Generational Diversity is a fact of life. Most employers find their teams managing four very different demographic groups in the workplace. This one of the most important Human Capital issues of the early 21st Century, and an area Human Resources professionals will be focused on for years. This is the fifth of six blogs on the topic, which included their different life experiences, their communication and learning preferences and how these impact talent development.
As a result of their stage in the life cycle, Traditionalists have the strongest urge to give back and to teach. The workplace focus on technology may make them feel less valuable or slightly out of touch yet, because of their experience, their ability to negotiate, influence, listen and convey information may be among the best in the organization. They make ideal mentors for anyone in the younger demographic groups.
The Millennials want significant feedback, so the ideal candidate for their first mentor (during the on-boarding process) is another Millennial. This mentor should be coached on the importance of assimilating the new hire into the corporate culture and the norms for corporate communication.
In the earlier stages of a career, the technical skills are the source of about 80% of success, with the “people” skills accounting for only about 20% of success. But in the middle stages of a career, this reverses, and the “people skills” become the critical differentiator. These skills include influencing, listening, communicating, negotiating, managing expectations and accomplishing things with people who are not your direct reports. These skills are those which Traditionalists and Baby Boomer mentors can extend through suggestions and support to Gen X-ers and Millennials.
Given all the factors that make up the generational diversity issues in the workforce, and described elsewhere in this series, let’s consider the six types of mentoring and the four demographic groups:
Mentoring programs within ERGs/BRGs are an ideal way to get Millennials and Generation X-ers to focus on those softer people skills. The strongest sharing is between employees one or two levels apart, regardless of their demographic group.
However, as employees move up the ladder, there is an increased need to have a mentor from outside their protected class, to broaden their perspective. So ERG or BRG mentoring programs need to be balanced with the career development or talent management sponsored mentoring programs. Generational diversity is only one of the factors to be considered within all of your firm's mentoring programs.
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