educations while online, and they may feel disconnected from other employees or even undervalued by older coworkers. For most of them, digital communications is the go-to. So put these all together and if you don't approach communication in age diversity intentionally and strategically, you could have on your hands a workplace that is disgruntled and frustrated, a workforce that feels anything but engaged, respected and empowered.
Cindy LaCom:
Absolutely.
Cindy LaCom:
I think you've done a really nice job of kind of laying out some of the challenges of workplace communication. Thank you for that. But we also want to add that it's not all doom and gloom, and you and I have talked a lot about this. In fact, what we know is that age diversity offers some substantial opportunities if businesses and organizations know how to take advantage of it. We know that by 2025, which is really just around the corner Gen Z will represent 30% of the workforce. We also know that many older workers are postponing retirement for financial agents. So one thing that's certain is that workplaces will continue to have generational diversity. Given this, what are the benefits of intentionally trying to keep everyone happy? Well, you want to retain older workers because they can improve organizational efficiency and because often they bring practical, historical and applied knowledge to their jobs. Younger cohorts can bring, as you know, to share an innovation, technological know-how and some new ideas to work. A recent Gartner study shows that a highly inclusive environment can improve team performance by up to 30%, while another study by McKinney Co suggests that companies with the greatest diversity outperform at least 35% in profitability. So this is substantial. Given this, what are some communication strategies that companies might leverage to reach this optimum level of worker empowerment and productivity.
Cindy LaCom:
We want to close with just a few suggestions. Perhaps the most important is to consider establishing clear expectations regarding workplace culture and etiquette and then fostering reach-back-and-growth mindset as part of your workplace culture Clear expectations regarding workplace culture and etiquette. Another strategy is to implement and then really use different types of communication, and if you're going to pursue this, you need to also be willing to and able to train all of the employees across generations on how to use them so that everyone is really comfortable using them. But third suggestion is to see employee input before you take any action, using their feedback to assess communication needs, strengths and weaknesses, and this be vital to effective communication. Once you have that, provide trainings and workshops to help workers identify their age-related assertions and biases and then give them specific steps to address those biases. And remember that those biases will be in some cases overt, but often they're implicit. There are biases and assumptions that we're not even conscious.
Cindy LaCom:
We also suggest that, when possible, you should try to match the style and communication preferences of the person with whom you're working. Make it a practice to actually ask what communication style others prefer. Don't assume you know. Especially, don't assume that you know based on their age If it feels weird or overly formal at first. What kind of communication style do you prefer? I promise it'll get easier with practice.
Cindy LaCom:
Another recommendation is to consider how cross-hort groups might actually mentor and learn from each other, and then to think about how to most effectively develop those relationships and finally consider what you want to communicate and which approach might be best to meet your goals. A phone call or a virtual meeting might be your best bet for a detailed or difficult discussion or difficult decision. Face-to-face meetings can change the whole vibe for brainstorming and the creation of new ideas and approaches. Email, though, might be the best mode for brief informational exchanges, while chat or text might work best for general announcements or informal messages. These are all issues and we've really only touched on them, but they're all achieved to consider when generating policies or practices or effective communication across the ages.
Sharon Wilson:
Well, that is really some amazing things to start with, cindy, and I know we're just scratching the surface here, but I really really appreciate you providing that for folks, and there are more strategies to consider, but we want to leave you with these and hope that it might invite you to think about your own workplace culture and the steps it is or isn't taking to nourish generational diversity.
Sharon Wilson:
It's our intention to be a support and resource for you to help navigate these unprecedented challenges in our workplace cultures and create thriving cultures that have a ripple effect that impact us all in a positive way. We'd love for you to join our community of HR professionals, executive directors and managers that are wanting to create and grow more and powered workplaces and organizations. You can get free tips, resources and opportunities to attend free virtual gatherings where you can engage with industry leaders and innovators, exchange ideas and strategies and best practices. Just go to TransformingCultureConsultantscom. We're also available to provide you with a free virtual consultation to explore any challenges or opportunities in your workplace culture, and you can apply for that at TransformingCultureConsultantscom. You can connect with us on LinkedIn at TransformingCultureConsultants, and our vision is a world where employees feel happy, respected, valued and safe.
Cindy LaCom:
Thank you for being a part of this vision and we hope you'll join us for the next one.
