Coming Up in March: Leading Multigenerational Teams
You can help shape this topic right now.
Before we continue with our current Introverted Leadership series, I wanted to pause and share what’s coming up in March.
We’ll be exploring Leading Multigenerational Teams – a topic that opens up a lot of interesting questions about how we work together.
Today’s teams often include Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers all working together, each bringing different expectations, communication styles, motivations, and ways of approaching work.
When it works, it’s powerful. When it doesn’t, friction can build.
I’m still shaping this upcoming series, and I’d love your input on what you’d like to see.
Together, we might explore:
How to manage different expectations across generations
How communication styles vary (and where they clash)
What motivates different generations at work
How leaders can reduce friction and build trust across age groups
How personality and generation combine to influence communication, motivation, and conflict
I’d love your help shaping where we take this topic.
Before I start writing, I want to hear about your real experiences working across generations.
If you feel comfortable sharing, you can respond in the comments using any of these prompts – or just speak from your own experience. I’ve opened up commenting on this post so anyone can comment.
What have you loved most about working with people of different generations?
What has caused the most friction when working with people of different generations?
What do you find hardest to navigate on multigenerational teams?
What do you wish leaders understood better about generational differences at work?
I read every response, and your insights will directly influence what this series focuses on in March.
And if there’s a leadership topic you’d love to see us cover in the future, all paying subscribers are invited to join the Leadership Council, where you can submit topic ideas directly. Learn more here.
I’m looking forward to digging into this together soon.
Next up: We’re heading back to the Introverted Leadership series and looking at 9 practical strategies Introverted leaders can use when they’re drained from “acting Extraverted” all day at work.
See you then!
I love Mark Perna's work in career readiness and workforce development. It's the zeitgeist (or AI listening to all of us!).... Mark just sent out his newsletter with an article on generational conflict in the workplace and the expense of this conflict to employers -- WOW! $56 BILLION! Anyway, I'll link it here in case there are nuggets that would be helpful as 16Personalities prepares the next series: https://markcperna.com/ok-boomer-the-enormous-cost-of-generational-conflict-at-work/ Hope it's helpful!
Leaders fail to recognise the different expectations that different generations have. Things like attitude to working location, flexible working hours, presenteeism vs output... Also differences in what people value most in different stages of their life eg job security for people who have a family/mortgage, and travel perks being more valuable to people (regardless of age!) who are less tied down etc. - it's especially hard when policies are "one size fits all" but even if policies are flexible, culturally there can be a lot of judgement.