The New Workforce
Blending Four Generations into a Force For Innovation
Companies that actively manage the Silent, Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y (Millennial) generations in their workforces will gain a competitive edge. That was the message from three sessions in the PDMA 2009 Annual International Conference. Understanding and bridging generational characteristics is essential for unlocking the innovative potential of teams. Cross generational teams should be great germinators of ideas because generational diversity is a source of innovation – connecting seemingly disparate and previously unrelated things. Great things can happen as a result of these intersections. Every member of a team has an effect on the whole team and is critical for its success. And the reverse is also true. That’s why we must look at the 4 generations that are currently working side by side in our organizations. Because, people are at the heart of what we do and frustrations and misunderstandings interfere with individual and group effectiveness and productivity.
The gap is widening as we misunderstand or fail to recognize each generation’s different values, experiences, styles, and attitudes. In a recent report by Calgary Health Systems’ Susan Cassidy, . 50% of those surveyed disagreed with the statement that ”workers of different generations blend as they work together; age is not a major factor at work”. Only 31% agreed with that statement, 11% were not sure, 2% strongly agreed and 6% strongly disagreed.
So, how are companies succeeding in blending the four generations of the new workforce into aforce for innovation? The presenters identified a best practices blueprint of corporate culture and education that optimizes multi-generational team performance.
Understanding each generation’s shared experiences creates shared characteristics. Shared experiences include life events, cultural impacts, historical events, parenting influences and education. These create commonality of attitudes, beliefs, reactions, values and behaviors that can be identified within a generation as common views of work ethic, rewards and motivation.
For more detailed information on ways to characterize different generations at work, and for ways to encourage them to understand and work effectively with each other, for a copy of Mary Parson’s slide deck: Generations at Work: Unwrapping Employee Potential. Mary is Vice President, Global Platform Innovation at Hershey Foods Company in Hershey, PA.