The Myth of the Generation Gap in the Business World

I recently worked with a group of young emerging leaders who reaffirmed my confidence and hope in the millennial generation.

For three days in October, I watched this young, dynamic team boldly tackle challenges facing their organization, and I was impressed by how fun, open, energetic, smart, witty, and skilled they were. Think of any critical comment you've recently heard about millennials, and this generation gap training group trashed every negative stereotype.

Because I spend much of my time as a facilitator and executive coach for upper-level executives and managers (read: middle aged), I sometimes forget how engaging younger leaders can be. In my workshops, it's not unusual to hear an experienced manager voice passé cynicism when the group is generating ideas - a bit of "I've heard this all before." The organizational system has likely disappointed this person and used up much of his or her youthful energy. With less experienced emerging leaders - and please know that I mean this in the most complimentary way - there's a fresh cluelessness that is rather wonderful. They bring a renewal factor that reminds the rest of us to look again - and look differently.

If you're a more experienced or higher-level manager, you may admire the energy and passion of these emerging leaders, yet find yourself unsure about how to meaningfully connect or know how to elicit what you and your organization need from them. Here are some thoughts that can help you develop more effective connections:

To bridge the generation gap, first be a leader worth following
From a leadership standpoint, it's your job to be worth following. Why should younger team members follow you? What will you do to engage the best of what this group is capable of bringing? What vision for your organization do you offer? Where do emerging leaders fit into that vision? How are you relevant to them or the process? I'm often asked by experienced managers how to get younger employees to conform to "how things are done around here," implying that they are somehow failing us. But maybe we're failing them. The first step is to discover how anyone, regardless of age, would answer this fundamental question: "Why should I follow you?"

To bridge the generation gap, appreciate what emerging leaders offer
Technology is one of the great dividing lines: upper-level leaders are often intimidated by the very thing that comes most naturally to their younger counterparts. Middle-age histories include pay phones, VCRs, green on black monitors, and the sound of analog phone line connections. Today's university graduates, on the other hand, have never experienced a world without cell phones, DVD players, pixel-rich screen displays, and instantaneous, soundless wireless access.

On the Friday of my workshop with those emerging leaders, we met in a training facility provided by Microsoft - it was technology heaven. I watched as the younger members immediately started playing at all the display stations; they just got in there and started messing around, enjoying every moment. They instantly knew how to engage with whatever was in front of them while the middle-agers looked on with our own look of cluelessness. While on the surface these activities may look irrelevant, they actually reveal a rich thought process that can strengthen your organization and complement existing ways of leading. Your job is to create an environment that brings these ideas and ways of learning forward.