The ‘Swiggy’ vs ‘Lunch-dabba’ Generation

Emotional Intelligence to bridge the generational gap at the workplace

In my early days as a trainer in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the labour-management divide was the big crunch. When companies did factory-based learning interventions, one of the objectives was to create a win-win attitude in blue-collar employees, to get them to view management as partners and not adversaries. I worked with several companies in the Manesar-Gurgaon belt, where we helped bring alignment between these two groups.

But now we are waking up to a different gap which needs to be bridged— the breach between 3 cohorts of generations:

-Boomers (born before 1965) The terminology of baby boomers is very American, and another name suggested is “New Agers” because ‘aging hasn’t happened before this way in society.’ I like this term better, being a New Ager myself.

-Gen X (born between 1965 to 1980). The "X" refers to an unknown variable or to a desire not to be defined.

-Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000). Millennials are often the children of the baby boomers. In 2013, Time magazine ran a cover story titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation.

Here are 3 examples across different industries I saw in my work as a consultant recently:

Mayank, 25, chose to work as a mental health worker with street children after graduating in Psychology from a top University. He is committed, passionate and very gentle with the children. But with his fierce idealism, he is finding very hard to adjust in the organization where his older, experienced colleagues have their own rough and tumble ways of dealing with this tough world of many greys, which includes organizational politics.

Krishna, 26, was promoted to the position of ‘Execution Manager’ in a technology company. The average age for this position is 40 years. His boss (Gen X) opposed this promotion, but the decision was taken by another senior person who saw the fire and potential in Krishna. In the current situation, during meetings and decision making, Krishna feels his views are not sought or considered. When all Execution Managers go for an evening out to meet a big shot who has come from the parent company, Krishna is often excluded from the ‘big boys club’.

At a Hospital, Mrs Kurup, 56, the Nursing Head is highly committed to her profession of patient care. But she feels distressed when the young team under her disregards her teachings, her instructions. And what pinches her most of all is that she doesn’t get the respect she feels is due to her - which she perceives from their body language and casual attitude. And she is baffled when the youngsters refuse to work over-time as they have personal priorities.

New Agers feel: it has taken me this long to reach where I am. I have slogged it out with long hours of hard work. How dare these brash and overly smart pups walk in and expect to become CEOs straight after college? And when they are slightly inconvenienced, they have the temerity to come and bring it up, and assert their rights to their version of fair treatment. They are self-absorbed with this ‘selfie’ culture, and their addiction to dopamine from ‘likes’ is skewing their perception of reality.

Millennials feel: the older generation is rigid , their methods are outdated, and are unwilling to learn new, more efficient ways to get work done; are smug workaholics who play corporate politics. They are dogs-in-the-manger who want to block the growth of youngsters just because they have experienced a different pace of advancement.

In addition to name calling, there are feelings of anger, impatience, resentment and helplessness from both sides. And yet, despite the generation gap, both groups just want to be understood. The older generation is nonplussed: “I don’t know how to speak the language of this generation, or how to motivate them.” And millennials know that part of their perspective is missing, but find it difficult to relate to the authoritarianism and controlling behaviours of their seniors.

Generational differences have always existed, why it matters now

Large numbers of New Agers are retiring and are taking with them their institutional knowledge which they have accumulated over the years. At the same time there is an influx of new and inexperienced workforce. For the next two decades, all three generational cohorts will be working together. They have grown up under different circumstances and as a result have different outlooks to life. They are struggling to understand each other, and if they don’t, there will be conflict.

Recently I was speaking to the Personnel Director of one of the largest corporations in India. He mentioned that over the last 4 years, 4,000 out of the 13,000 plus executives are millennials. He is concerned about the impact of the different values and behaviours on the culture, as well as sales and customer interaction. By 2020, this group is expected to make up 50% of the entire workforce.

With many New Agers in management positions, their ability to effectively communicate and elicit productivity from the millennial is vital to the organization’s success. Similarly, if the younger generation feel they are not taken seriously or priorities misunderstood, they will lose interest and jump ship.

Some management practices for bridging the generational gap

1.     Highlighting differences

Acknowledging differences will call out the elephant in the room. This can be done through explorations through our unique training workshop we offer called ‘Mind the Gap’; as this is also a form of diversity which needs to be understood and acknowledged. This will help in misunderstandings not being taken personally (it’s a relief to know and label ‘Oh, this is the millennial/ New Age syndrome, the behaviour is not targeting me’); and once differences are recognized, the strengths can be leveraged.

 2.     Finding common ground

Some group exercises to facilitate understanding each other and discovering what the different generations have in common : Lunch and Learns, After work parties, Completive events. 

3.     Establish a mentorship program

Pairing a New Ager with a millennial – where they both learn from each other. They meet once a month and ask questions like: How’s work? What are your goals? What do you want in life? 

4.     Remind the older generation of their responsibility to foster the working relationship

While it is the responsibility of both sides to understand each other and work together, New Agers are more experienced and mature.  

An understanding of generational differences is one of the most important issues to tackle in organisations today. Its important to take time to determine points of this inter-group conflict. Generational conflicts are inevitable, but they can be managed, actually leveraged if differences are embraced as each has much to learn from the other.

Call us (at 9810201297) if you want to explore this wonderful gap between the generations. Through the framework of Emotional Intelligence and Psychodrama we mine the gold when differences and similarities across the generational cohorts are acknowledged, accepted and leveraged.

illustration credit:dailyasianage.com