Leading a Divergent Organization

Transforming Generational Differences into an Advantage

 

So what’s new about the generation gap?  Organizations are confronted with this issue from time to time (about every twenty years, it seems) so one might think that recipes for dealing with the phenomenon exist.  The younger generation supplanting the older has never been an easy transition for a business and the conflicts that arise are primarily about values.  For the leaders of an organization that is faced with implementing change, anticipating the conflicts is important, preparing the organization to deal with them is crucial. 

 

Recent surveys have identified generational differences in the workplace is one of the major factors in employee dissatisfaction and as many as 70% of younger employees surveyed indicated that they are “somewhat or likely to” seek employment elsewhere within the next year.  For any leader that identifies the importance of retention, succession and growth to the success of the organization this is a wake up call. 

 

Consider how the current state of your organization may be affected by the following conditions:

 

1        Younger employees, the usual focus of recruiting and training, place freedom and independence at the top of their values. On the other hand more senior people in the organization, who value loyalty, are rarely offered opportunities for increased learning. More than half (52%) of all employees surveyed who would like to have jobs with greater responsibility are likely to seek employment elsewhere to pursue advancement.

2        The current average length of service is less than 4 years.  Succession planning in the past was based on an implied contract assuming loyalty and commitment on both sides, with decades of service.  Succession was a screening process with the company taking responsibility for providing opportunities and development to prepare the employee for leadership of the company. Only 40% of all employees under age 65 indicated an interest in jobs with greater responsibility, down from 52% a decade earlier, the decline being greatest for younger workers.

3        Expectations and definitions of life stages have evolved for all age groups.  People are starting families and careers later than ever before, are more likely to change careers and are working much longer.  Surveys of younger workers indicate that they expect to work for several companies over the course of the working life, while surveys of workers over the age of 50 reveal that more than 80% expect to work into their seventies, not for necessity but to continue learning and development.

4        Younger people shun the idea of having their work lives planned or controlled by anyone else, they reject being pigeonholed.  Many older employees reject the idea of “dropping out” but rather look for new opportunities for work-life balance that enables them to continue to use their expertise and experience while taking on new roles. Losing this experience base and leaving behind a much smaller cohort of people who are not yet committed to leadership or managing represents a great risk to a company.

 

The Divergent Workplace

 

“Workplace tensions can arise when people of different generations — working side by side — don't understand each other. You can diffuse tension at work by learning about the differences among your colleagues, appreciating those differences and making an effort to interact with members of each generation in a way that suits their work ethic and communication style. People of today's workplace generations possess characteristics that derive, in large part, from the political, social and economic climate of their youth.”

A common denominator that emerges from the variety of studies is that of values – that is, there are some generalizations that can be made about the values of each of the generations that differentiate them.  Awareness of the source of the differences can shed light on why the workplace is struggling with collaboration, or worse, dysfunctional. An example of one of the many “generational tables” that have been created in recent years, which labels different age groups and tries to characterize the stereotypes of the “Matures, Boomers, Gen X’rs and Millennials”, is illustrative. 

 

The Generation	Matures	Boomers	Gen Xers	Millenials
Age Range	55-75	40-55	20-40	10-20
Values	Hard work Dedication Sacrifice Rules Duty Things	Optimism Teamwork Work Hard Opportunistic Personal growth Informal	Self-Reliance Entrepreneurial Independence Development Time Work life balance	Autonomy Achievement Positive Learning Technology Money
Feedback Expected	No news is good news.	Once a year, documented.	Ongoing, on demand.	Instantaneous.

 

 

 Considering the differences in perspectives and values between the age groups how is it possible to establish a coherent strategy for implementing change in an organization?  However, those are labels and the reality of most companies is much more complex – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  The challenge to leadership in the organization is to find the resolution that will take best advantage of the variety of skills, abilities and interests that will meet the needs of the business in the short- as well as the long-term.

 

Our view is that this is best accomplished with a focus by company leadership on three key areas: Identity, Relationships and Information.  This focus begins at the leadership level but will ultimately involve the organization in co-creating the conditions that will overcome internal differences and establish a collaborative work environment in which people can become more effective, productive and fulfilled.  To clarify the key areas:

 

1        Establishing Identity refers to becoming clear and consistent about the organization, its vision and purpose, its history and value for employees, customers and community.

2        Defining Relationships calls attention to how people relate, how functions relate to accomplish tasks as well as to collaborate to achieve company goals.

3        Exploring Information describes how (and how well) information is transmitted through the organization and how learning occurs, so that people in differing functions have the knowledge to make good decisions.

 

 

The 21st Century Leader

 

So what skills do we see are needed to effectively lead the 21^st century organization and address these three key areas?  The development of people is increasingly important.  This means that coaching and mentoring will become all-important in order to grow the expertise as well as nurture the future leaders.  The ability to build relationships within the organization as well as with customers requires that people skilled at relationship-building will be key individuals. Quick response in today’s business environment requires collaboration of people across functions who have knowledge of company goals and the expertise to address the task, which means that leaders must be accepting of and responsive to change.  Lastly, courage and influence are important personal characteristics of the leader of the diverse, divergent organization in order to maintain an open environment and hold people accountable to achieve the mission and goals of the company.  

 

 The SOLiance Group partners have experience in applying our methodology with people at different levels and functions in an organization, in a variety of industries and environments. Leaders who learn to see the organization as a living, dynamic system are better able to create the environment where openness, adaptability and learning flourish. Mid-level leaders learn in this environment to foster quick, effective responses to changing conditions. By the same token, front line employees, who often deal with emerging problems first, serve as the eyes and ears of the organization and their ability and willingness to adapt and communicate with the organization is essential. Altogether employees, managers and leaders who are faced with implementing change find straightforward, seamless ways to co-create the desired future state when they approach the issues using the Self-Organizing Leadership™ methodology.