Consider this scenario: Employees enter a virtual meeting to discuss the wins and challenges of developing a new product. They see a variety of faces, reflecting the unique backgrounds, perspectives and skills possessed by their team. Each team member views progress differently and offers very different suggestions to continue moving development forward. In an ideal work environment, these team members will feel free to share their honest opinions and perspectives. They are more likely to do so if they know their team shares important values — like fostering psychological safety and a positive work culture.
Shared values among team members lead to better performance and success. Today, many teams are comprised of employees from multiple generations — including Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and baby boomers. Truist Leadership Institute’s research demonstrates that these four generations share work values, but friction occurs when they have different ways of expressing those values. This can pose a challenge for managers trying to get their team on the same page.
This article offers strategies learning and development (L&D) professionals can use to train managers on uniting multigenerational teams — fostering creativity, minimizing friction and addressing the unique needs of a market also represented by multiple generations.
Emphasize the team’s shared values.
Our research clearly demonstrates that co-workers from different generations hold shared values, with the top shared values being growth mindset, psychological safety, excellent work, fostering a positive environment and leading with intention. However, teammates may interpret others’ words or behaviors in ways that lead them to believe their co-workers have fundamentally different values than they do. That creates friction.
Why does friction happen? It’s likely that the teammates approach work in different ways while leveraging their strengths and talents. For example, younger generations may be more efficient using smartphone applications and older generations may be more efficient using desktop applications. Both teammates get the work done, but they differ in the tools they use to get things done.
Examine the friction between team members.
When friction occurs, managers need to examine the cause. Finding common ground goes beyond orienting toward a similar goal. It also involves understanding how values show up differently. Managers can help their teammates dig into whether negative feelings about an interaction stemmed from a simple misunderstanding or whether teammates are systematically interpreting behaviors and intentions differently based on their own beliefs about how to “correctly” demonstrate work values.
Consider an older teammate providing feedback to a younger one. The older one might write feedback with the goal of being accurate, efficient and helping the younger teammate learn. The younger teammate can interpret this communication in the spirit of how it was written — or may see it as cold, blunt and unhelpful. The shared work value of “honesty and transparency” is undermined because of interpretation — not a lack of positive intent.
Misunderstandings can happen over other forms of workplace etiquette — including sharing personal details in the office, working fast versus working smart, smartphone use and more. The specific friction experienced by a team will depend on the people who comprise it. But all team members stand to gain from a better understanding of each other. This includes understanding each other’s intentions, in addition to their actions. This should be a focus as managers facilitate interactions and collaborations among their multigenerational team.
Develop individual relationships with employees to honor their preferences.
There are many areas where generations demonstrate different preferences — including communication style from their team and manager, appetite for feedback, desire for reward and recognition, opportunities for development and promotion, overlap with corporate values and more.
A manager can do a lot to bring a multigenerational team together, but the team should take ownership of fostering and maintaining these connections. One of the most impactful things teammates can do is share their personal stories and perspectives. This can come through in their daily work, where members of intergenerational teams can be encouraged to share their work-related solutions and detail how their unique perspective assisted in their decision-making.
Additionally, managers can look to learning and development professionals to hold sessions for teams to work together in a fun, low-stakes setting with tools like app-based games. Another opportunity for building camaraderie within teams and across an organization comes from business resource groups, whereby teammates get to hear others’ stories and better understand the variety of lived experiences that comprise the company. Listening to personal stories allows teammates to appreciate the individual characteristics of people from other generations (and other groups) — giving teammates an opportunity to challenge any stereotypes they might hold.
To ensure employees get to take advantage of these opportunities, managers need to encourage their team to engage with them or even conduct their own empathy-building sessions. These could include simple exercises like sharing positive comments received from clients, expressing gratitude about something that made their work more meaningful or brightened their day, or answering predetermined prompts to help teammates talk about themselves. These exercises can make a team feel more comfortable with sharing their professional and personal selves, making it easier for the team to connect.
Managers should also learn about and honor their employees’ individual preferences by communicating with them. The generation an employee is from might or might not imply what they want. For example, many people realize artificial intelligence (AI) is important and show interest in upgrading skills — regardless of their generation. There’s no way to be sure about what employees want until their manager asks them directly. Then, managers need to work together with employees to create solutions that bring their preferences to life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, managers might observe friction among teammates with different experiences and preferences, but together the team can overcome these obstacles. The key is how managers and teammates navigate through tensions that might arise — by opting to see common ground, orienting toward shared goals and values, and honoring one another’s differences. These best practices will help the whole team feel respected, empowering them to share and mutually benefit from the wealth of experience that they each bring.
Truist Leadership Institute Disclaimer
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