Principle 1: Principle 2: Principle 3: Principle 4: Principle 5: Principle 6: Principle 7: Principle 8: Principle 9:

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1 Why is there so much conflict between the generations? Why do older employees hate change so much? What do younger people want to learn? Do younger people want all development through their computers? Why do younger people dress so informally at work? Do older people have any interest in learning? What can we do about the feeling of entitlement among younger employees? Who wants coaching? What can we do about the feeling of entitlement among older employees? Why don t our employees trust us? Is it a generational thing? Why are younger people so disrespectful, and what can we do to fix the problem? What do we need to do to retain younger employees? Why are younger people so disloyal?

2 Principle 1: Principle 2: Principle 3: All Generations Have Similar Values; They Just Express Them Differently Everyone Wants Respect; They Just Don t Define It the Same Way Trust Matters Principle 4: Principle 5: Principle 6: People Want Leaders Who Are Credible and Trustworthy Organizational Politics Is a Problem No Matter How Old or Young You Are No One Really Likes Change Principle 7: Principle 8: Principle 9: Loyalty Depends on the Context, Not on the Generation It Is as Easy to Retain a Young Person as an Older One If You Do the Right Things Everyone Wants to Learn More Than Just About Anything Else Principle 10: Everyone Wants a Coach

3 Principle 1: All Generations Have Similar Values; They Just Express Them Differently People of all generations have similar values. FAMILY is the value chosen most frequently. Values and behavior aren t the same thing someone can behave very differently from you and still hold the same values.

4 Principle 2: Everyone Wants Respect; They Just Don t Define It the Same Way People of all generations want respect, they just define it differently. People in positions of authority want their decision to be respected. Older people want their experience and wisdom to be respected and deferred to. Younger people would like their fresh ideas and suggestions to be listened to. Questions do not necessarily demonstrate disrespect.

5 Principle 3: Trust Matters People of all generations and at all levels are more likely to trust the people they work with directly (bosses, peers, and direct reports). People trust their organizations less than they do the people they work with directly. People trust upper management less than they trust their organization. What generation you are from or how old you are does not affect how much you trust other people or your organization. The less people trust, the more likely they are to leave.

6 Principle 4: People Want Leaders Who Are Credible and Trustworthy People of all generations and at all levels want their leaders to be credible, trustworthy, dependable, farsighted, encouraging, and good listeners. If you can t tell the truth, say that you can t talk about the subject; if possible, do not engage to begin with. Don t mislead intentionally. Behave as someone you would want to follow. If you work at having the attributes people want in a leader you may lose out to the dissembling backstabbers, or you may end up on top... But at least you ll be less likely to end up in a defendant s chair!

7 Principle 5: Organizational Politics Is a Problem No Matter How Old or Young You Are Different generations have similar attitudes towards office politics, though they may express those attitudes slightly differently. People higher in organizations think they got there because of their hard work and strong performance. People lower in organizations think political behavior is more important for advancement than do people higher in organizations. Employees may not like it, but they generally understand that office politics is a reality. So if you re a manager, there s no need to pretend that office politics doesn t exists and has no real impact. You can improve at office politics by understanding the forces that shape the political climate. What you want to do is learn how to manage the competing forces more effectively so that you can achieve what you want.

8 Principle 6: No One Really Likes Change Both older and younger people believe (erroneously) that older people dislike change more than younger people do. People of all generations dislike change because they think it is going to affect them negatively. People of all generations think changes are often instituted and communicated poorly. Managers and executives don t like change much more than do people lower in organizations. If you re instituting a change, you can t just expect people to trust you and go along with the change happily or even quietly.

9 Principle 7: Loyalty Depends on the Context, Not on the Generation Different generations have about the same levels of loyalty. Younger generations are not more likely to job hop than older generations were at the same age. People who are closer to retirement are more likely to want to stay with the same organization for the rest of their working life. People higher in an organization work more hours than do people lower in the organization; working more isn t a matter of what generation an employee is from.

10 Principle 8: It Is as Easy to Retain a Young Person as an Older One If You Do the Right Things Employees of all generations are more likely to remain with an organization if they receive: good compensation, learning and development, opportunities for advancement, respect and recognition, good quality of life outside of work Employers can focus their efforts on this list, but must realize that each individual wants a slightly different combination.

11 Principle 9: Everyone Wants to Learn More Than Just About Anything Else Of employees surveyed, 97% said it was important to them to learn on the job. 90% said they were learning on the job. Younger people do not want to learn everything over the computer. Everyone wants to learn on the job. What people want to learn is related to what they need for their job, not to their generation.

12 Principle 10: Everyone Wants a Coach Everyone thinks coaching is a good idea. People from every generation and at every level want a coach. Coaching is one of the best methods for helping employees learn and improve because the learning is individualized, targeted, and reinforced.

13 The Bottom Line 1. Fundamentally, people want the same things at work, no matter what generation they are from. 2. You can work with (or manage) people from all generations effectively without becoming a contortionist, selling your soul on ebay, or pulling your hair out on a daily basis.

14 Most intergenerational conflict shares a common point of origin: the issue of clout who has it, and who wants it.

15 Prepared by Jennifer J. Deal, Ph.D., Copyright Center for Creative Leadership, 2008