MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY ...

NAVIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF A MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKPLACE

    How successfully are you navigating the waters of a multi-generational workplace?  Do you hear comments from supervisors that include, “This younger generation has no concept of work ethic or time!”  Do you have younger employees challenge, “I have a boss more concerned with rules than results; his/her last creative idea was sometime in the 1980s!”

     In fact as older workers delay retiring and younger workers are entering the workforce, the work environment has become a sea of varying perspectives and experiences.  In the near future we will see five generations in the workplace at once.  In the past we had three or four generations at a time with some but not vast differences in work behavior. 

     Although any study of generations includes generalizations and stereotypes, it does provide us an understanding of overall trends.  It’s important to note just because one is born in a particular era they may or may not exhibit the behaviors of the generation.  What’s important is that leaders and team members are aware of the diversity that exists and are skilled in how to play to all team members’ strengths rather than demand a one-size-fits-all approach to achieving excellence in results.  Have you, as an organizational leader, ensured your employees are skilled in understanding customer needs, interaction and work styles from different generational perspectives? 

     Consider the challenging navigational role for leaders in your organization faced with your most youthful employees, joining the workforce out of micromanaged childhoods and bringing serious technology addictions into the work environment.  Their predecessors, the “Gen Y”ers, seek constant feedback, which frustrates your Boomers and annoys the “Gen X”ers”.  If navigating generational diversity is a stress point, if you find it’s taking an inordinate amount of time and more skills than ever before, it may be time to strengthen your navigational tools. 

 

Understanding generational differences is critical to making them work for and not against your organization.  It is critical to creating trust, mutual respect, and teamwork.   

WHAT’S YOUR MAYDAY CALL?

    Mayday is a word used internationally as a distress signal in radio communications.  It is suggested it was derived from the French expression “venez m’aider”, meaning “come help me”, the last two syllables of which sound similar to “Mayday”.  What is you ‘Mayday’ call today?  Do you have a strong handle on where gaps exist within your organization?  Would those around you assess the state of your organization similarly to how you see it?  Do you know what others (those who work for you and those you report to) would identify as their ‘Mayday’ situations?  The only way to be a true value-add is to possess the ability to identify and take action on the ‘Mayday’ situations that exist. 

     It’s critical that a clear vision outcome is in place when evaluating ‘Mayday’ calls within your organization.  Team members must be skilled in prioritization, problem solving, decision making, action planning, and improvement implementation.  In reviewing how Mayday calls are practically handled, we see senders of Mayday calls are entitled to interrupt messages of lower priority.  Of course, the use of a Mayday term without proper cause could render the user liable to civil and/or criminal charges.  This means as we send out ‘Maydays’ and encourage others to identify Mayday situations we need skilled team members who are aware of their responsibilities and accountability to outcomes.  Otherwise, the invitation to identify Mayday situations can easily become a crash site littered with lack of results and folks simply acquiescing responsibility.  It’s critical that you stay informed and know what’s causing turbulence, it is equally important that ownership of outcomes and responsibilities remains clear.  Have you set up a system for ‘Mayday’ identification for team members and customers alike?  Rather than a crash landing, does your system ensure team members maintain ownership and accountability for delivering results? 

 

RESOURCE:  In the book, 10 Answer Keys, Communication with the 5 Generations in the Workplace, generational diversity is pointed to as the root cause of many of the problems in business today that affects growth, productivity, and erodes relationships in the workplace and in critical service interactions.