Can't We All Just Get Along?

When generations collide at the office, the Resulting Sparks can be spectacular — and sometimes even illuminating.
Written By Chris Warren, Copywrite 2006 American Way Magazine
Illustrations by Ryan Snook

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Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman didn’t exactly hit it off immediately. It was the mid-1990s and Stillman, who was in his 20s and a proud member of Generation X, was preparing to give a presentation to a group of CEOs. Lancaster, a communications pro and a Baby Boomer who was then in her late 30s, was asked to give Stillman some coaching on how to give an effective talk to a group of wizened executives.

Right away they clashed. As Lancaster tried to impart the pointers she had learned through years of experience, Stillman kept interrupting, questioning her approach and advice. A frustrated Lancaster felt Stillman was ignoring time-tested strategies for delivering an impressive presentation. Equally­ upset, Stillman wondered why Lancaster was so dismissive of his new ideas. Forced to work together, Stillman and Lancaster gradually began to understand where the other was coming from; indeed, by incorporating some of Lancaster’s more traditional ideas with his own creative, irreverent­ touches, Stillman was able to deliver a superb presentation.

More importantly, the two discovered something that would change the direction of both of their lives: “We realized that a lot of our head-butting wasn’t because we didn’t like each other — it was because we saw things differently,” says Lancaster. “It wasn’t that either one of us was right or wrong. We really saw the world of work through different perspectives.” That original fractious encounter and the realization it spawned spurred Stillman and Lancaster to form BridgeWorks, a consulting firm that helps companies recognize, manage, and hopefully take advantage of the generation gaps that are increasingly appearing in the workplace today; together, they also wrote the book

When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work.

Meet Your Coworker
The nub of their work, then, is helping businesses mesh four distinct generations — each with its own attitudes and expectations around work — into teams that can excel in the increasingly competitive world economy. It’s no easy task. Using admittedly broad and imprecise generalizations, here’s how experts break down the generations:

Traditionalists, those born before 1945, typically have faith that institutions — be it the government, business, family, or church — have the capacity to accomplish great things, like winning a world war or overcoming the Great Depression. They tend to respect authority and are comfortable in a top-down hierarchy.

Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are marked by their optimism, having been born into affluent times, as well as by their competitiveness — there are 80 million of them, after all — and a preternatural need to challenge the status quo.

Generation Xers, born between 1965 and 1977, by contrast are considered skeptical, raised as they were in a time of recession and downsizing. In response, Gen Xers are resourceful and independent, intent on burnishing their own skills as a way to achieve job security; they’re also typically more ­concerned with work-life balance than Boomers. “They want to be constantly learning — that is their job security,” says Stillman. “If I know enough and am constantly getting new skills, then if anything bad happens, I’m going to be all the more employable.”

Finally, there’s the tech-savvy progeny of the Boomers, known alternately as Generation Y (and sometimes why), Millennials, and Echo Boomers. These newest entrants to the workforce are used to customizing everything they touch — from their iPods to their sneakers, and now perhaps their careers — and having been fed a steady diet of positive ­affirmation by their parents, now expect the same from their supervisors and bosses.

With four generations thrust together in offices and factories around the country, conflict is inevitable. Some of the flare-ups are downright humorous, like the pique a Traditionalist or Boomer may feel at getting a thank-you note e-mailed to them or the confusion over the difference between fat and phat. Less funny are stories like one reported in a recent issue of Fast Company: Angry parents of a Generation Y car salesman showed up in the CEO’s office, demanding to know why their son didn’t receive a bonus. They left only when security booted them out.

Perhaps more common, though, are simmering resentments that often go unsaid, but have a definite impact on workplace harmony. At Sutter Gould Medical Foundation in Northern California, some Baby Boomer doctors are quietly exasperated with what they see as their younger colleagues’ lack of commitment to the organization. “We have doctors who are in their early 50s who, when they came to Gould early in their career, paid their dues,” says Stephanie Miller, executive director of human resources, who is in the process of launching some programs to address the generational divide. “They took calls every night and every weekend, and these new guys want more work-life balance, and they want to spend more time with their family.”

Bottom-Line Impact
If these generational fissures were just a matter of grumbling and mild discontent; they could easily be dismissed as a nonissue. But more and more companies are realizing that managing and rewarding different generations in ways that meet their respective hopes and expectations has a real bottom-line impact. One area where it’s particularly important is in the recruitment and retention of the most talented, productive people. “It’s expensive, time-consuming, ­ and difficult to find talent,” says Susan Johnson, vice president of strategic talent management for Pitney Bowes, a Connecticut-based document and communication management company. Or, as Paul Silverglate, an audit partner at the consulting company Deloitte & Touche, puts it: “It’s a seller’s market for talent in our industry right now. There’s so much work and fewer people coming into the job market that we have to figure out a way to get the most talented people.”

Also important to the continuing, long-term viability of companies is planning for the day when Baby Boomers — who hit age 60 en masse this year — begin to retire or move to a reduced work schedule. “From a company standpoint, they are looking to build bench strength. They want the next generation of people ready for when the Boomers do leave or change their status or go part-time,” says Rex Davenport, editor in chief of Training + Development magazine. “A lot of companies are looking at developing the next generation of leaders.”

Of course, grooming a new group of leaders means ensuring that those same people don’t bolt; and to keep Generations X and Y around often requires becoming an active partner in their career planning. That fact was driven home for Susan Johnson at Pitney Bowes last summer when the company put on a discussion with two panels, one consisting of executives near retirement and the other of younger, promising employees. The more senior executives, Johnson recalls, talked about the corporate hierarchy and how they had to rise methodically in the company, going step by accepted­ step. “Contrast that with the voices of the future panel,” she recalls. “They said, ‘If Pitney Bowes doesn’t give me what I want, I’m ready, willing, and able to go someplace else, because it’s all about me managing my career.’ ”

To meet that expectation, Pitney Bowes has a formal initiative that focuses a lot of attention on what Johnson calls “emerging strategic leaders.” It boils down to her staff and senior executives spending time and effort cultivating promising employees. “We see what development planning and mentoring and assessment we can put in place for them to help them realize their potential and show them we care about them enough to help them manage their careers within PB,” she says.

Rewarding Experiences
Another effective way to manage a multigenerational workforce is to understand what each group considers an adequate reward for a job well done. In his research and experience working with companies, David Stillman at BridgeWorks says he has found that, by and large, Baby Boomers have been satisfied with what can only be considered traditional rewards like a monetary bonus or promotion. “Where Baby Boomers have always been so competitive, title and rank has been very important,” he says.

Not so with younger workers. In Stillman’s observation, Generation Xers would often rather have a day off than a small bonus. In their thirst for new skills, too, Stillman says a bump up the corporate ladder can actually be disheartening for early-­career employees. “I did really well in ­marketing, but I’m dying to learn PR,” he says. “Move me to PR and that would be a great reward for me.”

It’s not just what a reward is that matters, it’s also how fast it comes. Boomers and ­Traditionalists are accustomed to a yearly bonus and performance review. Younger employees, though, often need feedback more quickly, having become used to it in their everyday lives. At Pitney Bowes, they’ve instituted a rapid rewards program, where managers can award bonuses based on the success of a particular project. “I think the X and Y generations respond very well to that direct feedback and that recognition of success,” says Johnson. “It gets them away from feeling they have to pay their dues in order to be successful.”

Mutually Assured Understanding
When devising policies that have a ­company-wide impact, like those designating rewards and flex time, Stillman advocates including representatives from all generations. And to be blunt, that’s really what successful intergenerational management is all about: fostering real communication and understanding between people of different ages. It’s not about one group being right and the other being wrong, and it’s certainly not about older workers reconfiguring the way they do everything to conform to the demands of early-career employees.

That’s one of the lessons that Stephanie Miller at the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation took home from a seminar led by BridgeWorks. It was enough of an “a-ha” moment, in fact, for her to begin rolling out classes so workers of different ages could understand each other better. “We hope they’ll appreciate the differences rather than focusing on them as something negative,” she says. “That can only help to strengthen the teams.”

There are advantages and opportunities for companies that do this well. In her work for the Pittsburgh-based consultancy Key Group, Joanne G. Sujansky helps businesses get the most out of the diversity of their workforce. To her, having multiple generations working together is a boon in many areas, including creativity. “The reality is that a heterogeneous workforce brings wonderful things to idea generation,” she says. “What we say is don’t just invite diversity to the table, tap it and employ it. Some of these younger folks that come into the workplace are never a part of brainstorming. What a waste.” Sujansky also believes that including people of different generations in every facet of a business can be particularly helpful when it comes to meeting the needs of multigenerational customers.

Promoting intergenerational understanding, then, can be very profitable. Making connections between employees of ­different ages, though, can be tricky. Mentoring is one way to do it, but when it’s forced and regimented, it can be awkward and unproductive. At Deloitte & Touche, they’re taking the basic concept of mentoring and giving it a slightly different spin, one they hope will boost intergenerational ties. With some 35,000 employees across the United States, Deloitte has workers that represent four generations: Most of its staff-level people are Generation Y, managers and senior managers are Generation X, and partners are primarily Baby Boomers, with a few Traditionalists still in the mix.

Paul Silverglate says Deloitte is developing what he calls a “mentor exchange” as a way to connect younger workers — who he believes crave a relationship with the people who impact their careers — with more senior partners. Rather than just picking names of partners and staff out of a hat and forcing them to meet for a half hour each month, Silverglate says the company wanted to instead facilitate more organic connections, ones that are actually based on mutual interests. “It works when it’s natural, when both mentor and mentee get benefits from the relationship,” he says.

To ensure that’s the case, Deloitte has developed a database where staff members list their skills and interests, which vary widely — everything from the ability to program an iPod to cycling to photography to knowledge of the best places to visit in Italy. Partners search the database and seek out staff members they think can help them do something. “Partners reach out to staff and say, ‘Hey, I want to learn about cycling, and I understand that you’re a cycling specialist,’ ” says Silverglate. There is a quid pro quo involved. “The staff person goes back to the partner and says, ‘Okay, I would like to learn about navigating through the firm.’ Or, ‘I’d like to learn what career struggles you had and how you got around them,’ ” he says.

The only compulsory aspect about the exchange is that after the initial interaction there has to be one follow-up; there’s no commitment to become lifelong friends or to meet a set number of times a year. It’s all meant to progress naturally. To Silverglate, putting together people who have common interests is an effective way to get beyond the labels and stereotypes that generations have about each other. “The reality is, we are more similar than different,” he says. “We care about the same things: We care about providing for our families; we care about doing work that we are passionate about and interested in. So if you can erase the ‘Kids are crazy these days; they want everything on their own terms,’ and get to ‘Hey, these people are a lot more like us,’ then you will be able to deal with nuances and differences a lot better.”

Author

CHRIS WARREN is a former editor of Los Angeles magazine. He has written for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Sierra, and a variety of other publications.