Jeffrey Mosher welcomes Dave Heisey back into the MBN studio. Together they reviewed one of February's modules for Crestcom training.
Dave is President of DRH Enterprises, LLC, Grass Lake, MI, and a Crestcom training facilitator in Michigan. His sessions are currently held in Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
To hear Dave and Jeffrey discuss delegation, click play on the PodCast below.
This month Dave is primarily discussing multigenerational differences in the workplace.
A generation is the group of people who were born within the same 15-20 year timeframe, and who have experienced similar trends in their life, such as parenting techniques, economic conditions, global issues, educational practices, and social trends. Each generation has tendencies based on their life events, and those have developed into generational stereotypes.
Today, we have as many as five generations in the workplace - Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials) and Generation Z. This creates a lot of diversity in how people look at work life, and there can be conflict amongst teams that are built with multiple generations. Understanding the stereotypes, and further understanding that individuals are not necessarily aligned with those stereotypes can help people better understand each other in the workplace.
As one example, communication preferences are typically different amongst the generations. Baby Boomers prefer face-to-face and phone conversations. Gen Y (Millennials) prefer email and electronic communication. This may sound simplistic, but the reality is that a lack of face-to-face communication for a Baby Boomer may result in them feeling a lack of trust, or less confident in the accuracy of the information being conveyed (if I can’t look someone in the eyes, how can I “know” what they are saying is true). Conversely, Millennials who prefer electronic communication may be uncomfortable with a face-to-face discussion (confrontational) and may view it as a waste of time (read the report I sent you).
On a multi-generational team it may be important to set expectations around communication - these types of events or situations are important for a face-to-face session, these types of events or situations are okay for a phone call, and the balance may be handled by e-mail or text. I have a strong personal preference for employee performance discussions being held in a face-to-face format, but am familiar with friends who have had theirs e-mailed to them. If you don’t set expectations, people will gravitate towards what they are most comfortable with.
Listen to Jeffrey and Dave discuss discuss generational differences and how you as a leader can create a workplace that takes advantage of everyone’s strengths and preferences, while increasing the understanding amongst generations.
