With four generations working side by side in the workplace and the generational shift in the workforce accelerating, what is the best way to help managers be more effective? Do managers need four different approaches to managing, one for each generation? No, no, no. That would be ridiculous. The generational lens we provide is meant to capture broad trends and give managers a quick short-hand to improve understanding.

The real day-to-day punch-lines for managers are three:
(#1) Focus on what everybody at work has in common: THE WORK ITSELF.
(#2) Bridge the different attitudes/expectations: COMMUNICATE ALL THE TIME.
(#3) Abandon one-size-fits-all assumptions: CUSTOMIZE! CUSTOMIZE! CUSTOMIZE!

How do you act on those punch-lines? Following is a selection of best practices we teach managers:

• Revisit the larger mission. What is the team's work in relation to the mission? What is every individual’s role in relation to the team’s mission? Replace individual longer-term job descriptions with vividly clear short-term assignments including concrete goals and deadlines. Make sure every individual's daily mission is clear and make sure every individual knows where and how that daily mission contributes to the larger mission.
• Maximize every individual's uniqueness. Is every person in a position that fits with his natural abilities? Does he have the skills and tools he needs? Are your expectations of him clear? Does he know exactly where he has a chance to exceed expectations, go the extra mile, and add his own creative twist?
• Create learn/teach plans so every employee with key knowledge, skill and wisdom can share it with other employees who need it. Turn employees into mentors of each other. Create an internal experts database so that fellow employees know who to turn to for learning on what matters.
• Establish formal time-out times with every person for one-on-one conversations with her immediate supervisor to refocus on short-term expectations.
• Circulate everyone's to-do lists and accomplishments.
• Help teams create conflict-resolution guidelines.
• Call an innovation summit quarterly or biannually.