Menu
Arriving on the planet, late 1960s, I unknowingly just missed out on being a ‘Boomer’ (1946-1964). Apparently, had I have arrived two years earlier, I would have expected a ‘job for life’ — to which I would have been extremely loyal! Very selfish of my parents not to have met sooner.
I scraped into ‘Gen X’. This, allegedly, means I am ‘independent, resourceful, adaptable, value work-life balance, pragmatic, sceptical, and tend to be comfortable with technology but not necessarily a digital native’. Whereas if I had been born a bit later, I could have been labelled a Millennial and therefore ‘digital native, collaborative, optimistic, values work-life integration, seeks purpose in their work, and comfortable with new technologies’.
But what if none of this is true? What if I’m a sceptical Millennial or an optimistic Gen Xer?
Like many of these social constructs which — if enough of us agree on them — can become truisms… spoken of as facts. These constructs can take hold and, before we know it, we are ruling people in, and out of jobs, promotions, projects, partners and more based on something the individual has no control over - their date of birth.
Be wary of the 2X2 grids:
Who doesn’t love a 2x2 grid?! As a leadership coach, I know I do! However, I accept that putting people into boxes, can be a little reductionist. Many times, on leadership courses I run, I ask groups to consider Landsberg’s Skill/Will Matrix and to map some of their team members onto it. Without fail, team members in my age group are ‘diagnosed’ as falling into ‘Low Will / High Skill’...
A typical example might be:
‘I have this guy in my team, late 50s, loads of experience, but he just doesn’t want to engage in things… he comes in and does a good job, but just isn’t interested in away-days or brainstorm meetings we have…’
It worries me the thought of my fellow Gen Xers being discussed in some workshop and then, all being plonked in the ‘jaded’ box. Not to rule out that this person may well be jaded, fed up, lost their ‘mojo’ but it could be for a whole host of other reasons…Maybe, they are not playing to their strengths …maybe, they need a new challenge or project…maybe, it is your leadership style that doesn’t work for them?
Social constructs and boxes can be useful starting points for discussion. They can give us shortcuts that make it easier to speak from a helicopter viewpoint — ‘How can we help our Grads and early careers get started?’ This is a simplistic way to talk about a group but, it is definitely easier when we want to just get problem solving quickly.
However, when we apply the same technique to individual humans, it becomes far less helpful. Popping people into a D.O.B. box doesn’t explain the richness of an individual: their life choices, background, culture, upbringing, values, career expectations, personality — or anything, really. That richness can only be discovered through asking great questions, listening and suspending judgement.
Call to action
1. Permission to think whatever you want. We are all products of the stories we tell ourselves of our lives to date. That is our lens on life. Sadly, the lens gets mucky during our journeys, which can obscure what we see. This can create opinions and judgements. Think what you like, but build in a pause button before hitting transmit to share your views...
2. Catch yourself boxing. Start to notice if you are making assumptions about someone based on their DOB. Do you have some well-trodden phrases that you trot out that maybe need some rethinking? ‘Oh, typical snowflakes…!’ ‘Back in our day, we were a lot more respectful…’ Try to be curious not furious.
To find out more about latest research into generational differences, download our free eBook!
