Generational Connectedness: Meeting Them On Their Operational Level!
By Dr. Jeffrey Magee, PDM, CSP, CMC
Part Two of a Seven Part Series
Executive Summary: Instead of rushing to judgments or judging the proverbial book by the cover, learn how to simply make more objective observations about others to better guide your interactions!
The United States Census Bureau groups American’s into five broad generational segmentations (from birth-to-death) and we can use these same segmentation labels when observing the landscape of the American workplace. If the norm is that our workforce enters the market place around ages 17-to-21 and that people begin exiting between 55-and-65, we will use these same segmentation labels and just modify the age ranges for presentation herein this text.
The basic five different generational segmentations in the work place today have situational similar operational behaviors and beliefs, and in many instances radically different ways of processing and doing…your ability to make instant real-time readings can mean the difference between effective Quiet-Leadership success and outright disasters.
Here is a matrix (TEMPLATE) that individuals and organizations can use to determine individual clues as to how each different generational segmentation work, and thus ways to better interact with one another or even ways to ingrate differing segmentation together. Use the trigger descriptors on the left hand-side of the invertd L-grid as prompts to the words that could be associated under each generational-segmentation that is detailed across the top. The more words that you can determine for each segmentation across the top of the L-grid for each ABC MAPS descriptor the greater your ability will be to understanding each and thus interaction each.
Consider:
Given the descriptors for each generational-segmentation that you would come up with imagine how you may engage each more efficiently given your own age reference point if you needed to. Imagine how you may differently delegate, communicate, motivate, discipline, counsel, coach, educate, manage, lead, or interact with another person--WOW!
Here are some additional unique distinguishing descriptors for each as generalizations…
The more descriptors you have the greater your ability to understand the differences and similarities that there will be among the generational-segmentations. Affective leaders maintain influence trough quite interaction as opposed to loud stands of last call.
Excerpted from “Weekly Leadership Moment."