Haydn Shaw - Keynote Speaker, Workshop Leader, and Author

Introduction 

In today's workplace, four generations are trying their best to work side by side: the Traditionalists (born before 1945), the Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964), Gen X (born 1965-1980), and the Millennials (born 1981-2001). According to Haydn Shaw (2013) in his book “Sticking Points: How to Get 4 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart,” he recognizes that indeed these four generations have to work together as a team if the current business environment is to become conducive for business survival. Shaw has been able to recognize that indeed with each generation, it comes with change and it is high time organizations started embracing the change. Each generation has its means of problem solving and resolution thus making it hard for them to survive as a team. If people do not come together and learn how they will stick together and work together as per the 12 sticking points, they will waste most of their time fighting one another instead of enjoying the productivity that comes with working as a team that has different ideas. Many time will be spent fighting each other if people do not “learn how to work and stick together” basing on the 12 sticking points. Sticking Points by Shaw should be a must read for all persons if they want to amicably solve conflict arising from the generational differences for the sake of better results. 

Qualifications of Author 

Haydn Shaw is a renowned business speaker and a generational expert. He has over twenty years experience in helping out clients who have generational differences issues in their workplaces. He is not just a renowned author of “ Sticking Points,” but has written other books. Nevertheless, he is a writes for “The Huffington Post” on generations and leadership. According to Times, they referred to him as “an expert on office matters especially those caused by cultural differences. He has been able to give talks to more than 10,000 individuals and worked with over 1,500 organizations ranging from Fortune 500 to startups, government agencies and non-governmental and non-profit bodies (Shaw, 2016) 

Summary of content 

Shaw has successfully brought to light the 12 places where the four generations in a workplace and life drift away from each other. The “Sticking Points” as per Shaw surround the different attitudes that come with how one manages communication, dressing code, feedback, decision making, fun at work, meetings, policies, respect, knowledge transfer, work ethics and loyalty, training. Shaw gives the people the perfect recipe on how they can use these twelve sticking points and work out their differences. This is made possible by following a five-step process: acknowledge, appreciate, flex, leverage, and resolve. Through this, the team's members will have the chance to see how each generation perspective of the sticking points and learn to form them. They will, in the end, come up with perfect means of how they can work out their differences. 

Analysis and evaluation of the book 

Shaw has been able to bring forward an important aspect that has affected most organizations over the years and will continue if no measures are taken. The generational gap will always exist as long as new people are being born into the world. With each new day, people move from one generation to another, and as a result, each generation comes up with its perspective on how they see things. Generational gap affects all aspects of life, but Shaw's book is mainly used to solve the workplace differences caused by irritations. He gives out examples of generational differences with the Millennials, for instance, that made it possible for Barrack Obama to get into the white house despite having different perspectives on how he should lead when compared to other generations. In hospitals, the older patients do not quite like the idea of young doctors and nurses. It is because they want to redefine the demand of the jobs. In schools, most young teachers leave the professionals after five years of employment and become less patient with politics. Churches and synagogues are also facing these effects of generational differences (Shaw, 2013). 

The generational differences are also caused by different myths. For instance, traditionalist and baby boomers are seen as being resistant to change. Unproductivity is considered to be a problem for people above the age of 65. The millennial is believed to have stunted social skills, and they think they should be in charge of running the place. These myths are what continue to drive deeper the animosity that exists between the generations. Each generation has a negative perspective of the other, and thy see themselves as being untouchable from their perspective. 

In solving all these, there is the need to come up with sticking points. The sticking points can be formulated from different questions the members of each generation seek answers. They all have different answers to the questions due to their clashing perspectives and experiences in life in both their workplaces and private life. An example of this include, can I put on flip flops to work? Why should I not be given an opportunity to use social media at work? How long does respect take to gain at this job place? In answering these questions, they will give different answers causing frustrations and tensions which lead to miscommunication eventually stereotyping develops at work the area. 

A generation with the same team members will eventually start to stereotype and making offending jokes about the generation viewed as "weaker." This will cause all the generations to start maneuvering the other into seeing the sticking points according to their perspective. With such events at the workplace, there is bound to be no existence of a peaceful working environment. The sticking point is viewed as a problem that needs solving rather than an opportunity that can become leveraged. The sticking points should be seen as catalysts that will allow the other generations to understand and appreciate one another thus making the team stronger as they learn from each other. 

According to Shaw, a team that is facing generational tension can put the sticking points into use. The team can use a five step process on solving the sticking points they are experiencing. The five step process includes; acknowledgment by talking about the generational differences, appreciation of any differences that might exist, flexing by agreeing on how they will each accommodate each other's differences, leveraging the strengths of each generation and resolving by determining the best option that will yield positive results if followed by all. 

Value of the book in leadership studies 

The unprecedented shift in the workforce as a result of the composition of different generations of employees working side by side is becoming a challenge. The major challenge these organizations are facing is how they are going to recruit young employees and still maintain the senior workforce and make them work together as a team. All these challenges are mainly faced an organization's leadership. The leader has the overall mandate of ensuring the employees are working together towards its goals and objectives. Well managed generational differences by a firm can result in creativity and innovation. The introduction of the book shifting points by Haydn Shaw in leadership studies will equip the leaders with they skills on how they are going to take care of their diverse workforce; the leaders will have the necessary tools to manage the employees from different generations and ensure they better adapt to the workplace. 

Conclusion 

Shaw has indeed shed light on how generational differences can become solved at the workplace. A generational gap will always exist between people with each new day. As a result of these, there is a need for the people found in different generational brackets to work together. This is because most organizations have mixed generational workforce and if they are to attain their goals and objectives, there is a need for them to work as a team. Shaw has clearly been able to outline 12 sticking points that will see the different workforce working as a team and fostering innovation and creativity in the long run. 

References 

Shaw, Haydn. (2013). Sticking Points: How to Get 4 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart . Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.