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Picture this: you happen to be sitting in a community planning workshop, and you take a look around the room. Overall, everyone seems to be participating in the conversation until your eyes land on the intern or an entry-level position filled with someone much younger than you. You notice them not speaking or making eye contact but staring at a laptop screen, checking their phone, and downing a large, sugar-filled Starbucks drink.
Did you catch yourself thinking..." it's so rude to be on a technological device while a meeting occurs?" Could you feel frustration flare? Or perhaps it does not bother you at all. Still, something else they do throws you off, for example, when they include unprofessional icons such as "smiley faces" in their email or text responses. This exercise proves extremely important; it works to showcase the potential workplace tension that can come with intergenerational differences. For example, an individual from the Baby Boomer generation may not have seen a computer until their early 30's. Simultaneously, iGen could use an iPad before they could talk—this creates a massive difference in lifestyle, which can cause issues in the workplace. For the first time in history, there exist four different generations in the workforce. With varying different styles of communication, collisions in views and interpretations will happen. Learning the differences will help you be more aware of each person's different interpretation and clarify and understand. First, we need to define with generations living and interweaving themselves in the workforce. According to the U.S Population by Generation 2019 Data collection:
It remains vital to break down how each generation grew up to understand how their different viewpoints work. Baby Boomers Baby Boomers, or Boomers, grew up in a world without the technology we know today. Technology, such as computers and handheld phones, were like flying cars. Face-to-face communication was what they grew up with. It's a no-brainer boomers would prefer face-to-face communication as the dominant method in the workplace. If boomers were forced to pick a secondary communication method, it would be potentially the most important tool at their desk… a phone. Email did not come around until the late '60s and was not publicly adapted until the '80s. The hoops you had to jump through to access email were nothing less than a pain, from slow dial-up internet to crafting the email. This being said, many Boomers have never fully embraced digital communication in personal life or the workplace. The phone preference came on because it was reasonably similar to face-to-face. Generation X Generation X, or Gen Xers, was the first generation to embrace digital communications in their personal lives and workplaces. They become the earliest adopters of email. Then the times changed from face-to-face communication to written communications. Email allowed Xer's to find comfort in their written words alone, which continues to feel the most "at home" for them. Interestingly, many Xers become frustrated at the mass amount of email messages they receive. They tend to resist other forms of available digital communication methods. A select few have taken on social media, but the majority cling to their email preference. Millennials (Gen Y) Generation Y, or Millennials, emerged as the first "digitally native" generation. This occurred because they were born as the first entire generation with faster email, gaming, websites, and cell phones. They were the first generation to have a smartphone. This generation loves texting and other messaging apps. Texting remains their primary form of preferred communication. Millennials grew up texting instead of calling friends and family. They found comfort in sending and receiving short messages in a short amount of time. Millennials do not look to get a paragraph response; they would rather get to the point. Millennials have a distaste for talking on the phone. When they see the caller ID show up on their phone, they cringe in agony at the thought of a 30-minute conversation with Grandma. They understand phone conversations take time and effort; therefore, Millennials gravitate toward written communication. The written preference continues from the generation before Generation Z (iGen) Generation Z, or iGen, at last, has been entering the workforce. The information reported on them remains limited, as we have not seen their generation's long-term effects yet. But we can recognize a couple of themes from the iGen. As with the millennials, iGen grew up with technology. But the difference with this generation happens to be that they were submerged directly into technology. It has been an active part of their lives since before they could walk or talk. Technology has been a massive comfort point to iGen, and they have always lived with a lightning-fast internet connection. They prefer a combination of images paired with short and to-the-point written communication. This stems from the social platforms they have been interacting on since they were young. The imagery allows for a quick assessment before the supplemental words below it. Slow communication drives iGen absolutely crazy. Instant messages and constant information updates have been part of their life for so long that anything slower than instant frustrates them. They often use their electronic devices to fill in during the painful slowness of verbal communication. Tips for Working with Multiple Generations With this information, we can now shape different ways to make meetings a collaborative environment that accommodates everyone's preferences. Strategies to consider:
Each generation has been influenced differently by the times they grew up. This allows insight into how different age groups work. This then allows appreciation for each generation's various strengths and weaknesses for a stronger, more innovative intergenerational network. |
"This is the first time I have seen more than 3 generations in the workplace, everyone is running their own agenda."
Further reading
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For more information on how Cobalt can help you adapt and thrive in the changing demographic, economic and social environment, visit the Cobalt website or reach out to us by email. Let us know if you need anything at all for benchmarking or research data; we are here for you.
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].