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There is a demographic shift confronting leaders. The newest generation is born in the internet age, between 1997 and 2012, are now consumers in the market and entering the workforce at an astounding rate. This makes the current workforce a mix of Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and the Gen Zers. Generation Alpha is next.
Managing rapid change
The employment landscape is evolving rapidly. Until now, knowledge work has had an industrial feel to it, in that it was more process oriented than cognitive in nature. In keeping with industrial principles, a focus on efficiency has led to cultural homogeneity.
Novel situations require an innovative response. Cultural homogeneity is an innovation suppressant. Diversity is key. There are many lenses to explore this theme. Here, we will focus on age.
Recognizing Generational Labelling
Stereotyping is an illness that permeates the workplace. Common ones include âBoomers are hardworking but canât use techâ or âMillennials are tech-savvy, but lack employer loyaltyâ and how about âGen Zers are socially conscious but are unable to pay attentionâ.
Generational labellings are truisms proposed by sociologists who draw their conclusions by looking at groups rather than individuals. If we are to get the best from our people, then such stereotyping may backfire.
However, each generation, by virtue of exposure to a unique set of world events and social norms, sees the world of work differently. They value different things and have different expectations as to the value work provides them. Similarly, each generation will likely harbour unique stereotypical views of the other generations.
We should guard against stratifying talent management initiatives along these generational lines, despite the media attention. Thus, we need to move away from a âone size fits allâ approach.
Empowering a multi-generational workforce to thrive
Cognition is the key ingredient for innovation and innovation is how organisations and organisms respond to disruption. How do we create the conditions to maximise cognitive output?
We suggest a two-step process.
First, we must âplug the cognitive leaksâ, i.e. remove anything that leads to squandered cognition, for example, poor communication. Once the leaks are plugged, we can then seek marginal gains to maximise the cognitive flow concentration, i.e. the amount of cognition available per worker that is available for doing innovative work.
The notion of marginal gains was created by David Brailsford who transformed the fortunes of the British cycling team. Brailsford emphasised meticulous attention to every aspect of performance, no matter how small. This included optimising the ridersâ physical conditioning, refining their mental preparation, and enhancing their recovery processes.
The way to maximise cognitive flow is to get the best from your people rather than the most.
Plugging the Cognitive Leaks in Your Organization
- Build psychological safety into the organisationâs culture. People will not share their ideas if they are potentially going to be ignored.
- Reengineer the workplace to be less battery farm and more âfree rangeâ. Maximise worker autonomy by eliminating micromanagement. Recognise that there is a need for both social spaces and spaces for individual reflection.
- Judge workers, particularly knowledge workers, on their outputs and not their activities. Develop a hybrid working policy that is less about showing the workers who is boss and more about giving the workers the option to work from home when that best suits their professional and personal needs.
- Value innovation over process adherence. An innovative mindset and a comfort with failure are required. Ensure systems, including IT systems, support creativity rather than hinder it.
- Build a graceful organisation: Your organisationâs culture should reflect genuine respect for others regardless of personal feelings. Civility underpins a graceful organisation. It is okay to disagree, but not to be disagreeable.
- Care for the person and not just the task. As a manager or a leader, you need a job to be done, but the person is not just a resource to be exploited. It is important that you check in with them in respect of their life in general and show kindness if, for example, they have suffered a family bereavement.
Clearly cognitive leak plugging has benefits across the whole workforce. In respect of cultivating marginal gains, letâs focus on capitalising on the age diversity of the workforce.
Harnessing Age Inclusion
- Create a bi-directional mentoring system
Older people can share their hard-won lessons. Young people can share their digital productivity hacks. Older workers carry the cultural DNA of the organisation as well as the skills and experience needed to be successful there. The DNA is preserved when young and old work together, Similarly, the younger people are fast-tracked to productivity. They can also challenge the cultural DNA. The way we have done things around here may or may not be the best way of doing things in a rapidly changing world.
- Foster healthy competition between generations
Stimulate cross generational interaction by creating multigenerational workgroups. This works particularly well in respect of ideation / solution seeking activities. See what happens when we ask the different generations to come up with solutions to a problem. One generation may be clearly better at some things. You wonât know unless you experiment. Keep it light, we donât want to cause a permanent age-related rift!
- Help cultivate strong bonds
Create social spaces and opportunities for the generations to get to know each other. Encourage informal discussions that promote a better understanding of each other as individuals. None of us want to be perceived as a collection of generalisations.
The opportunity s in creating an environment that enables all workers to perform to their full potential. Smart and innovative organisations will see cognition as an important organisational asset. They will recognise that they can grow this asset significantly by reducing, or eliminating, the friction that arises when there is distrust between the generations. An increasingly abnormal world requires a more adaptive approach. Enabling innovation is key to remaining viable.
This article is a result of intergenerational collaboration between a millennial and a boomer, reflecting their respective perspectives and experiences as knowledge workers.
About the authors:
Ade McCormack, based in the UK, is founder of the Intelligent Leadership Hub, a think tank focused on helping leaders navigate an increasingly disrupted world.
Yavnika Khanna, based in the US, is a millennial entrepreneur who helps purpose-driven founders to amplify their impact as a CEO of Impactika Consulting. Yavnika also leads press and media relations for the Drucker Forum.