Discard Stereotypes When Managing Across Generations

Anyone over a certain age has wrestled with the moment: realizingthat your dentist, your doctor, your boss is young enough to be your daughter.Taking advice or direction from someone who seems to be a mere child can betough. Managing employees who are older and may have more experience can alsobe a challenge.

For the first time, five generations share the workplace.Many “youngsters” are moving into management or running their own companies. Theresult? More employees report to a boss who’s younger than they are, oftenconsiderably younger.

That, on its own, can cause tension. That tension is likelyexacerbated by generational stereotypes, which go both ways. Older employeesare thought to be slow, technically ignorant, resistant to change. Youngeremployees are thought to be selfish, entitled, glued to their phones.

The truth, of course, is far more nuanced, and managers needto address stereotypes and other sources of resistance or resentment beforeproblems develop.

Let go of stereotypes

Individual employees’ likes and dislikes, preferences,strengths, and weaknesses are diverse; their priorities are also affected bytheir age, education, cultural background, and financial situation. Therefore,managers of a team that is diverse in age and background face the reality that employeesare at different stages in their lives: Some might be saving for their firsthouse or starting a family, while others are fretting about the cost of puttingtwo children through college. Some might value a raise more, while others aremore motivated by a flexible schedule or benefits that include gym membershipsand time for training that will advance their careers.

Some interpersonal tensions might be generational, in thatpeople of different generations grew up with different expectations “of culture and communication, likearound career development and feedback,” said Alex O’Connor, asenior writer and researcher at Jhana, aSan Francisco­­–based company that delivers microlearning via email tofirst-level managers, especially those who are new to management. “This always gets chalked up to [Baby] Boomersgrowing up in a world where you could put in your hours, put your head down,and 40-plus years later come away with a pension, while Millennials (andmaybe Gen Xers) don’t feel safe in one job and are also aware their best chancefor advancement is actually by making a move to another company,” he said in anemail interview. But there is more to the story. “While there is plenty of truth here, let’snot overlook that these groups are at different stages of their careers, andthat’s just as big if not a bigger factor in what they now want out of theircareers, jobs, and managers.”

That is, differences have less to do with belonging to aparticular generational cohort than with age and individuality: People in theirlate 20s and 30s have always tended to be more concerned about startingfamilies than people in their 50s; it has nothing to do with being a Millennialor a member of Generation Y.

As “Portrait of the Modern Learner” describes, employees of all ages have more in commonthan many managers assume. Their expectations—of their managers, of the digitalworkplace, of eLearning and other training—are remarkably consistent. But thatdoesn’t mean there isn’t tension when members of different generations worktogether and, more to the point, manage one another.

A common source of tension, according to O’Connor, is “an overarching difference in what peoplefrom different generations expect in terms of workplace culture andcommunication.” With younger employees favoring text and chat, and olderemployees favoring phone contact, many teams run into a problem: “too many waysto communicate, people relying on their preferred methods, and wires gettingcrossed, things getting lost,” O’Connor said.

What’s a manager to do?

O’Connor suggests that a manager facing pushback—say, froman older direct report—ask for help from that employee. It “doesn’t matter if you think the pushback iscoming from genuine concern or from a place of resentment,” he said. “If it’sgenuine concern, accept that they have plenty of valuable experience and seewhat they can help with and want to help with. It might not always be clear ifan older direct report is feeling resentful. So by asking for help, it mightactually become more obvious—because they’ll be reluctant to help.” In thatcase, he adds, asking for the resentful employee’s help might turn things aroundby causing the employee to feel guilty—and assuage that guilt by cooperating.

O’Connor cautionsyounger managers against anything that could look like favoritism, such assocializing with younger direct reports while excluding older employees. And, ofcourse, he recommends “open, honest communication” to combat assumptions andfind common ground.

Talking aboutpreferences can help: for example, when teams confront the common problem oftoo many communication options and clashing preferences. “We [at Jhana]recommend managers and teams explicitly align their communication preferencesand expectations: Let’s use email for this, chat for this. Let’s not ‘reply all’when ‘X.’ Let’s be sure we send a chat message to confirm intra-team phonecalls before making them; let’s have email policies like keeping them no morethan one scroll’s worth of text, or no emailing after 5:00 PM except inemergencies, etc.,” O’Connor said.

There’s a dose ofrealism, too: “It’s so easy to jump to say, ‘open, honest dialogue,’” O’Connoracknowledged. “I think it works for aligning approaches to projects, but byitself is not enough for combating stereotypes.”

What else is there?How can teams overcome their assumptions and work together?

“That can be doneby learning more about each other. Some tactics there might include: teamlunches, setting up recurring team coffee chats, managers having one-on-ones,teams setting up shared team values (e.g., mottos, shared language, sharedjokes, etc.), doing some ‘get to know your team’ exercises that get at thespecific tension points like ‘how do you like to communicate or receivefeedback,’ etc.,” O’Connor said.

Jhana has articles,checklists, and worksheets to guide managers who are dealing with team tension,he said, including articles on managing older direct reports and improving teamcommunication. A new Jhana series on unconscious bias also addresses someissues that crop up when employees from different cohorts—including agecohorts—work together.