Generations

By Sara Barnes

GENERATIONS

by Sara Barnes

There is a lot of unresolved conflict connected to diverse generational culture and expectations.

Functioning productively and negotiating roles and expectations among generations requires commitment and flexibility.?

In families and communities, the older generations often take the role of preservationists, the younger become the innovators, and the middle attempt to bring things into balance.

For many, this generational conflict plays out within the family and workplace, with respective generations both causing and handling misunderstandings.

Samantha Hardy of The Conflict Management Academy suggests looking out for core-value clashes and offers some resolution approach tips for intergenerational conflict:

• Understand where people from different generations are likely to be coming from and avoid stereotyping.
• Try to unpack values and needs.
• Negotiate expectations about:
• Communication?
• Timing
• Confidentiality
• Safety
• Leverage age differences as complementary and not in opposition.
• Act as a translator across different generations.

The best approach is to interact with various generations and work to become cross-generationally competent.

Like always, diversity, respect and understanding will go a long way toward peace making and future focused conflict resolution across the ages.