Next Generation Next Destination

THE GREAT GENERITIVITY DEBATE

 I want to call your attention to an interesting debate on the between Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures, and David Brooks of The New York Times.

In a column published February 1, Brooks proposes reversing public policies that he says rob the young to serve the old and take from them funding, freedom and opportunity, saying, "It now seems clear that the only way the U.S. is going to avoid an economic crisis is if the oldsters take it upon themselves to arise and force change." He calls for a "generativity revolution" of millions of people demanding changes in health care spending and the retirement age to make life better for their grandchildren.

In a piece published today on The Huffington Post, Freedman says "the real generativity revolution is well under way. And with the help of smart new policies, this movement of forward-looking baby boomers might actually succeed." He writes, "It's increasingly clear that these older workers aren't competing with younger people; they are meeting demands for talent that will only grow as the economy recovers."

Freedman argues, "With 10,000 baby boomers turning 60 every day, it's time for public policies that honor their aspiration to leave the world a better place and harness their talent and energy for the long haul."

You can read David Brooks' column here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/opinion/02brooks.html
Marc Freedman's piece is here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-freedman/generativity-revolution_b_447774.html

Comments from both points of view are welcome on Encore.org, as well as right here. Join the discussion  at http://www.encore.org/news/marc-freedman

What are your thoughts? How do we prevent generational resentments and warfare?

TRIUMPH OF THE MULTI-GENERATIONAL TEAM

Among the many fascinating pieces in the New York Times magazine annual "Ideas" issue (December 13, 2009) is an item on a study finding that the stereotypical belief the older employee (age 45 and up) is deficient is a myth. (Data on various tests pitting Boomers and up against people under age 30 to follow in another post.)

Here's the conclusion I liked best of all, in sync with my *Cross-Generational Conversation* work, from the study by Gary Charness, a University of California at Santa Barbara economics professor, and Marie Claire Villeval, from the University of Lyon: In the cooperation test, Charness and Villeval found that groups with a mix of ages outperformed homogeneous groups. They say that it's best to have a range of ages in the office for an optimum work force.

The study found that the 45s and older were actually more cooperative than the younger people and contributed more to their group. That's a nice boost for the Boomers and encouragement for all the generations to find common ground and collaborate. If you'd like advice on how to make that happen, give me a shout.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

TRANSITIONING: A TALE OF MUTUAL MENTORING

For further evidence that many Boomers are not afraid to jump into the technology and new media world, we have the story of James R. Gaines, former top editor of Time and People magazines who joined FLYP in the summer of 2008 at age 61. FLYP is an online digital publication that combines text with Flash animation, motion graphics, streaming audio and video to do what he has always done - tell stories.

In his article in the New York Times "Preoccupations" column ( November 29, 2009), Jim Gaines talks about his mutual learning relationship with the staff of FLYP, several decades younger than he. Here are some of his thoughts about the age and experience gap.

*  Gaines figured the staff members, recently out of college, would be lucky to work with him and learn from his experience and achievements, but the opposite turned out to be true for him.

*  He feels lucky to be working with them, and they have been quite patient about helping him understand all the technology and software applications. "...I learn more than I teach most days, which is both humbling and thrilling," he wrote.

*  He is dealing with the paradox of wanting to be a colleague but knowing his role as boss: "to sustain, provide and sometimes to teach, but not necessarily be a friend." It's analogous to his role as parent at home. 

Gaines decided to ask his young staff members what they think of him and the distance between him and the staff. Some of the responses he got include:

*  "I don't ever think about Jim's age until someone in the office brings it up" (usually over some digital gaffe). 

*  "We're a small team where we can't get hung up on who is guiding who. New media isn't about who has the longest resume. It's about who has the best ideas and who can implement them the most creatively. That's something age can't really teach you."  [I comment here that this is at least partly true in many industries and fields.]

*  They are impressed with his enthusiasm, and it reinforces their excitement for what they are doing.

Gaines points out that his and their enthusiasms differ from each other. He remarks on how strongly the staff reacts to things - positively or negatively, what he sees as youthful extremes of emotion. But he is thrilled with the relationship. He concludes," The young people I work with now will be settlers of that [digital] frontier, and I can't think of anything I would rather do than help them get there."

This story illustrates an excellent example of mutual mentoring, where mentor and mentee roles shift back and forth as appropriate. It becomes a comfortable process that benefits both parties or a group.

It's one type of what I call "3rd Wave Mentoring." I will be presenting a webcast for the West LegalEdCenter on this new wave of mentoring (including mentoring circles and other networked approaches) on December 16th. Contact me at pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com for more information.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot      www.pdcounsel.com

CROSS-GENERATIONAL COMMUNICATION: GEN Y AND NONVERBAL CUES

My August monthly Inter-Generational Relations e-Tip was a checklist of differences in and perceptions about communications styles among the generations. (E-mail me at pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com for a copy and/or to be put on the subscribers list.) On a related point, in a fascinating article on the "Taste" page of the Wall Street Journal (August 28, 2009) ,Mark Bauerlein makes a powerful case for the need to bridge the gap between the Gen Y/Millennial texting culture and use of what anthropologist Edward T. Hall called "the Silent Language," nonverbal cues or body language and voice tone. Mr. Bauerlein is a professor of English at Emory University.

Spending so much time with texting and e-mail as well as Facebook from a young age, Gen Y has developed less skill than previous generations reading nonverbal cues and interpreting tone of voice, pauses, etc., that can be experienced in person or on the phone. (Gen Yers use cell phones more for texting than for voice calls.) It seems the lack of nonverbal communication experience would impede interviewing skills and negotiating skills. The primarily electronic communicators are missing expressive behaviors which transmit feelings, attitudes, reactions and judgments. This is even more damaging in cross-cultural circumstances, which becomes increasingly significant in a world of global economic and political dependency.

And many Gen Yers don't realize that others, particularly other generations, do see nonverbal meaning in behavior such as checkling e-mail, etc. during meetings and not looking at a person who is talking to them because they are multi-tasking.

While it may reduce tensions for other generations to realize that this behavior is not intentionally rude, but rather is just young people acting on what they know (or don't know), the fact is the latter tend not to be well equipped for negotiations, interviewing, navigating the "political" dynamics of the workplace, or even their own job interviews.

Employers and managers need to be sensitive to teachable moments and to provide training early on in what we might term "holistic" communications skills.

Please share your thoughts and experiences.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

COMMUNICATING/WORKING WITH CLIENTS OF A DIFFERENT GENERATION

Is age diversity causing a disconnect between you or your colleagues and your clients? In tough times firms scrutinize many significant aspects of practice they (unfortunately) overlook in better times. The impact of generational differences should be prominently on that list of items.

Firms should be careful to look at their succession planning through a generational lens as well.

Tensions among the generations in the workplace have been felt for a while - and firms have done little to achieve better harmony. But when it affects client relationships - as it very clearly can and often does - then it gets attention!

For more on what to look for, see my blog post on Legal Current.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

OPTIMISM ON RESTRUCTURING THE WORKPLACE

I am delighted to see that anecdotal observations about younger men have been documented. For the 10 years I have been involved in work/life flexibility through my inter-generational relations work starting with several events I organized in 1999, I have been saying that we won't see marked change until the young men in the workplace speak up about their desire to have the same flexibility for family time as many women have been expressing and acting on for years. (In my role as a consultant - non-threatening to them - male Gen Xers and younger Boomers have been admitting this desire to me for many years.)

Now a new study, entitled “Times Are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work and At Home,”  released (March 26, 2009) by the non-profit Families & Work Institute (New York) finds that the gap between men and women as far as both desire for increased responsibility in their work as well as resolution of work/life conflict has closed. In fact, the study indicated that men of all ages report work-family conflicts at a great rate than women, up 11% since 1977. The ambition of women under age 29, the Gen Y/Millennials, is at least equal whether they are mothers or not. As recently as 2002 only 48% of young working mothers wanted to climb high on the career ladder. Now the study found that 69% of them do, indicating a generational shift in attitudes from Generation X. It also indicated that prejudice against working mothers is easing among both men and women.

The study was a rigorous one, last carried out in 2008 but asking the same questions periodically since 1977. Those people whose own mothers had worked most strongly agreed that working mothers can do just as good a job with their children as those who stay home - proof in the pudding, it seems. And Millennial/Gen Y men spend significantly more time with their children than the generations before them and have taken on more domestic responsibilities.

These data suggest that - at last - there will be more pressure on employers to make career paths more flexible - for all genders and ages.

Of course, the current severe economic pressures are already (temporarily) putting a damper on vocal expression of demands from both Gen Yers and Boomers and may put a lid on accelerated change until things reach a new normal. Optimist that I am, I believe the turmoil we are experiencing will bring opportunities for real change - for example, finally a move away from the broken billable hour model to a results-oriented work evaluations system that is fairer, more efficient and works better for people and their clients.

Please share your thoughts.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

DON'T STEREOTYPE THE GENERATIONS

I am delighted that generational issues are getting attention from people new to the topic. Generational challenges and improving the working relations among the generations has been a passion of mine for over a decade, so it's gratifying to see the interest build.

On the other hand, I am not happy to see people jumping on the bandwagon making blanket statements about generational cohorts as if one's date of birth automatically gives them a set of characteristics that they surely share with peers of their age. I am dead set against stereotyping. Some statements that particularly irk me are: "Generation X were the latchkey kids," as if everyone of that generation came home to empty homes and had to fend for themselves. And that "all Gen Y/Millennials have been coddled and over-protected." Another one is that "All Baby Boomers are going to retire in the next few years." Already it is clear that is not true. In fact there are Boomers as young as 47 years old today, and a large proportion in their 60s now had no intention of retiring anytime soon, even before they saw their nest eggs seriously diminishing in the financial market collapse.

I admit that in my passion for generational wisdom, I have come to filter much of what I hear and read through generational filters. But I am wary of the dangers of stereotypes. Everything is not a generational issue. When one was born is only one of the significant influences on personal behavior, attitudes and values. Typical generational attributes do not apply to everyone in a generational cohort.

Let's remember that while learning and understanding generational attributes and differences is very important for improving productivity, retention, leadership, succession planning and business results, we need to take the time to get to know people as individuals and respect their individuality, whatever generation they are.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot      www.pdcounsel.com  

ON THE MINDS OF 50+ WORKERS MOVING TOWARD RETIREMENT

Recently I was asked to provide information for a business school executive in Boston involved with the National Governor's Initiative and a sub-committee on "How to Retain the 50+ Workforce." I was asked 3 questions. Here is the first and my reply.

Q.  What are workers over age 50 thinking and wanting as they move toward retirement?

*  How do I keep from losing my professional identity? The Boomer generation identifies closely with their work and fears loss of that identity. This is huge, especially the more successful a person is.

*  How can I continue to contribute? They seek meaning in their work and life, tend to be healthier and more fit than previous generations, and feel there is a lot left in the tank.

*  Will I be pushed out because a younger person can be paid less to do my job? How can I maintain my security? Shouldn't I be valued for my judgment, maturity and past contributions?

*  I've been working a lot of hours for a lot of years and would like to cut back a bit but still work intensely on challenging assignments. I'd like flexibility policies to cover senior people as well as the younger generations. We are the "sandwich generation."

*  What happens if I lose my health insurance and other benefits?

*  How will the economic turndown affect my ability to retire when I want to?

Next we'll look at best practices for retaining this older workforce.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

TRANSITIONING PLANNING: A REWARDING INVESTMENT

An employer is always looking for a good return on investment; and in uncertain economic times while exercising caution, ROI becomes even more important.

Transitioning planning and services offered to firm personnel have proved to produce significant payback in the following ways:

*  Increases retention success with top performing talent

*  As a result, retention of clients increases

*  Increases the productivity of retained personnel, clarifying expectations and reducing tensions and jockeying for position and leaving people free to focus on work

*  Enhances the organization's position as an "employer of choice"

*  Helps attract talent; strengthens positioning in the war for talent

*  Builds and spreads the word about the firm's brand promise

*  Demonstrates the firm's commitment to multi=generational and related diversity

In sum, good transitioning planning and implementation raises the score on retention, attraction, client and public goodwill and reputation and internal morale. It doesn't hurt to add: it feels like doing the right thing.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: WHY BUSINESS NEEDS BOOMERS NOW

The New York Times Career Couch column on Sunday, August 3rd titled "When That Screen Starts to Look Smaller," ended by pointing out the things that improve with age and consequently give an advantage to the older worker. Experience, stability and confidence are particularly important in times of an uncertain economy, market turmoil and need for re-thinking strategy.

Medical and geriatrics professionals as well as workforce specialists say that:

*   The mature brain, benefiting from the wisdom compiled through experience. enhances decision-making abilities. Boomers will make more reasoned decisions than less experienced colleagues.

*   Older workers tend to have more confidence on the job and tend to enjoy their work more.

*   The Boomers and traditionalists before them generally have better social skills than the younger generations and relate better to colleagues and clients.

*   Having been through several business cycles, they tend not to panic in volatile times (such as these).

*   Boomers have deeper relationships, nurturing loyalty over the years with clients and referral sources.

On the downside there may come some loss of mental agility and deteriorating eyesight with aging, but that can be corrected or compensated for. Mental agility can be increased by exercising the brain through trying different things and doing things in a different way, playing memory games, learning new skills such as languages and technology - all a benefit to the firm.

In uncertain times it is more risky than ever to lose institutional knowledge, strategic thinkers, and the keepers of valuable relationships - at least until they have transitioned their knowledge and clients to the next generation.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com