Why Leading A Multi-Generational Workforce Shouldn't Be As Hard As You Think

Reading time: 6-7 minutes

I’ve always found it strange that “Leading A Multi-Generational” workforce is one of the top leadership challenges that organisations are ramping up for these days.

Hasn’t working with people of different generations been a thing we’ve been doing ever since the beginning of time?

Also, if connecting and engaging people of different generations was so difficult, how do parents connect with their children? How do children connect with their grandparents?

I feel that all the worry around the difficulties of leading a multi-generational workforce is just the latest manifestation of the excessive emphasis on highlighting differences and divisions among people, communities and groups.

Have we become so focused on division that we are forgetting the shared human experiences that transcend these differences?

The New Kids On The Block Are Always The Problem

These days we are seeing 3 generations in the workforce at the same time. Gen-X (baby boomers), Gen-Y (millennials), and now, the Gen-Z. I remember not too long ago that countless conversations around Millennials and their perspectives on working.

Not so long ago, Millennials were dubbed as entitled, demanding, and prioritizing work-life balance over career ambition. Now, it is the Millennial leaders that are critical of Gen Z, viewing them as over-valuing flexibility, independence, and prioritizing financial stability over traditional employment

Not so long ago, Millennials were criticized for having unrealistic expectations around career advancement, training opportunities, and meaningful work. Now, it is Gen Z that is being criticized for being unrealistically entrepreneurial, seeking passion-driven work, and desiring inclusive, socially-conscious workplace cultures.

Am I taking crazy pills, or is history just repeating itself?

Have we thought that perhaps, it is not the differences in generations that we need to figure out, but that our entire attitude on looking at differences in people needs to be looked at?

Appreciating Similarities, Not Demonizing Differences

Is it so crazy to think that the priorities of a 23-year-old isn’t the same as a 45-year-old?

Is it crazy to think that a 23-year-old may be less risk averse than a 45-year-old?

Is it so crazy to think that a 23-year-old, who grew up with technology, social media and endless connectivity, might connect and communicate differently than a 45-year-old who until they were 35, phones were connected to the wall and cellphones had buttons.

Differences are endless, and if we wanted to nitpick on them there’d be no end to it - as we are seeing today. You will always be able to find a reason (or an excuse, more accurately) for why you can’t get along.

It also seems to me like the differences are more to do with current age and respective priorities, than genuine differences in the way they operate. Of course someone with kids, a mortgage, and in the middle of their careers is going to have different perspectives on work compared to someone who’s just started their career with no financial obligations.

But what if we stopped looking at all the ways we were different, and started looking at what we all have in common?

That a 45-year-old senior executive, with a stable career, 20 years of wisdom and no longer in their 20s, might remember what it was like to be young, and lost, and trying to figure their lives out?

That a 45-year-old, perhaps before the “real-world” beat the optimism and naivete out of them, might be able to remember what it was like to be wide-eyed and adventurous to explore the new technologies of the world instead of sticking to the beaten path.

I believe that focusing on our shared experiences of the human condition is the way that we beat generational differences.

Shared Human Needs

We are all human after all, and I believe all humans just want and need the same things. Money, relationships, belonging, friendships and social life, learning and growth, spirituality, fulfillment, legacy, are all things that everyone is looking to fulfill in their lifetime. The only differences that age poses is differences in context.

For instance, depending on when you entered the workforce, your context, opportunities, and thus choices and preferences would look very different.

When the baby boomers entered the workforce it was the rise of television, mass media, corporate and white collar jobs, so that’s where they went and that’s what they experienced.

Millennials entered the workforce with tech, the internet, digitalisation (and also the 2008 GFC), and so that affected their preferences and choices.

Now, Gen-Zs are entering the workforce with remote and flexi-work arrangements, AI and at a time where the barriers to entry for entrepreneurship are the lowest it’s ever been - so again, that affects choices and (perceived) preferences.

But I believe apart from context, we are not so different at all. What we are all chasing is fundamentally the same.

Money, relationships, belonging, friendships and social life, learning and growth, spirituality, fulfillment, legacy. I believe it’s in these conditions of life, is where the key to leading a multi-generational workforce lies. At the end of the day, aren’t we all just human?

Unite With What We Have In Common

So what should you do as a leader being faced with with a multi-generational workplace?

Stop trying to educate yourself, and your people, about the differences in the various generations. “Baby boomers think this”, “Gen-Zs think that”, it’s all wrong. Not only are you generalizing, but by approaching it in this way we are only contributing to reinforcing stereotypes which are not always true of the entire population.

Not all baby boomers think the same way, not all millennials think the same way, and making sweeping observations of how some members of a certain generation act, and using that to attribute the difficulty experienced in working together is extremely harmful.

Because all of a sudden, instead of acknowledging that everyone is infinitely unique, we are grouping and stereotyping entire generations of people. How do we think that helps our leadership in any way.

Instead, veave behind any preconceived notions of which generation does “what”, or thinks “what”, and lets and focus on what we all have in common: The Human Condition.

Our innate need and desire to build a life where we feel safe and secure, but also fulfilled and that we contribute to a purpose bigger than ourselves, that we spend time with the people we love, and have room to do things that bring us excitement and joy. That is what we should be focusing on.

Not whether young people communicate too unprofessionally on Microsoft teams.

Change Is Not Only Good, It’s Necessary.

Whether or not you agree with me: that the problem with multiple generations in the same office isn’t as big and unsolvable of an issue as we think. What is the alternative?

Would you rather we just accept that things will stay the same? That we will continue to build the narrative of division between each generation that enters the workforce until the end of time? That we will continue to insist humans will never work together seamlessly because of age-gaps?

Or would you rather each generation following the next remains the same, thinks the same way, and prioritizes the same things? We never change, we never progress and we never challenge things that have always been?

That all sounds pretty horrible.

Change and improvement has always been the way we have moved forward as a species. Bringing in new ideas, while still appreciating and understanding what has come before; not necessarily being tied down by them. That is what has allowed us to progress and will continue to do so.

So instead of placing so much emphasis on generational differences, let’s focus on generational similarities. The same shared emotional, social, physiological, needs that us as people have grappled with since the beginning of time.

Maybe then we’ll get somewhere.

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

Explore My Relationship Accelerator program for leaders:

→ If you’re still struggling to unlock the potential of your people and would like to make some meaningful change - our relationship accelerator program helps your leaders learn all they need to know about building effective relationships to drive success - in one day. Check it out here.

Or reach out at [email protected]