Canadian HR Reporter

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER January 23, 2017 EXECUTIVE SERIES 11 www.scnetwork.ca Join our professional community of Canadian HR & Organizational Leaders: • Connecting @ monthly events • Collaborating with peers • Challenging conventional thinking The Power of Human Capital CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP FOR 35 YEARS Great Leaders GROW www.scnetwork.ca Understanding multiple generations about generalities, individualities Four SCNetwork members engage in back-and-forth on Giselle Kovary's presentation Ian Hendry: I thought Giselle Kovary of n-gen People Performance did a superb job of highlighting some of the primary diff erences be- tween her designated age groupings of traditionalists, baby boomers, gen-Xers and millennials. e generalizations do provide a clue as to how the perspectives are diff erent. A good example would be the shift, over time, from traditional- ists, whose loyalty was to the or- ganization, to millennials, whose commitment is to colleagues. It did strike me, however, that age is but one factor in behavioural and attitudinal factors in the workplace. Tracey White: Yes, I agree Ian. Giselle was careful to posi- tion her demographic narratives as an aspect of diversity, which I think is very helpful. Too often, these become gen- eralizations that quickly devolve into stereotypes. I have great sympathy for mil- lennials who are weary of gen- erational labels, which really have more to do with economic than human factors. Every new generation entering the workforce has faced this phe- nomenon. e increasing speed of economic and technological change and how they shape each successive generation's behaviour interested me most. Ian: But that's key here. Weren't baby boomers more patient? And, as a result, didn't they man- age promotional expectations accordingly? Work, albeit sometimes mun- dane, still has to get done and millennials (instilled with "Pur- sue your passion" from boomer parents) are looking for that im- mediate challenge, and if they do not get it, they look elsewhere. So- cial media networks present lots of alternative ideas and leaders are faced with numerous confl ict points. Paul Pittman: Employers constantly grapple with shifts in workplace values and we need to recognize that it's the mix that is important, not the ingredients. Cohort management has became a distraction from the real job of engaging employees both as a group and individually. It's helpful to understand the traits that infl uence one genera- tion over another, but it's no silver bullet. Work has become a commod- ity and market research has iden- tifi ed the segments that make up the customer base — the purchas- ers of corporate culture. Under- standing what drives them will help inform how to best position the employment brand. is is no diff erent from how employers have always had to up their game to attract the best candidates. It would be wrong to think that only particular cohorts exhibit certain traits — time and tech- nology have blurred the edges. It has been four or fi ve years since we fi rst started seeing the work- force segmented in this way, and employee habits as the so-called "generations" have mixed and evolved. Transparent and rational poli- cies, and team-based, equitable incentives, are all essential in this collaborative new world and not products of the "millennial apocalypse." Age diversity should not be confused with gender diversity or even ethnic diversity, both of which have proven competitive advantages. Workforce genera- tional bias is more likely to occur as a result of a particular industry, the physicality of work or the cus- tomer base. Targeting age diversity per se, I would suspect, is unlikely to change fi nancial results — but responding to those attracted to a type of work and culture will. Jan van der Hoop: I agree, Paul. Even though one would have to agree that there are attributes and attitudes that defi ne each genera- tion on an aggregated basis, we also have to remember they are generalizations. And while they may serve well enough as rough guideposts, they almost never apply as cleanly on an individual basis. ere are too many nuances. e only thing I know for cer- tain is that each of us is a product of our environment and a refl ec- tion of our life experience. My parents, for example, grew up in Europe, fearing for their lives on a daily basis during the Second World War. at experience shaped their worldview and left them with many emotional scars that co- loured everything from their buying behaviour and fi nancial decisions, to how they formed and maintained relationships. Some of the descriptors in Giselle's presentation were accu- rate; most were not. Unfortunately, for the legion of consultants who have mined the "generational" thing for a decade now, the only really useful advice one can off er a manager leading a multigenerational team is pretty mundane. In fact, it's the same advice I saw in some training material from a "management skills" program my dad attended in the 1960s: "Take the time to get to know and un- derstand each of your people, one on one." My father was a young manager at the time, leading people who were older than him and younger than him. He heeded the advice, and his men were insanely loyal to him. at bland, mundane, incon- venient advice won't sell a lot of consulting or speaking gigs, but it will heal a lot of the aches and pains felt in organizations. Un- fortunately, there is no substitute, and no shortcut. Ian: And therein lies the risk of generalizations. No one can doubt the uniqueness of every individual. It is what makes hu- man resources so fascinating and complex — one size does not fi t all, and it never will. However, I do think ongoing studies help give leaders "be- havioural tendencies" that can be considered with either indi- viduals, or even groups, to some extent. Giselle made clear that a 75-minute presentation only catches some of the highlights of her work, but I think we did come away with some interesting insights. However, as we all seem to agree, catering to the unique needs of every employee is a painstaking task, and often it seems that the human resources role is to convince leaders such an eff ort is worth it. Paul: For sure, human re- sources recognizes the need and art of catering to one employee at a time, but our challenge as employers is to sustain engage- ment in workforces where there exist mixed-age profi les showing cohort traits that are perhaps more clearly evident than have been in the past, and where be- haviours have morphed between them, enabled by technology and osmosis. In a future environment with more frequent turnover (fuelled by recruiters), employers will be scrambling in this milieu to transfer knowledge from longer- tenured employees, who have served their dues and are heading for the exit, into the hands of less- experienced personnel whose tenure will likely not exceed three to four years. Ian: Giselle made us keenly aware of the importance of iden- tifying friction points. So, Paul, in your scenario, if millennials are impatient and role tenure is much shorter than in the past, one could surmise that baby boomers will be pushed out of the way in order to allow for up- ward progression. If we believe hoarding happens today, with employees holding onto their roles, how much worse will it become? PANELLISTS: • Ian Hendry, president of the Strategic Capability Network and vice-president of HR and administration at Interac in Toronto • Jan G. van der Hoop, president of Fit First Technologies in Toronto • Tracey White, owner and managing director at Strategy in Action in Toronto • Paul Pittman, founder and president of the Human Well in Toronto Ian Hendry Paul Pittman Jan van der Hoop Tracey White Catering to the unique needs of every employee is a painstaking task, and often it seems that HR's role is to convince leaders such an eff ort is worth it.

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