HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR on Leadership—case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock the best in those around you.
Are you struggling to manage people who are older than you?
Lindsey Pollack says cross-generational dynamics at work are only getting tougher to manage, with faster developments in technology and people working longer.
Pollack is a workplace expert and the author of the book, The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace.
In this episode, she takes questions from listeners who are struggling to motivate older direct-reports and senior employees who are skeptical about using new technology. She also has advice for what to do when you’ve been promoted ahead of your more experienced colleagues.
This episode originally aired on Dear HBR: in August 2019. Here it is.
DAN MCGINN: Welcome to Dear HBR:, from Harvard Business Review. I’m Dan McGinn.
ALISON BEARD: And I’m Alison Beard. Work can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. We don’t need to let the conflicts get us down.
DAN MCGINN: That’s where Dear HBR: comes in. We take your questions, look at the research, talk to the experts and help you move forward.
ALISON BEARD: Today we’re talking about managing older workers with Lindsey Pollack. She’s the author of The Remix: How do Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace. Lindsey, thank you so much for coming on the show.
LINDSEY POLLAK: Thank you for having me.
ALISON BEARD: Are cross-generational challenges in the workplace worse or different than they have been in the past?
LINDSEY POLLAK: Definitely, yes! I myself am a Gen Xer which I always out myself at the beginning of conversations. And when I entered the workplace in the ’90s there were only three generations in the workplace. Well, we’ve seen expansion on the older end of the workplace with people working longer. And now we have millennials and now the new Gen Z is coming in. So, in the 20 years that I’ve personally been in the workplace, we’ve gone from three generations to five. And that changes a lot of the dynamics.
ALISON BEARD: We do hear that generations don’t actually have differences. You know, I as a Gen Xer am not really that different at age 40 than my parents were at age 40. Do you find that to be true?
LINDSEY POLLAK: I actually disagree. Just look at something like the average age of marriage. It’s gotten much older. So, a 21-year-old in the 1950s has quite different expectations than a 21-year-old today. Retirement, so a 55-year-old 20, 30 years ago has very different expectations of their career than somebody today. So, I really think it’s about the particular time in which you’re existing and what the norms and expectations are in that particular era.
DAN MCGINN: Here we go. Dear HBR: I lead a team of five analysts who are spread between two offices, in two Midwestern U.S. cities. Our company recently restructured and brought its analyst together into one business intelligence department. There were many internal applicants. At the time I was the youngest and least tenured, but I was chosen to lead the new team. I manage two separate groups of analysts with different job descriptions. I know the interworking’s of the business analyst well because I was one of them. I had to learn more about the parts inventory analysts. I’m struggling with the cadence of our communication. We have weekly scrums. That’s where each team meets virtually to talk about what they will accomplish that week and review the previous week’s work. I believe they’re important, but some team members see them as a waste of time. One employee disregards them because of my age and the fact that I’ve been with the company for just two years. We meet quarterly in person as a group to discuss our longer-term goals and the progress on those. Only I see the team members in my city every day. I travel to the other location once a month. Finally, our company’s also trying to take advantage of new online communication and project management tools. Some picked them up right away. But I have issues teaching some who are older and less tech-savvy. So, my question is, am I doing this right? I want to communicate well without micromanaging. How do I implement new forms of communication and how often should we meet as a group, and individually? Lindsey, what’s your initial re… (content truncated)
