Personal Description
On the question of which generation I fall into, I am a baby boomer, who were born between 1946 and 1964. Regarding the question on gender, I am female. The two questions seek to create an avenue from which I can describe myself from two key perspectives, which are age and gender. I would say that these descriptions are not accurate for me, as they only seek to create a negative environment in which to highlight existing diversities in the workplace. Although one may consider the descriptors are focusing on generation and gender a being accurate, the adoption of such descriptors only seeks to create division by age and gender. Thus, I tend to believe that the descriptors fail to achieve their intended objectives, which means that they fail to meet their set out standards.
Personal Game Plan
The creation of diversity in the workplace has created a situation where different generations work together within the same environment. Currently, the workplace environment has three key generations, which are the baby boomer, thirteeners, and millennials. One of the most significant challenges that having the different generations in the workplace has had is that it has created a situation where it becomes difficult to consolidate the opinions. Each of the generations tends to have different views on matters associated with beliefs, politics, and values, thus, exposing the workplace to a high risk of conflict. The conflicts arise from cases where the individuals from the different generations find it hard for them to accommodate individuals from other generations due to the actual differences regarding opinion and views.
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As a manager, it is essential to focus on a proactive approach that would not only help in consolidation of the opinion from the different generations but would also assist in ensuring that the individuals from the different generations work together. The first approach that I would take as a manager is to educate my staff on the differences in generations and the work styles that may exist focusing on the different generations. As a manager, I recognize the vital role that education of employee may play towards advancing their expectations regarding ensuring that they can deliver based on set out objectives. Education will help individuals from each generation develop some form of understanding on what it means to work in a multigenerational workplace environment. On the other hand, the education process will also focus on highlighting the overall impacts associated with failure of individuals from multiple generations working together.
The second approach that I would take is the creation of multigenerational teams. In this approach, I will seek to create teams comprising of individuals from the different generations, which will help team members appreciate the fact that each member may have something to contribute. The creation of such teams will help in placing each of the individuals on an even playing field considering that they would be expected to work together in a bid to handling some of the issues that they face as a team. Thus, this would mean that each member of the team would be expected to contribute in one way or another regardless of the differentiation in opinion and views. Ultimately, this would help create a front from which individuals from the different generations work together for one common goal.
The third approach that I would take as a manager is having to create a mentorship program. In this program, the focus will be on ensuring that the younger generations, which include millennials, receive mentorship from some of the older employees, who are within the baby boomers generation. One of the most significant challenges that the workplace is facing today is on the fact that there is a failure to pass on experience from one generation to another leading to a critical issue regarding productivity. However, the adoption of a mentorship program would mean that the employees within the baby boomers or thirteeners generations would be able to pass down the knowledge and experience that they have gained as part of their engagement in the workplace environment. In overall, this will help in ensuring that indeed individuals work together for a common goal, which is to improve on expected productivity levels.
Lastly, I would focus on celebrating little victories for the individual members of the workplace environment regardless of the generations in which they belong, which will help in boosting the confidence of each employee. Lack of appreciation or underappreciating one generation may lead to severe conflicts considering that the individuals consider themselves as not being part of the workplace environment. That is one of the critical areas of focus for me, as a manager, as I believe in the fact that appreciation would seek to ensure that the employees indeed learn the value of working together. Through appreciation, employees from different generations would take up the initiative of actually working towards making the workplace a better place for others as part of their contribution.
