5 Ways to Navigate Generational Conflict at Work

Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself saying, thinking, or even being the victim of one of the following:

 

• Boomers are so old-school! They’re out of touch, they’re stuck in old ways, and technology mystifies them.

• Gen X-ers are so cynical! They don’t do collaboration and they’re hard to work with.

• Millennials are entitled! They grew up winning participation trophies and they need too much feedback and validation.

 

Seriously, raise your hand. I can’t see you.

 

The truth is, these and many other stereotypes exist out there. Sometimes, they’re harmless—just silly assumptions we carry through our days. But they can also be destructive. These stereotypes can inhibit trust and teamwork and ignite conflict, limiting what we’re all able to achieve professionally. So let’s talk about how the different generations can play better together in the professional sandbox. Regardless of your birth year, you have a role to play.

1. Acknowledge our different histories

To the extent that generational stereotypes hold water, there may be reasons why. In broad strokes, Baby Boomers were raised by survivors of the Great Depression—parents who may have valued scrimping, saving, and doing things by the book. Gen X was raised by two-income parents experiencing high rates of divorce. They were the latch-key generation, coming home from school to an empty house. So teamwork may not be the thing that comes naturally. And Millennials have spent most of their lives with modern-day devices in hand—devices that deliver regular feedback and instant gratification. So those needs may be hard-wired.

 

The first step to overcoming generational differences is appreciating why they exist. Give history its space—no good or bad. Just recognize reality for what it is. Understanding why someone may behave the way they do can give us a little more patience and willingness to let it be.

2. Create connections

Problematic though they may be, stereotypes have emerged for a reason. They help our brains quickly make sense (often erroneously) of what we don’t understand. According to this Nature article, “…since the 1960s, cognitive researchers… have argued that stereotyping is a general feature of human social categorization.”

 

We stereotype in the absence of information. And we overcome this by getting better information. And getting information about people—actual people and not categories of them—is achieved by...

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