Mixed teams and shared values: how to manage 4 (and more) generations in a company

And beware! My 29-year-old daughter says that her 23-year-old sister is very different from her (I testify that this is true).

And so before the article goes 'to press' I fear it will already be old: not four, but seven generations to run.

All different in their values and 'obtusely' convinced that they are right.

Martians, Venusians, Earthlings, Plutonians.

How can this be done?

I don't know.

But I know that the blank page terrifies poets and novelists. And all the more so us humans. And indeed it is a recurring question that managers ask me in training courses. Sooner or later, perhaps at the coffee-break, often shyly, comes the request for a recipe. Which of course is not there.

But both there in the courses and here in the meantime, we try to put a few words in.

They will certainly not be truths. But at least one will be able to start saying: right, wrong.

(My first boss, a brilliant engineer from Tuscany, 'fuminamente' reproached me for not being clever enough - euphemism - because when faced with a problem that I had never encountered before, I did not ask myself: 'who can I copy from? Today I know he was right).

Because in the end - once we have diligently learned that Baby Boomers are often associated with values such as hard work, dedication and loyalty to the company, Generation X is associated with results orientation and individual responsibility at work, Millennials (or Generation Y) are associated with technology to work flexibility and the search for an employee experience, and finally Generation Z (people born after 1996), is associated with authenticity, the search for purpose and the balancing of personal life spheres - the problem is figuring out what to say during the meeting in which we need to involve everyone (and leave out gender differences) on common goals.

Because the practical issue is just this: what do I say and what do I write in the slides?

Who can I copy from?

Meanwhile, do not copy from your long or short experience.

Because the real risk is to be fooled by Bias (too old for, too young for, me at your age, you remind me of my aunt, etc.).

That is: we understand the differences in depth. Without snootiness. With curiosity.

Different cultures mean that the structure of thought and thus the actions of a Bedouin from Maghreb, a girl from Ohio or a man from Bergamo have different paths to find some solution to the common problem of getting water to drink. But if they find it and drink it, even in different ways, hooray: as long as it works.

So let's start copying from those who, for work, in multinationals, are used to dealing with very different cultures, religions, habits: if your brother-in-law works in Eni (between Siberia, Africa, South America and the platform in the middle of the Pacific) he will surely have some good advice.

And then, after the brother-in-law, we try to copy from the best practices of the Third Sector (also heroically and concretely committed to managing cultural diversity).

There they advise, having understood the differences, to focus on common factors, on affinities:

- Common values (respect, honesty, desire for fulfilment, well-being).

- Need for recognition (all generations want to feel valued and heard).

- Desire to learn (lifelong learning and curiosity are transversal).

- Sense of belonging (the need to feel part of a group is universal)

- Transition experiences (each generation faces moments of change: beginning of career, parenthood, retirement).

- Creativity and problem solving (each generation has developed different ways of dealing with challenges).

And then they recommend

- creating mixed teams for specific projects (assigning to key projects teams composed of members of different ages, so as to exploit different perspectives and skills)

- organise regular brainstorming sessions with specific rules that allow everyone to express their ideas, enhancing both the innovation of young people and the experience of senior people

- encourage direct mutual on-the-job training through shadowing in day-to-day activities, where the technical skills of younger people and the practical experience of seniors can complement each other

- implement a two-way feedback system where all generations exchange regular feedback.

But then there is the most important part: being able to make everyone fall in love with the target, not the solutions they propose.

If one succeeds, everything will follow.

* Partner of Newton Spa