Talking Talent

With three generations of employees all working together, bridging the generation gap is something most of us deal with on a day-to-day basis.  But what happens when one of the younger employees becomes the boss of an older employee?

According to a study by US staffing company Randstad, one-fifth of employed adults in the States are older than their bosses. And that number keeps increasing as more and more older people stay in the workforce even after they hit retirement age.  But only about half of employees say they relate well to older workers. And more than three-quarters of employees say that younger workers don’t seek advice from their older, more experienced co-workers.

The Trump Blog (yes that’s right, Donald Trump has a blog) says that this is just bad business.  “Just like younger workers can bring fresh ideas and new techniques, older workers bring incredible insight and knowledge,” Trump says.

While it’s not uncommon to find tension in younger boss/older worker scenarios, there are several ways for both the boss and his or her employee to work well together.  Wikihow has a number of suggestions, such as:

• For the employee: learn from your new boss. Treat your young boss like you would any other boss: with complete respect from the word go. Ask questions about new tactics or strategies and watch your boss to learn skills you don’t have.  And take stock of your own skills. Although your boss is younger, you have plenty to offer - experience, maturity and the knowledge of how things will often pan out.
• For the new boss: learn from your employee. You have a great opportunity to learn from an experienced employee who has seen many different management styles and can provide great feedback and opinions to you.  Use the skills that your employees bring.  While you may know more about the latest and greatest technology, you may learn about networking or sales skills from your older employees.

Are you working for a younger boss, managing an older employee, or know someone who is? Let me know what you think.

YouTube has a great video - one of my favourites - of the world’s first IT help desk professional.  It’s a timely reminder of why we all need to update our skills!

Is our education system rapidly becoming archaic as we plunge headlong into a world where people trade their DNA on eBay? Where virtual supply chains and on-demand products rule? And where people conduct virtual romances with people they’ve only met through Cyberspace?

Thought leaders in education are now suggesting that the top ten in-demand jobs for 2010 did not exist in 2004 (see Karl Fisch’s The Fischbowl). If this is the case, how do we prepare the next generation of workers for technologies that are not yet invented?

This question is vitally important to business leaders, educators, parents, politicians and recruiters in today’s world. Together, we must examine the way we are educating our kids. Ensuring our young people receive the best education possible is not so much about algebra and alliteration, but arming them with the knowledge and skills they will need to enter the workforce.

Young people today seem to be born with an innate ability for text-messaging and gaming. And while they may not be able to spell they can tell you their life story on MySpace, entertain you on YouTube, muse philosophically in the blogosphere, contribute to knowledge on Wikipedia, create cutting-edge art on Flickr.

But they learn very little of this in school.

The need for creativity in all aspects of economic and political life is beginning to be recognised. Creative talent is now gaining economic as well as symbolic currency.

Charles Leadbeater, author and Senior Research Associate with the independent think-tank Demos, says that “our children will not have to toil in dark factories, descend into pits or suffocate in mills, to hew raw materials and turn them into manufactured products. They will make their livings through their creativity, ingenuity and imagination.”