One of the great joys of working with others is the diversity of life experiences. We can learn so much from one another.
Sometimes the differences create divisions. These are often unnecessary and not overly useful.
As leaders, we need to work not to resolve differences, but to harness them.
[TIP: You can learn all these skills with us in the Amplifiers™ Academy]
Leadership for the future needs us to be generation savvy
What are the generational differences?
First, there are life stage differences and priorities.
Boomers: Retired, or semi-retired, parents of Generation Y
Gen X: Looking towards retirement, parenting Generation Z
Gen Y: Family-forming and stabilising, parenting Generation Alpha
Gen Z: Students and starting a career. Will be 1/3 of the workforce in 10 years
Here’s how priorities are shaped as a result of these life stages:
Boomers: Interested in making a contribution, mentoring, and topping up their retirement income.
Gen X: Working towards their retirement nest egg, mentoring younger leaders, and leaving a meaningful legacy.
Gen Y: Balancing the competing tensions of raising a family, looking after ageing parents, and maximising career opportunities.
Gen Z: Spreading their wings, making friends, and making inroads at the beginning of their career.
We need to understand the leadership and learning mindsets of different generations
According to Dr Rick Chromey, author of GenTech, it is the technology that was established during our coming of age years that most shapes our values and perspective.
Boomers: The Moon landing and space race. Mindset implications: anything is possible if we work hard together to achieve it.
Gen X: VCR and video games. We can win if we play the game.
Gen Y: Computers and mobile phones. We move forward when individuals are recognised and given opportunities.
Gen Z: Internet and smartphones. Connection is currency. Everything's better together.
Gen Alpha: Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. A.I. as learning and delivery partners. Diversity is the default.
How to lead diverse generations at work
Much of what may emerge is still unknown. As leaders, it is often better to lead with well-considered questions than answers.
In conversation with Amplifiers™, we put forward these questions:
How do we share our different perspectives on technology?
How does our education shape how we approach technology at work?
How does the current expectation of ‘learn it yourself with YouTube videos’ affect people’s approach to new technology at work?
How do we balance a strong risk framework with an explorer mindset in integrating different technologies at work?
How can we build curiosity in the different life experiences and lens the different generations bring to work?
What is the profile of the decision-makers in the organisation? How can we add more diversity, through generations, culture, generations, to explore more of the possibilities?
What assumptions am I making about different generations that are shaping my behaviour and attitude towards others in the workplace?
Leadership actions to take for leading generations at work
We closed our conversation with choosing useful actions to progress the thinking:
Create a space for a conversation about how people are thinking and feeling about current and emerging technologies.
Explore different attitudes and preferences for learning - what works best for individuals?
Hold a conversation with the explicit objective of exploring perspective through a generation lens.
Make sure we all have a common language. When we say ‘let’s leverage technology’, what are we referring to exactly? Which technology? How do we define ‘leverage’?
As always, there is much more to leadership than setting a plan and saying ‘go’. It’s a lifelong journey of discovery. Enjoy it!
Live well, lead well.
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Future of Leadership: Explore Map Adapt - The practice of 'exploring'
About Zoë Routh, Canberra leadership futurist
Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist, podcaster, and multiple award-winning author. She works with leaders and teams to explore what's coming and what it means for leadership of the future.
She has worked with individuals and teams internationally and in Australia since 1987. From wild Canadian rivers to the Australian Outback, and the Boardroom jungles, Zoë is an adventurist! She facilitates strategy and culture for the future with audacious teams.
Zoë's fourth leadership book, People Stuff - Beyond Personality Problems: An advanced handbook for leadership, won the Book of the Year at the Australian Business Book Awards in 2020. Her fifth book is a leadership futurist science fiction dystopian novel, The Olympus Project.
Zoë is the producer of the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast, dedicated to asking “What if…?” and sharing big ideas on the Future of Leadership.
Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run 6 marathons, is a one-time belly-dancer, has survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to a gorgeous Aussie and is a self-confessed dark chocolate addict.