Are Your Managers Flexible and Savvy Enough to Lead a Generationally Diverse Workforce?

I think most experienced managers will agree: It takes a high degree of flexibility, along with significant managerial know-how, for anyone to manage the diverse generations in today’s dynamic organizations. 

Understandably, we see this as a complex issue for managers. Today’s employees come to us in different age groups, which also means that managers face a variety of cultural backgrounds, thought processes and approaches to technology. When faced with unprecedented diversity, of course, a manager can’t treat everyone exactly the same in order to get the best results. 

So successful managers will have to acquire the knowledge and an appreciation for these different challenges, if not yet fully recognized, so they can effectively lead the various generations. 

Generational Differences in the Workplace

What are these differences? There are entire books written on the subject, however, here’s one example: Some researchers studying this area say that the baby boomers are generally more loyal to a company, especially when they are compared to individuals belonging to the Gen Y and Gen X age groups. But, I also find that these (Gen Y, Gen X) individuals generally feel a greater sense of loyalty to their working relationships, than to a company itself. So, for instance, if they have good relationships with their managers, they also tend to be loyal to their managers. A manager may want to be aware of these differences and tendencies.

As I see it, even in the workplace, people tend to be affected by their life experiences and motivated by their values and perceptions of life. There is an Arab proverb that goes something like this: People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents. I think that statement makes a lot of sense. For instance, we’ve always heard it said that parents want more for their children than what they had growing up. Today, we want everything fast so we can work on our Blackberries. Everything is instant; if it’s not, there is poor customer satisfaction. 

If you look around the workplace today, undeniably, generational differences are apparent; and we can often see these differences reflected by dress and work styles. Again, generally speaking, you will see some Gen Y and Gen X employees who dress more informally than the other generations. They also tend to want more flexibility, for instance, in their working hours. You might hear them say something such as, “OK, just hold me accountable for the results.” 

We also see some differences when comparing work styles: Employees from the Millennials or Gen Y demographic are not known for having the same ‘sense-of-urgency’ approach to work as do those employees from the baby boomer or traditionalist generations. The latter generations tend to consistently exhibit a ‘sense-of-urgency’ in their approach to work.  

The bottom line: If a manager doesn’t know what motivates employees, he or she will be unsuccessful and ineffective. After all, managers are in the business of finding optimal ways to increase engagement and productivity from all generation of their employees. 

In my next Insights, I will discuss how to manage generational differences in the workplace.

It takes a high degree of flexibility, along with significant managerial know-how, for anyone to manage the diverse generations in today’s dynamic organizations.