Generational Leadership - K. Iwata

1 Generational relations present a modern-day challengeGenerational differences are much in the news these days, with commonplace talk of Boomers considering whento retire (if ever!), increasing numbers of Gen X managers moving up (sometimes willingly and sometimes not!),and Generation Y younger adults now present in the workforce in droves (being twice the size of Generation X inthe western world). Business has never before experienced people from such a wide range of age groupsworking side-by-side as we begin the second decade of the new millennium. Different Generational groups working closely together can be challenging at times. As both products of ourchronological age and the time in which we grew up, people from different generations and age groups have ratherdifferent attitudes, values, beliefs and motivations from one another.

2 These differences can easily lead tomisunderstanding, miscommunication and even outright conflict in the workplace. Our outlook, or the way inwhich we see the world, has significant implications for how we treat, work with, and value other people. Recentresearch and organizational experience has shown that Generational mix can be a potent problem that should bedealt with through education, tolerance and increased understanding of the booklet presents an overview of the topic of Generational differences primarily from a business perspective,defining the groups as outlined by current literature, and begins to ask the tough questions that progressiveorganizations are interested in exploring in order to better lead the different generations effectively. Admittedly,solid data in this topic is scarce, and rigorous, global study is needed to bring forward the real issues and thenpresent solutions about how to best address various Generational problem areas.

3 This challenge is explored in thelast part of the booklet, including how you can get 2010, Ready To ManageAll rights reserved. Any reproduction of this material in any medium without written permission of the publisher is a violation of international copyright LeadershipWritten by Jon Warner & Anne SandbergIntroduction The workplace has changed dramatically in recentyears. There is tremendous growth in the older workerpopulation, particularly. Traditionalists are the oldestworking group at present; many have now retired,though others continue to work full-time and in part-time, consulting, volunteer, or training/mentoring roles. Boomers have long been the dominant group inbusiness due to their sheer number in the this group ages, however, some are starting toconsider alternatives to full-time work, while others donot want to retire or can t afford to retire for theforeseeable future.

4 Workers in their prime Generation X should be taking over key roles asBoomers move on, however, there are not enough ofthem. In fact, there are only half as many Gen Xworkers as Boomers and Gen Y (the youngest groupof workers), for that matter. This leaves a gap in themost vulnerable age range for management andleadership positions in organizations employees intheir 30 s and 40 s in their peak working years. For themost part, Gen Y is not ready to move intomanagement and Leadership positions vacated byBoomers who will take the reins?Not only is there a shortage of skilled youngeremployees, but there is a shortage of younger workerswith the right kinds of experience. Across all sectorsthe greatest turnover in aging workers appears to be inexecutive, administrative and managerial , as many old economies , such as the US andWestern Europe, continue the transition to knowledge-based economies, the demand for well-educatedworkers increases.

5 The labor shortage in this decadewill be considerably more severe than anything wehave experienced in history , says Roger Herman,author of Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too FewWorkers. Business is facing a serious replacementgap. As a result of these trends and pressures, Generational diversity has fast become one of the mostimportant trends affecting today s is just one factor amongmany that makes us who we areHuman development, thinking, and decision making isextremely complex and quite unique from one personto the next. Given our individual differences, however,there are patterns or styles of thinking and behaviorthat are can be identified and studied. These patternsare associated with factors such as differences in innertemperament, nationality, culture, values, gender, anda range of other factors.

6 While none of these, in and ofthemselves, can fully explain why a person thinks oracts as they do, a particular factor might help toexplain some of these reasons, or at least provide acontext through which we can make and examinejudgments about a person s attitude, behavior,motivation, and beliefs. The generation to which a person belongs is one ofmany pattern or style factors that can help us betterunderstand a specific individual (or even a whole groupof a similar generation). In fact, a person s generation isa highly influential factor that we all recognize, at leastinstinctively, when we talk and listen to individuals of ageneration different from our own. For these reasons,people who grow up during the same era tend to beexposed to many of the same stimuli from thesurrounding culture through the news, media, music,and other cultural factors.

7 People from the same eraare called, cohorts. It is reasonable to expect thatsomeone from your own era will have quite a bit incommon with you due to the environmental factors youwere both exposed to and shaped by when you wereyoung. Other factors that might increase your similarityin outlook, values and attitude could include thecountry in which you grew up, the region, your socio -economic group, your gender, religion, and many othersub-group identities. Generational group is one of manygroup identities that shape who we are in the is Generational group important to consider?When different people come together in the workplaceto accomplish an organization s goals and objectivesthey bring with them their own worldview. Differentworldviews create greater diversity which in turn canfoster innovation and excitement, if managed not managed well, the coming-together of differentworldviews, based in part on a multi-generationalworkforce, can turn negative and result inmisunderstandings, poor communication, exclusivity(rather than inclusion), silos, and conflict.

8 This is why itis so important to understand how the differentgenerational groups prefer to be communicated with,motivated, recognized and rewarded. It can be difficultto step out of your own Generational group sworldview to consider other generations preferences,but this is an essential step in building yourgenerational knowledge bank and skill LEADERSHIPC opyright 2010, Ready To rights reserved. Any reproduction of this material in any medium without written permission of the publisher is a violation of international copyright current four generations at workCicero wrote: Life s racecourse is fixed. Nature hasonly a single path and that path is run but once, and toeach stage of existence has been allotted itsappropriate quality. Across all cultures and epochs, and all classes andraces, the experience of aging is universal for allpeople in all societies.

9 From a biological standpoint, observed Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang, human lifealmost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm andbeat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. In order to look at the cycles of time or phases in lifeand work, we have two main options from which tochoose. The first of these, and often the most popular,is to look at Generational groups according to the yearof birth (in roughly 20 year eras). It is now thereforecommonplace to talk of Traditionals , often called The Greatest Generation (born 1924 to 1943), BabyBoomers (born 1944 to 1963), Generation X (born1964 to 1983), and finally Generation Y (born 1984 to2000). All four of these Generational groups are in theworkplace today and each can be characterized asone cohesively behaving group, based on the eras inwhich they grew up or were influenced in theirformative years (social, economic, political,technological influences).

10 The second option in considering life phases is to lookat the aging process as a cycle through which everyindividual must travel. Pythagoras was among the firstof western thinkers to interpret life as a cycle of fourphases for an individual. He suggested that thesephases were roughly 20 years long and further statedthat each could be usefully associated with a season:the Spring of youth, the Summer of early adulthood,the Autumn of midlife, and the Winter of older others (like Shakespeare, for example) havemaintained this analogy and extended the use of thetheme ever since. Gail Sheehy, popular writer,published the best-seller book, Passages: PredictableCrises of Adult Life, which covered the principalchallenges and concerns facing individuals passingfrom one developmental adult life stage to the next.