Let's Talk About: Generational Issues/Awareness

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John, one of our fellow FUN Followers, wrote into me asking about my experience with groups (clients) interested in exploring "generational issues/awareness." I thought this would be and interesting conversation to share and see if others might have something to contribute. Here's John's initial inquiry: 

John: ​I was wondering if you have come across/created any activities for groups that were interested in exploring generational issues/awareness?

I wonder about dividing groups by generation (if they have a good mix) and getting them to do the same activity and compare differences on process? Conversations/panels between generations with the right questions would be fruitful too. Thoughts?

After some consideration, here's what I shared with John:

Chris: ​You pose an interesting question. I don't know any activities specific to "generational issues/awareness" and have yet to create/develop anything specific myself. 

My question back to you is, What problem are you wanting to solve with such activities? (I have a pretty good idea, but I'm interested in your answer.) 

I've had a number of clients over the past year that have expressed concern over the dynamics between the "older" and "newer" (i.e., younger) employees. When I worked with them we explored the behaviors (things seen and heard) that surfaced through the program activities - Which behaviors were working for them and which ones where not?. Then, it was all about deciding what the group wanted to keep doing and what they wanted to change (or start doing). Some behaviors (good or bad) did relate to different ways of thinking, which could have been attributed to generational issues - but is that the REAL issue? 

In my mind it's all about diversity. This is a BIG word in the workplace and in educational settings across the world as of late. Age gaps (that might include different ways of thinking, acting and being) are simply diverse groups of people challenged to find ways to work together.

Thoughts? 

John continues the thread: 

John: Thanks for your reply. I am surprised that there are not many/any generational activities out there!

I am not trying to solve any problem per se. I look at generational stuff as a generational intelligence like emotional intelligence with 4 categories:

1. self awareness
2. self management
3. social awareness
4. social management

I would like to raise [generational] intelligence,

A lot of clients have been talking and asking about generational training. And I have been scratching my head and am curious. 

Is all this generational stuff just different behaviors as you mentioned? Is it different cultural dimensions? Is it a hoax? Or is it more?

My leaning is toward more. I get to work with groups (7th graders, MBA students, etc.) now over decades. I am getting older and they remain the same age. So it could be me being different/older but I see a difference in these groups. For one, they all seem nicer. And less strategic. And they jump to a solution...I call this firing...and they keep on firing without any sense of ready or aim (their world is one of velocity). They also do not seem strategically interested in going in a straight line from A to B and would rather go out in some tangential direction away from B but thinking that it still leads to B (don't know if I am clear here?). Do you see any of this?

So I am big on raising awareness and managing that new awareness for a different result.

I was recently taught 2 new words. Ethnocentric (believing that your way is the only way or the best way) and ethnorelative (believing that there are many ways/thoughts/cultural preferences which are different than yours yet valid and important for you to master also to be a great leader). This has changed my thinking immensely. My awareness and management of self and others has shifted because of this. I have moved away from binary thinking to dialetic (AND)...that multiple ways are both/all  right. I would like to look into generational issues with the same light. 

I am not a researcher [but] like to test things and gain data right away. Which ties into the experiential activity field we are in.

Why not divide groups by generations and see how they solve problems/think? Is there any correlation to generations?

The messy part is that sociologists pick the dates of generations and they do not agree to dates exactly. And there is [the] middle of the generation as well as at the beginning or at the end which would affect people differently.

People from different generations seem to look at each other as if they were aliens. Nanu nanu! How to shine light here?

I hope this answers some of your questions about my interest in generations.

​Thoughts?

Instead of replying to John's last email, I wanted to save my thoughts for this blog post. 

It just so happens that (based on a recent recommendation from Michael Cardus) I started reading the book, Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help (2009) by Edgar Schein. So far it's been an engaging read since I can correlate a lot of the teambuilding I do directly to helping behaviors. Here are a few points from the first two sections of the book that, I believe, can relate to our generational issues/awareness discussion: 

• Helping is a fundamental human relationship...[it] is a basic relationship that moves things forward. (Preface). [Note: cites are from a Kindle reader app in portrait mode on an iPad 2.]
• All relationships are governed by cultural rules that tell us how to behave in relation to each other...in any given culture there will be a set of universal rules that, if violated, cause the person to be ostracized or isolated (p. 8)
• "Social economics" is part of cultural relationships - it involves the "face" that we build, the reputation we have (or think we have and deserve), and our interactions with others. If the rules of social economics are violated [possibly because the rules are not understood across cultures and generations] then friction occurs. [This point can be linked to "norming" in group development or "Full Value Contracts" we develop with groups.] (pp. 11-13)

The details of social economics continues, but stopping here coincides with our discussion. This concept (or social theory) struck a cord with me in relation to John's generational issues/awareness thinking. Let's consider a group of multi-generational participants (e.g., co-workers). If one generation thinks ethnocentrically and the other thinks ethnorelatively the communication between the generations may not  mesh with the social economics expectations of each generation thus causing friction. 

I'm sure it's also possible for two different generations within a group to be the same types of thinkers. What if they both had an ethnocentric point of view - each thought their way was the best way. How do you work with that situation? What if both generations were ethnorelative thinkers? Maybe there's no problems? The question arises then, how do we know what thinkers we're working with? (Also, don't discount the fact that there could be more than two different "generations" within one working group, as John noted, in relation to the "messy part" about dating generations.) 

You can see we could really keep going down the rabbit hole here. But let's take a team breadth. There are other great conversations just like this one that circle around the adventure education field. They give some of us cause for reflection (and program development possibilities). However, my mindset tends to settle back into the "every day" team building facilitators out there. How can this conversation help them?

In my (humble) opinion, it doesn't help them at all until they are ready to add to the conversation.. Which means they have some experience with the issue(s) in the conversation and believe they can use the information to help them in the future. In John's case, he was ready. He brought up the questions. He wants to know what's out there. 

If you want to keep going down the rabbit hole with John and me, leave a comment for us below. Do you run into situations involving generational issues/awareness? How do you approach these issues? What activities do you lead in order to flush out these issues? We're ready to keep it going.  

What can you take from this if you're more interested in climbing out of the hole for now? When working with groups that you know include multiple generations, continue planning educative experiences (programs) that allow the groups to recognize and explore behaviors (things they can see and hear) that help them move towards their goals, and recognize and explore those behaviors that keep them from their goals. Then, find out which behaviors they want to keep using and which behaviors they want to change or stop using? Personally, I do not make it about generational issues (even though some may identify them as such), it's about what help's them achieve their desired outcomes.  

​All the best, 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. (and John)