Baby Boomers - Introduction and Articles
Baby Boomers - Who are they?
Born: 1946 – 1964
• Environmental Impacts: The Vietnam War, civil rights movement, Watergate. The expanding economy after WWII. America was on top during an economic boom. The climate was one of hope, a new beginning, and optimism with a growing middle class, where most households had one parent working – the father, and college education was affordable
• Gifts: They are typically strong team players, and excellent mentors with a wealth of experience. They are the parents of Millennials. To advance, one must pay their dues first. Optimistic, competitive, workaholic, team-oriented.
• Values: Company loyalty, teamwork, duty.
• Communication style: Whatever is most efficient, including phone calls and face to face.
• Perspective: Achievement comes after paying one’s dues; sacrifice for success.
• Work Requirements: Set specific goals and deadlines; encourage mentoring roles.
• Work Style: Value their work experience and institutional knowledge, generously sharing knowledge through mentoring. Boomer's shortcomings may include a lack of technical savviness, resistance to change, and a desire for structure and discipline, blinding them to innovation and thinking outside of the box. Additionally, they may project an attitude that says, "I paid my dues and so do you”.
SOURCE: Purdue University Global
Managers and Leaders, Are You Up to the Challenge of Leading Young Professionals?
It is time to review your people practices and ask yourself are you embracing the right behaviors?
Whether we are talking about HR practices, culture, the generations, and remote work – what you did last year and what you do this year in 2022 have to change to meet the extraordinary challenges facing corporations and businesses. Specifically - 1. the great resignation, 2. young professionals are demanding more, and 3. radical changes in work lives (remote, hybrid).
Here are a few facts – according to PEW Research. The 3 major reasons for leaving jobs in 2021 cite: low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected. This article addresses two factors – perception of no opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected.
Review of People Practices
Generational Expectations
Each generation has different expectations about work. The older generations (Gen X (ages 41 to 55) and Baby Boomers (56 – 74)) have pretty low expectations about work. They want independence to get the job done; they tend to do as they are told; where Boomers are promoters of face-time in the office (as leaders, many desire having people back in the office); and Boomers tend to treat others as they were treated (usually with little personal interactions and with a focus on doing as they were told).
Compare this with young professionals (ages 21 – 25 Gen Z and ages 26 – 28 Millennials) who expect much more from work. They want financial security and work to be fun, engaging, authentic, caring, with engaging leadership, and an opportunity for learning and growing.
Generational Disconnects
Perhaps you are leading a team that is homogeneous in terms of generation or, more likely, you are leading a multi-generational team. Here are a few stories that point to how important it is for a manager/leader to understand generational differences and to recognize some of the friction points and have the courage to address them and increase understanding.
Young professionals value authenticity. Since many leaders are Boomers, extending themselves in the ways that young professionals desire, requires some development and growth perhaps through coaching. Without it, a Boomer leader may miss the boat continuing to hide in the corner office and making decisions without input from others, causing rising resentment and feeding the exodus.
Millennials thrive when working in teams. A group would meet in the mornings in the coffee room and the conversation would grow animated and louder as they brain stormed some of the critical issues at their work. The Gen X leader, not knowing that this is how they work best together, broke up the group and sent them back to their individual desks. More reasons for morale to suffer.
In an open work area, a mixture of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers worked together. The Gen Z and Millennials preferred to have the lights out with earbuds in their ears. The Gen X and Boomers were annoyed for two reasons – they couldn’t see well in the dark and they had to get up and tap the Gen Z and Millennials on the shoulder to get their attention.
How Do Your Cultural Values Measure Up?
It is time for a review. Your culture may work well to support your business, but how is it working to support people? If you focus not on what is done but how it is done, you will begin to shape a culture that supports people.
Here are some final thoughts about how leadership needs to change
Old Way of Leading
Even when trained, management had their hands tied (HR Policies) and couldn’t resolve issues (one size does not fit all)
Control the agenda/closed system
Only person who has the knowledge
Hierarchy prevails
Authority: They do What I Tell Them to Do
Promoted Based on Technical/Functional Knowledge
Management Divorced from the Team
New Way of Leading
Mediocrity doesn’t work anymore. A more nuanced and tailored approach is needed in a multi-generational workforce and to appeal to young professionals
Leaders need to be more Open to input and Opinions from others
Transparency is critical
Meet the Challenges of Remote Work
EQ, Empathy, and Engagement are Critical Qualities for Leaders
Strive for Authentic Leadership and Inclusive Organizations
In Promoting Managers, Focus on EQ Over Functional Expertise/ Recommend Intensive Management Training to Raise the Bar
Formulate Coaching and Engagement Practices to Meet the Challenges of Remote Work
Launch Mentoring Programs, including Reverse Mentoring
If you would like my recommendations for a People Review of your organization, please contact us.
If you need help identifying and making critical changes in your organization and to your management style, please contact me at lesley@changingbehaviorsconsulting.com
I will give you one hour of consulting advice for free.
Some Pointers on Working with Stressed Gen Zers
I am hearing some interesting descriptions of Gen Z at their worst – whiney, complaining, not my job, he/she hurt my feelings, seeking praise and promotions, and responding negatively to feedback. One explanation is that Gen Zers experience stress. It could be stress of succeeding, stress of failing, stress of looking good, stress of being liked, stress of finances, and any number of stresses outside of work.
Gen Zers report enduring more “extreme” stress than other generations, and, overall, 58% say they’re at least moderately stressed, which is a really telling number. Axis – Understanding Gen Z
Another method for getting rid of stress is the practice of “Quiet Quitting,” as described in the August 14th edition of Forbes Magazine. In this practice, you keep your job but do just enough to get by, responding when you need to but not going above and beyond. Actually, this concept has been around for years, and these employees were referred to as “B Players” as opposed to the “A Players”. It makes sense that Quiet Quitting relieves stress because instead of a constant state of vigilance, focused on driving oneself and measuring progress, the Gen Zer can just relax and do what needs to get done, and often function more effectively in this relaxed state.
From a leadership perspective, the Quiet Quitter is an employee that is not particularly engaged. As an employer, if you don’t want a room full of quiet quitters and you don’t want to give up on your stressed Gen Zers, here are some techniques and tools that managers and leaders can use to save talented employees and help them develop into valuable employees:
· Listen carefully to their concerns and make sure that you understand their issues. Reflect back to the employee what you heard. Reach an agreement on his/her issues.
· Review your mission/vision/policies. Determine if there are any touchpoints with the employee issues.
· Help the employee learn about the differences between the generations so they can have a greater understanding of others’ behaviors.
· Discuss the purpose of work and your commitment to the employee. Offer classes for stress management, and any other related issues such as anger management, assertiveness, learning how to say no, etc.
· Another tool is introducing them to the Enneagram to learn about their gifts and weaknesses and increase their understanding of themselves and others.
· Consider coaching the employee to make them more effective at work and less stressed.
· Stay in close touch with the employee providing them with the necessary support and feedback.