Managing the Generation Mix™ - Part III By Dr. Carolyn Martin & Bruce Tulgan

Hold a generational diversity summit: Call your team together in a day-long meeting to leverage the strengths of the different generations in your workplace. The purpose is to share insights, clear up misunderstandings, get focused, and spur innovation. You’ll need a well-informed, motivated, and engaging facilitator to lead the summit. We recommend the following program format:

SESSION #1. Break the participants into small groups according to age cohorts: Generation Y (born 1978 or later), Generation X (born 1965-1977), Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964), and Silents (born 1945 or before). Each group should brainstorm on two questions: What are some traits typical of your generation? What are some traits typical of each of the other generations? Each group should spend ten minutes brainstorming about each generation. After forty minutes, reconvene the larger group. Have each smaller group report to the larger group their lists of traits for each generation. Focus on one generation at a time. Allow the discussion to flow.

SESSION #2. Now break the larger group into new -- intergenerational -- groups. Each group should brainstorm on three questions: What were your expectations about a career and a working life when you first entered the workplace? How have your expectations changed? How are YOU experiencing the changes in the workplace now? After thirty minutes, reconvene the larger group and have each smaller group report on their findings. Allow the discussion to flow.

SESSION #3. Return to the same small intergenerational groups and brainstorm on two new questions: What do you feel you have to offer that will be of particular value to those of other generations on our team? How can YOU benefit from the differences of those in other generations? After twenty minutes, have the smaller groups report back to the larger group. Allow the discussion to flow.

SESSION #4. Return again to the same small intergenerational groups. Individuals should take turns answering six questions: What is our organization’s mission? What is our team’s mission? What can we do as a group to improve? What is my role as an individual in relation to the team’s mission and the organization’s mission? What can I do to learn and grow and do a better job in my role? Where do I hope to be and what do I hope to be doing in one year? After one hour, the smaller groups will report back to the larger group. Allow the discussion to flow.

Over the years, in our Managing the Generation Mix™ seminars, we have seen this process work wonders. Generational diversity is a new lens through which to understand the profound changes happening in the workplace today. Use it to refresh and refocus your team.