The age of a typical workforce has never been more diverse.
This was a natural demographic shift which has been accelerated by the economic climate which is requiring many senior and middle executives to find new careers paths. These new career paths are often coming at a different level or in a different sector to the one in which they had previously been working.
Which raises a lot of questions regarding intergenerational attitudes and communication. In this blog I want to focus on the strengths that each age has with a desire to smooth the communication and relations between different ages.
“In my day. . .” -When someone starts a sentence like that younger workers typically do a mental eye roll and sigh inwardly if not outwardly however I’d like to present a thought that might limit the sighing, whether inner or outer! Let’s consider some of the ’old school’ techniques of doing business.
These are things like networking with people, professionalism, keeping a good diary system; all techniques that are still recommended. Now there might be new methods of doing them (Linkedin for networking for example) however the principles are old. So “In my day. . . ” might simply be the start of a description of a good solid business principle that could then be implemented in a newer way by the younger listener.
Equally if a person has been in business thirty years it stands to reason that they have done many activities repeatedly. The older person has probably tried, failed and retried many things many times – thus, hopefully learned some things along the way. I would suggest that there is a value in listening to their stories (i.e. their experience) to see what tips can be taken and applied today. It might be they can shorten the learning curve for their younger audience.
Speak with an open mind - If the above advice was aimed at the younger party then this is for the older one – young keen workers and executives have lots of experiences that frankly older generations haven’t had. Consequently they know first hand about things that older generations typically have only heard about.
It is very easy to deride and dismiss new views and new fads as just that; fads. However if the younger audience would be advised to listen with an open mind then the older speaker would be wise to keep an open mind also.
The younger person has a different perspective and might be sceptical, or take longer to accept, the advice presented. It’s important to limit your expectations of the impact your hard won wisdom will have and also very important to be open to the ideas being changed or challenged based on a younger point of view; and they might be right – for them.
What worked thirty years ago might still work today but possibly, with a modern twist or tweak, it could work even better.
Passing over knowledge is literally that, passing it over. The recipient then has ownership. It is important to be open minded over what they will do, or how they will feel, about it.
Everyone has a story to tell – If you have been in business for any length of time you will have stories to tell. These will range from the mundane to the truly profitable! It is powerful to listen to other people’s stories as you never know what truth or wisdom will be contained within it.
If you filter your listening through an internal age filter either mentally saying;
”What will this person have to share with me they are too young.”
or
“What will this person have to share with me they are past it.”
then I guarantee you will be missing out. For evidence of that I would tell you that it was a relatively young colleague of mine who once told me that ‘everyone has a story to tell’ and upon consideration I realised they were right.
Always remember age does not guarantee wisdom and youth does not guarantee ignorance. Listen to their story and then take a view.
Respect -the key point from this blog is that everyone has something to bring to the table. Psychologically people’s expectations are heavily influenced by the perceived age of the person with whom they are communicating.
It takes discipline and mental effort to change your thinking to be more open and to drop ageist filters. A factor to help is simply chosing to have enough respect for everyone so that you can listen with an open mind.
By doing so you will open yourself up to a wider world of influences, ideas and suggestions. Additionally I suspect that the respect you show to others will go some way towards lowering the age filters that they apply when you speak!
Until next time; be successful
Stephen
Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker
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Coming next on edenchanges.com – The Power of Focus!
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