Managing Across Generations
Generational Issues Changing Leadership Tenure
April 4, 2012 | 
Author 
It’s not a news flash to those who’ve had to unexpectedly look for a new position, but for younger generations, that’s how they view work. A job is the place to learn, gather experience, make connections, build skills or a portfolio, but it’s not the last stop on the career train.
At the same time, they’re creating options for themselves, keeping an eye out for what’s next, and trading information with their vast online networks. Mobility is not limited to Millennials, however, my research found that the younger the executive, the more apt to voluntarily change jobs.
|
Executives Who Considered Leaving their Job for |
|
| Generation X (31-45) | 58% |
| Early Boomers (46-55) | 55% |
| Baby Boomers (56-65) | 45% |
| Traditionalists (65+) | 22% |
Respondents to our recent annual executive market intelligence survey were, on average, employed 6.6 years at their current organization, and the time at the job lengthened according to their age:
|
Average Number of Years at Most Recent Organization |
|
| Generation X (31-45) | 5.8 |
| Early Boomers (46-55) | 6.4 |
| Baby Boomers (56-65) | 7.0 |
| Traditionalists (65+) | 9.9 |
The last few years have especially signified that no job should be considered permanent and that complacency is the partner of long-term job search. Career management is a perpetual state where you are always setting the foundation for the next opportunity — no matter how old you are.
Resolving Conflict: Six Simple Steps to Keeping the Peace
I’ve always said that the ability to effectively navigate conflict will ultimately propel you to grow both personally and professionally. When a heart-centered approach to conflict resolution is engaged, more often than not, it can make the difference between positive and negative outcomes.
One of the most challenging roles of an effective manager is that of “peacekeeper”. Resolving conflicts in the workplace takes negotiation skills, patience, and a healthy dose of emotional intelligence.
I recommend as a degreed HR professional and over twenty years coaching my clients that a conflict resolution model must involve six basic steps and three golden rules.
In any dialogue, there are two fundamental needs that must be met – the ego need and the practical need. The ego needs are: to be listened to, valued, appreciated, empathized with, involved, and empowered. The practical need refers to the obvious: the reason for having the discussion that focuses on the conflict that needs to be solved.
To address both needs, employ the three golden rules of engagement:
1. Listen and respond with empathy
2. Be involved; ask for the other person’s opinions, ideas and thoughts
3. Maintain and affirm self-esteem
Remember, fifty-five percent of a message from sender to receiver is done so via body language. Thirty-eight percent is conveyed by tone of voice and only seven percent by word choice. The body, soul and heart cannot lie – unless you are a diagnosed sociopath! So keep these things in mind when responding.
An example is one of the employer or manager, and employee. The most important thing to keep in mind is that if the employee doesn’t feel that they were heard or that they have achieved a “win” out of the discussion then they will not be motivated or resolve to change.
It comes down to compliance versus commitment. Without question, the person involved in the discussion or conflict resolution will be far more committed to the outcome if they feel empowered by it. As you go through the six-step process, look for ways to weave in the golden rules: listening and responding with empathy, maintaining or affirming self-esteem and involving the person.
SIX STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
1. Discuss the situation in a respectful manner. Example: “John, I noticed you’ve been late a few times this week, which seems out of character for you – you’re always so reliable!” Don’t say, “You are always late.” This just gets the person’s back up.
2. Be specific. If you say, “I noticed that on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday you were 30 minutes late,” the person realizes you are aware of the situation and that they have to address the issue. Their explanation is a perfect opportunity for you to listen and respond with empathy. Remember: you do not necessarily have to agree with someone to empathize with them. You are simply attempting to put yourself in that person’s shoes – if only for a moment – not condemning or condoning the behavior.
3. Discuss how a conflict (or problem) impacts you, the work group, or the project. “John, I am not sure you are aware of the full impact of the conflict between you and Steve. The other employees are witnessing this, and it is making them uncomfortable…What do you feel is going on?” Remember, you are asking not telling.
4. Ask for the specific cause of the conflict. “John, from your perspective, what is happening here? You get along well with most everyone here so what is causing the conflict?” Remember to empathize again after their response, rather than say, “Yes, but you’ve got to get along.” The word “but” negates everything positive you just said.
If you have to fall on a conjunction, pick “and”. “Yes, I can imagine the challenge this presents – and we need to come up with a solution. What ideas might you have?”
5. Ask for the solution. For instance, “What do you think you need to do to help solve this situation? What is your next step?” This brings in accountability.
6. Agree on the action to be taken. This step is often missed and it’s the most important one. Think of it as a recap. “So John, what I am hearing you say is that you are going to talk to Steve (discuss details). By when were you thinking of doing that?” The last step is to close on a positive note and ask them to get back to you on the outcome.
Treat others as you want to be treated and you will keep the pace! Seize the day, Sher
Posted in Conflict, Job Searching, Leadership, Managing Across Generations, Uncategorized, Workplace | 
Tags: bodylanguage, conflict, leadership, management, sel-esteem | 
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Social Media Controversy at Dallas City Hall
I was fortunate to be featured in a story on social media controversy at Dallas City Hall. Should employees be allowed to use Facebook at work on the taxpayer’s dollar? Have a look:
Adapting to Differences: How to Successfully Manage a Multi-Generational Workforce
Thousands of would-be retirees, their retirement accounts depleted, remain in the ranks of the employed. At the same time, another graduating class enters the job market every year. These two factors are creating a clash of the generations, and managing a multigenerational work force continues to get more and more challenging for business leaders and managers.
Most companies and managers are doing their very best to remain strong and deliver on expectations through the recession.
But this becomes extremely difficult when, for the first time in history, the work force comprises four distinct generations: traditionalists, boomers, Generation Xers and millennials.
Each group has strong assets that managers can tap into in order to make their businesses more effective and successful.
For example, traditionalists and boomers tend to bring drive, determination and vast amounts of knowledge and experience to any company that they work for. Boomers, however, tend to be less team-oriented than millennials. Boomers are also used to acquiring information and more inclined to keeping it to themselves because they feel like knowledge is power. But the problem is if they can’t effectively communicate with and train younger generations, their employers will lose profitable knowledge. Millennials, after all, must be effectively trained.
Because Xers tend to be fundamentally independent, they are often free thinkers and can be a valuable source of fresh ideas to revamp your organization. You should always ask for their input. And the millennials usually thrive in team environments and typically are not shy about putting in their two cents about anything you may ask them about or want an opinion on. They are also a fountain of fresh ideas. Additionally, they tend to be highly productive and excellent multitaskers.
Right now, millennials are a hot commodity on the job market, mainly because they are cheap hires. After all, older Xers and boomers are looking for higher wages and the corner office, and sometimes executives mistakenly think it makes sense to lay them off and replace them with cheaper labor.
Yet this strategy creates a problem. It might seem like replacing older employees with lower-paid millennials makes financial sense, but it really doesn’t if you stop and think about the true implications of doing something like this. If there are no boomers and Xers around to train the millennials, the company will suffer. Untrained millennials may take hours to complete tasks that a trained boomer could complete in five minutes, so this would actually increase a company’s cost of doing business.
It’s important to make sure you’re maintaining a good generational mix and facilitating communication and knowledge transfer across generations. It can only help your bottom line.
Consider these three tips for managing today’s multigenerational work force:
1. When you are trying to get a point across, always keep your audience in mind. If you can understand generational differences, then you can tailor your communication to speak powerfully to your targeted demographic.
2. Abandon “one-size-fits-all” thinking. Different generations are motivated by different things. Accordingly, you should use a range of recruiting and incentive strategies to make sure your company appeals to all four generations instead of just one or two.
3. To make sure incoming employees are properly trained, allow them to choose their own training methods, as they each have different preferences. Whereas a boomer may learn best by attending a live class, a millennial may prefer to take a webinar instead. Allow your employees to choose the training methods that work best for them, and in doing so, they’ll respond better to the training and be more effective in the organization.
SHERRI ELLIOTT-YEARY is CEO of Optîmance Workforce Strategies, founder of Gen InsYght and author of “Ties to Tattoos: Turning Generational Differences into a Competitive Advantage.” Contact her at sherri@generationalguru.com.
