Millennial Uprising: Can A Multigenerational Workforce Co-Exist?

The average 35-year old manager of the former generation functions much in the same way as a 35-year old manager of today. While a degree of change behaviorally is expected, the end goal of every manager remains the same – to move their team.

Categorizing boomers to behave a certain way or conservatively pushes the mind more along the lines of variations, notions, and thoughts that has no meaning within organizational walls. At the end of the day, it’s fruitless thought to consider different generations require different treatment and strive for drastically different goals.

You may have heard this multiple times, yes. It is still not bad advice. Just as you would research a new product or service, it is important to research people. A multigenerational workforce may derive different excitement from the same organization.

Additionally, it is important to understand the different forms of communication style. This requires a solid investment of time. However, Employee Value Propositions, and thereby Focus Group Discussions go a long way into helping one understand what generates that attraction for the young and not so young among your workforce.

Historically, the pairing of young workers to seasoned executives has always been one of heightened productivity. Primarily, a younger workforce would always find it easier to learn from an experienced one. This is, surprisingly, also prevalent in reverse, where seniors find it palatable to take some form of learning advice from juniors.

It’s simply because people are aware that there exists no direct form of competition amongst them. Learning though encouraged, continues to remain extremely crippled on a peer to peer basis. All in all, it is most important to look at career paths. Better yet, “Wear the skin of an anthropologist with a multigenerational workforce.”

There are certain differences between inspiring and incentivizing across generations. The young prefer work-life balance, while the old with families prefer monetary benefits. Strike a chord within your organization, for when traditionalists and Baby Boomers finally retire; the Millennials rise with their much-loved characteristics along with valuable experience passed down from the old.

Originally published here.