Leading Generations in the Workplace

Today I bring you an article, written by my colleague, Senior FranklinCovey Leadership Consultant, Haydn Shaw.  Haydn is FranklinCovey’s top thought leader around the topic of Generations in the Workplace.  He is the author of Leading Across Generations FranklinCovey’s popular ½ day workshop and a book on the twelve generational sticking points coming out in early 2012. Here are a couple of comments from two business owners at an association convention in Vegas in March:

“I thought the session was about how to hand over your business to your kids.  So I was surprised when it was about how to lead an organization of different generations.  I’m not sure I would have come if I had known, but I’m glad I did.”

“It’s really made me rethink my attitudes toward the Gen Xers and Millennials.  And I realized I am running this business the way my dad did. No wonder my kids aren’t that interested in the business. I’m going to do things differently now.”

As you think about leading your teams differently in 2012, consider Haydn’s thoughts below.  Enjoy!

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The People Challenge of the Next Decade - by Haydn Shaw

Why are people surprised at the impact the generational differences are making: because we’ve not faced this before.  For the first time in history we have four generations in the workplace and five generations of customers:

Too early to name the fifth generation but they influence discretionary spending of their parents and grandparents.  (Percentages in workforce developed from Bureau of Labor Statistics data)

With nearly a quarter of the baby boomers leaving the workplace in the next four years (the recession may push it back three or four years) and being replaced by the Millennials, figuring out how to resolve

the eleven main generational conflicts is the people challenge of the next decade . . . or two. “Ninety-six percent of Baby Boomer business owners say an exit strategy is crucial to their company, but eighty-seven percent don’t actually have one.” (BusinessWeek SMALLBIZ August/September 2008). According to The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), 76 million Americans will retire over the next two decades but only 46 million will replace them.  No wonder it’s called a war on talent. You can’t get predictable business results in these unpredictable times without dealing with the generational challenge.  It’s that simple.

Generational conflict is impacting everything we do, from how we communicate to when we want to work and how we respond to customers. If we don’t figure out generational conflict points, internally work slows down, and externally our sales and customer satisfaction scores drop.

To read the rest of Haydn’s article, click here to download the PDF file.

As Haydn mentions in his article, “Generational conflicts are inevitable and preventable. They are inevitable in all organizations, but real problems are preventable if you’ll apply these five approaches.”

Here are links to our 3 most popular Generational offerings:

·         Leading Across Generations  (½ day consultant/facilitator-led workshop)

·         Resolving Generational Conflict: Webinar (the 2-hour webinar)

·         Keynote Speech with Haydn Shaw

For more information, please contact me today.  I’ll be happy to set up a meeting with you and your regional Client Partner.

Wishing you better leadership and team synergy in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - if you want to meet Haydn in person, consider joining us in Dallas on January 17^th.  Haydn will be facilitating a condensed version of our flagship Leadership program.  Click here for details.

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