Bridging the generational conversation gap - how to get your age-diverse team talking
Does your team span the generations? Do they talk to each other? You might think well of course they do, but some research suggests that intergenerational conversation, especially outside of specific work-related exchanges, simply isn’t happening.
A survey by LinkedIn in the UK earlier this year found that 1 in 5 Gen Z workers hadn’t had a single direct conversation with someone over 50 in their workplace in the last year. And 40% of those over 55 hadn’t spoken with Gen Z colleagues either.
It was the same story as in a slightly earlier survey by Fortune which found that 65% of Gen Z had trouble talking around their coworkers, while only 25% of older generations reported the same issue.
Presumably, they are talking when absolutely necessary about work-related issues, but it seems that water cooler chat isn’t happening between the generations. That’s despite most Gen Zers in the survey saying that communicating more with their wider team would help their productivity and learning, and 74% of all professionals thinking they could learn from other age groups.
You know that having a diverse team can bring lots of benefits to your organisation and you’ve recruited accordingly. But the chances are you might not reap them at all unless you can get them talking to each other on more than a very superficial level. And with the research also showing that around 65% of Gen Z respondents wanted their organisation to help out when it comes to fostering communication, you might need to step up. So how can you do that?
Seven ways to encourage conversation across the generation gap
#1 Ask the older members of your team to make the first move - This may not sound totally fair, but in the Fortune survey, 75% of Gen Zers said they’d be more likely to make conversation if their senior colleagues made the first move. And with fewer older people reporting issues with talking to others, it could be easier to ask them to take the first step. That might be through one-on-one mentoring pairing an older member of staff with a younger one, in group settings or just through informal chats.
#2 Reverse mentoring - Ever tried this? Reverse mentoring involves partnering an older worker with a younger one, but the younger one takes the lead. This can be useful not only in introducing new skills to an older work, particularly in the tech space but also opening them up to new ways of thinking or techniques related to their field. Reverse mentoring could also give your younger workers the confidence to speak up more often to their older colleagues.
#3 Offer opportunities to reveal shared interests - One reason that people from different generations give for not talking to each other is a lack of shared interests. Older generations for example might have mortgages and children whereas younger people might not have those things but might have different concerns like getting on the property ladder in the first place. The key is to allow your team opportunities to find shared interests and experiences. Having children might not cross the generational divide that well, but having a pet or a shared interest in a sport might be easier. You could use meetings as a chance for people to share something about themselves, or put up bios of team members on your organisation's internal comms systems so that people can read them.
#4 Create opportunities for small talk in lots of places - If your office space allows for it, install a water cooler and create a kitchen or breakout area where team members can grab a coffee and have a relaxed chat. For remote workers, encourage the use of team messaging for personal stories as well as work-related chat. At Do Good Jobs for example as a remote-first team, we communicate on Slack. As well as our work channels we also have a general channel and a random channel where we can share personal updates and achievements or, everyone’s favourite, cat memes!
#5 Create shared team building experiences - Look for ways your team can collaborate in a way that suits different generations or makes them have to work together across the age divide. A quiz that involves knowledge from different generations of culture could be a good option, as it would require the team to pool knowledge to answer the questions and give everyone a chance to shine (and learn something new).
#6 Change up the routines - If you are a parent of tweens or teens you might have noticed that it’s often easier to talk to them when you are doing something else like driving in the car. Mixing up your office routines could have the same effect. If you can, instead of sitting round the table for small team meetings, try a walking meeting. You might find people find it easier to speak up when they are on the move rather than staring at each other across the room. And the way to and from the office could provide some extra small talk time.
#7 Create a communal glossary - Sometimes communication gaps across generations come because they don’t understand the way each group talks. Words that mean things to one generation might mean something else to another. The same goes for things like emojis. For example, to a younger person, the skull emoji means dying with laughter because something was so funny. An older person might not get that reference and be offended if they got sent it. A way around this might be (with everyone’s agreement) to create a lighthearted office glossary that helps to explain some of these phrases in a suitable-for-work way.
Remember that different generations have different experiences. Older generations might have been more likely to talk on a landline phone or write a letter. Younger workers will be more likely to have grown up being used to emails, texting and messaging on social media. So when it comes to work, an older team member might phone to talk to someone and leave a voicemail only to be frustrated when they receive an email or online message in return. You may need to create guidelines or boundaries for when certain types of communication are appropriate. For example for urgent matters, your Gen Z workers may need to steel themselves to pick up a phone.
Boosting communication can help boost teamwork, creativity, productivity and overall well-being. If your team is struggling to chat, don’t force it, but don’t be afraid to give them a gentle nudge in the right direction.
