I've been engaged in a number of discussions over the past few weeks about "bridging the generation gaps" in the workplace and will actually be spending the next few months working closely with college students in their career management and job search activities. Some interesting points have been raised, but the fact of the matter is that, in reality, we have been dealing with multiple generations in the workplace for decades and decades.  It just looks very different today... Years ago, you established a career and climbed a ladder to the top.  Unfortunately, many groups of people were excluded from the climb based upon gender, race, age, religion, etc.  While yesterday's euphemism was a ladder, today's resembles more of a playground jungle gym or rock climbing wall.  It has been said that today's college graduates may have as many as 9 different careers and 3 different jobs within each career on average before they retire.

Getting back to the generation gaps.  It is more the case of the differences being more obvious today and having greater impact on how we all work together.  We also have additional generations in the workforce that didn't exist in years past. There was a time when you simply didn't count before age 25 or after age 62.  Today we have 18 year old entrepreneurs and so-called "seniors" working until age 80.

The discussions are fascinating and the information is valuable.  Now we need to move beyond simply identifying the generations (Seniors, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials, etc.) and begin to manage the gaps rather than simply pointing at them.  Yes, each group has values, beliefs, principles, strengths and shortcomings.  Rather than label employees and then ask everyone to fill the same roles in organizations, let's move to the next stage and get serious about what each person can do to move companies forward.  If someone within a certain group shows promise in customer loyalty but can't work a spreadsheet as effectively as someone who was virtually born with a computer mouse in hand, doesn't it appear obvious where those workers can deliver the greatest value?  If we are going to be so forward thinking as to identify who belongs to which group, why not play to everyone's strengths and not ask everyone to be everything?

Why talk about bridging the gaps if all we do is identify the groups, label people, and go back to business as usual?  Think of all the wasted or misplaced talent...

As always, let us know if we can help.

 - Lou G.