Bridging the Generational Gap in the Workplace

Finding connection through coaching

Within a workplace, many different types of people are brought together for a common cause, including professionals from across different generations. No one knows as well as an HR professional the ways in which generational differences can spark innocent misunderstandings into recurring irritations, or even major tensions that seriously challenge a team’s productivity. 

According to “Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Managers,” a joint survey from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), generational differences are, ultimately, mere age differences. This insight doesn’t make the challenges that sometimes come with these differences any less real, but it can make them easier to understand and address.
 

HR professionals are often on the front lines when it comes to navigating inter-employee challenges that can come from these age differences. With a fundamental goal of connecting people with themselves and others, coaching can help a team move past these differences and communicate more effectively. Applying coaching practices to your organization is an effective method to address and dismantle assumed notions of coworkers in different age groups and find ways to communicate better and move forward together. Of equal importance, coaching can help HR professionals to navigate their own age-related biases in how they engage with employees so that they are even more effective at supporting everyone who needs their expertise.

Prejudice is a natural function of the brain’s need to compartmentalize and make conclusions. It is so ingrained into our thought processes it often goes unnoticed. But to dismantle prejudice within ourselves and others, we must first be aware that it exists. 

For example, a Generation X-er might be frustrated when her Millennial co-worker seems to dominate every meeting with his own opinions, rather than listen to the experience of their older Baby Boomer teammates. A coach may be able to help the Generation X team member explore her feelings, and reach a better understanding of the ways her own perspective on the situation—perhaps a belief that younger team members should refrain from speaking up until more-experienced colleagues have had a chance to speak—impacts the team’s ability to work well together. With a better understanding of where her feelings come from, the Generation X-er may realize that her frustration is not really about her Millennial co-worker’s perceived failings, but rather her own hesitation to speak up to older coworkers. 

With this new understanding, the Generation X-er can better collaborate with her Millennial co-worker and find ways that they can jointly run the meeting while maintaining respect for their Baby Boomer peers. Now, it’s a win-win for team members across all generations.

When human resources can support its organization’s teams with access to coaches or by fostering a coaching culture, they are providing a powerful tool for self-reflection, enhanced communication and a stronger overall team dynamic as employees are released from their age-related biases. When team members shift out of a prejudiced state and find understanding, trust, and connection, it not only sets them free as individuals and team members but can also save the organization time, money and effort.

No matter a person’s age or position, their actions are linked to their values. One person may value efficiency and therefore put off refilling the printer paper until it runs out; another person may value time flowing smoothly during the workday, so she may refill it every morning, whether it’s needed or not. Neither employee is wrong, but they are operating based on different values. Often, the disconnect between generations in the workplace stems from a lack of understanding of others’ values. When this occurs, reactions from other team members may lead to blame, shame or criticism. Coaching can help a team to think beyond themselves and find unifying values within a common culture.

Seeking connections is innately human—it transcends age, gender and skill differences, and helps us focus on our similarities, rather than our differences. Coaching techniques such as asking powerful questions can help coworkers connect and overcome the innate biases that often come between different generations in the workplace. Remember, people do the best they can with what they know at the time. Coaching can help HR professionals and team members to approach situations with more kindness and consideration, which helps us to break beyond biases. These human values span across generations, and the more we demonstrate them, the more authentic and innovative our business culture tends to be.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

When employees communicate with the underlying assumption of their values as universal, miscommunication, confusion and frustration are more likely to result. Worse, the assumption that others think the same way as they do can lead to missed signals.

Communicating from shared and known values, which can be developed with the support of a coaching culture, helps bridge the gap of communication. 

Here are some tactics you can share with teams struggling with generational differences for improved, values-based communication:

Generational differences are often a matter of age differences, driven by team members with unique perspectives and underlying values. Providing coaching for team members or implementing a coaching culture can help bridge these gaps and foster better understanding between coworkers. Coaching can also better equip HR professionals to identify and dismantle their own biases in their work with employees. A better understanding of others naturally creates connections, which engenders a symbiotic sense of goodwill, respect, and kindness—traits that are valued by all people, no matter their age.

The success of Flame Schoeder’s work is found in the difference it makes in her clients’ lives.  As a personal development coach, she empowers both individuals and teams to reach their full potential not just for a day, but for a lifetime.  Her passion for making a difference is matched by her experience. She has coached over 3,000 hours – more than almost any other coach her age. Flame became one of the youngest team members of the Academy for Coaching Excellence in 2010.  She has gone on to earn the confidence of her peers with the International Coach Federation’s first global Young Coach Leader Award in 2018.   Visit www.coachflame.com Connect Flame Schoeder