Managing Across Generations

One great thing about my experience in the Foreign Service is that I got to manage people very early in my career. This means that in my early 20s, I was managing people ranging from recent graduates to people who had 3 (or more) decades in the workforce. These are very different populations, with very different expectations for and needs from management. At the moment it is trendy to highlight (and parody) the differences between these groups at work. In my experience as a manager, the culture of the workplace determines the finer points of how best to manage a team composed of different generations. Here are a few tips for managing a generationally diverse team or organization that will keep you on the right path.

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Obviously, each member of your team is an individual, so they will have unique strengths and weaknesses. These may end up falling along the stereotypical generational lines, or they may not. The important thing is to maximize opportunities to use the strengths and try to help your employees become aware of, and learn to mitigate their weaknesses. I don’t just mean “hard” skills here either. Experienced employees often are critical to effective innovation in an organization because they have seen many initiatives succeed or fail. They are also likely to understand the unsaid expectations and relationship dynamics that determine the efficacy of a workplace. Employees newer to the workforce are perhaps the driving engine of social progress from within their organizations. They are quick to notice and point out biases, strategic errors, and gas between a company’s stated values and the way those values exist (or do not) at the working level.

Facilitate Useful Communication

I do not expect any two people to have the same inherent communication preferences and expectations, therefore a manager is critical in helping team members communicate effectively. You need to help establish a communication culture for your team so that everyone is able to understand each other and disagree respectfully when necessary. On the practical side, deciding on a preferred frequency and type of communication will help prevent potential miscommunications before they occur (ex: weekly team meeting, text/message before you call, stick to business hours, etc). You also serve as the conduit of information from leadership to the team. You need to do your best to get relevant information from leadership for them, and make sure leadership hears their ideas and concerns when useful.

Build Trust

By far the most important part of being a manager is establishing a strong trust-based relationship with each of your employees, and (hopefully) between your team members. If you can, you will want to give each team a chance to demonstrate their value to the team. A successful team is one built on collaboration rather than competition. Each team member needs to feel like they can count on the others to do their fair share and to cover a gap if needed. However, that means you need to ensure that all team members feel they can come to you if an imbalance emerges. The manager needs to juggle each employee’s goals and abilities to get all the work done, ideally in a way that helps each of them to meet their career goals.

In short, I like to think of managing like conducting an orchestra. You have a variety of instruments, each with their own sound, their own purpose. Your job is to help them sound good together.