SCCM Resource Library-Leading a Multigenerational Team: Issues, Challenges, and Strategies

Video Transcription

Good morning, everyone. My name is Mauricio Del Rio, and it's a pleasure for me to be here. We're going to try to be, we're going to try to do this in a very active way,  considering that it's the last panel from the, from the meeting. I have no conflicts of interest.  Unfortunately, on uploading the presentation, there have been some changes to the format, and I apologize for that. Why is this important?  According to recent statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, an estimated 28% of the almost 820,000 active physicians  in the United States are approaching 60 years of age or older. That means that there is a big proportion of physicians who are approximating retiring age.  And actually, at the end of 2016, millennials have become the largest workforce in America at this point. Unfortunately, healthcare hasn't been able  to address this generational gap in a very effective way. As we can see in this diagram that shows the proportion of all the generations  in the, in the American workforce, at this point, millennials are 35% of the workforce, trespassing Generation Y, who used to be the largest one.  I'm sorry, Generation X. Having identified this problem, we're going to try to discuss what the origin of generational theory is. We're going to define what the generational cohorts  and their characteristics are, and we're going to try to use these characteristics to try to offer solutions to the problem of the generational gap.  This is the content of the presentation. We're going to move now from the problem to each one of the, of the theories and the generational cohorts.  And at the end, in preparation for the other two speakers, we're going to offer some essential and basic solutions to the problem. The first scholar to describe generational theory  is the German sociologist Karl Mannheim. He did this in 1928 in publishing his book, The Problem of Generations. He's, in fact, considered the father of sociology of generations.  And basically what he proposed is that groups of people who share, or are contemporary in time, they have been exposed to a specific historical  and social environments and events that shape their values and beliefs. And in that way, they are going to influence the future of other generations.  His theory is the most well-structured in this area, but unfortunately has been criticized because of lack of global context,  in particular the lack of inclusion of Eastern cultures in this theory. Second, an American sociologist named Kingsley Davis used a similar theory of generations  to try to explain the changing demographics of the population after World War II. And by doing that, he became the most renowned demographer in American history.  And he created what is called the Idler theory of demographic transition. And basically by using this theory, he explained how after World War II,  industrialized nations move towards a low birth rate and low mortality population growth,  as opposed to developing nations who are characterized by their high mortality and high birth rate. And in fact, he quoted these expressions that are widely used now in sociology,  like population explosion and zero population growth. And lastly, William Strolls and Neil Howe, they're also American scholars.  In the 1990s, they developed what is called the generations or the fourth turning theory. He's trying to explain that it's a recurrent cycle in American history,  creating generations, different generations every 20 to 22 years.  Unfortunately, they have been criticized because of the lack of strong research methods in the development of their theory. But finally, what is a generation?  Basically, a generation is a cohort of individuals who share their date of birth within a specific period of time.  But by being born in that time, they're exposed to specific events and they chart values and value systems. And in that way, they influence societal development.  Then the main identification mark of generation is the period of birth. And we have here all the existing generations right now, from the traditionalist to the Generation Z.  And we're going to discuss what are the defining characteristics, their shared values and their unique traits.  This diagram explains all the generations across the time, starting at the beginning of the 19th century. And basically, they specify how they don't usually overlap.  And at the end, basically, Generation Z is basically people are entering adulthood right now.  Basically, all the kids that are turning 18 to 20 are part of this generation right now. And now we're going to describe each one of these generations.  Traditionalists are the smallest proportion of the workforce in the United States at this point. These individuals are either reaching retiring age or are delaying retiring.  And they have been exposed to World War II and the Great Depression.  Because of these, their unique traits are basically respect for authority, and that makes them loyal to institutions and employers. Their main values are sacrifice and work ethic.  And because of this, they value practical experience and productivity.  And their desires are basically based on promotion and recognition of their job by obtaining tenure in the health care force. They have very strong interpersonal skills.  And they have the ability to accept and adapt well to environments with limited resources. The baby boomers are what used to be the largest cohort in the workforce in the past.  These individuals are characterized by being the generation that paused World War II, where their families were characterized by increased birth rate because of low contraception.  And that made large families competing for limited educational and work opportunities. So they are characterized by a very competitive environment.  Their traits are characterized by work ethic. And they believe themselves that are responsible and individuals with high moral values. They believe in hierarchy and institutions.  And they are usually characterized as workaholics. They are able to deal with crisis. And they really value face-to-face communication.  The way to reward these individuals are usually by recognizing with leadership and authority positions. And they are, at this point, trying to delay retirement.  Generation X, my generation, until recently used to be the largest generation in the health care workforce. Now have been surpassed by the millennials.  And we are characterized by being part of families with high divorce rates and with a less stable family structure.  In response to that, we value family life, work-life balance, and friendship. And also, as a consequence of that, we have less trust in traditional hierarchy and norms.  In terms of communication, we value real-time feedback, predictable work hours, and shared household responsibilities. Among our strengths are stronger parental roles.  And we are independent and results-driven.  Millennials are the newest, and as of the end of 2016, the largest generation in American workforce. And this reflects also in health care and also in critical care.  They comprise now about 30% of the workforce. They are characterized by being raised by the so-called helicopter parents, heavy parental involvement.  They consider their parents as peers and not as authority. So they lack of the traditional hierarchical structure in the family.  And they value, in this way, an open dialogue with any individuals, regardless of their place in the institutions. They value meaningful contribution to their workplace.  Instead of work-life balance as Generation X, they like to combine work and life. That's why we have so many people, for example, in technology working from home.  They're part of this generation. They're able to do this. And the unique traits are basically the heavy use of technology in social networking.  The most important traits of this generation is they are the highest educated generation in history. They value social responsibility and free opinion.  But one of the most important things that, beyond monetary compensation, they value meaningful work and personal development over anything else.  And as a model, they like to collaborate and work in teams as opposed to by themselves. Because of being a product of heavy parental involvement,  they need immediate and frequent feedback and heavy involvement from their supervisors. That's part of what is important to manage with these individuals.  In here, we can see basically a summary of all these traits. For example, on the left, we have communication.  And we can go from the traditional, there is more formal communication, face-to-face, written.  All the way down to the post-millennial, they are basically used to a less formal structure. They use email and electronic communication with no massive structure.  In a similar fashion, coaching in older individuals is value as one-to-one, yearly personal reviews, as opposed to the millennials and the post-millennial generations.  They need immediate feedback. And the lack of feedback is perceived as a negative feedback. That's very important to deal with younger colleagues.  And also in terms of recognition, older individuals can be recognized in public by plaques,  by handwritten notes, as opposed to younger individuals that they don't care about public recognition. They care to be coached and to be provided with a structure and environment  that promotes their development. That's the way they like to be recognized with. And one of the most important aspects of all of this is that the way that we deal with individuals  in the workplace can have impacts at many levels in performing our job, particularly critical care.  From performance and productivity all the way down to cost and resource utilization. But most important, the generational differences have a huge impact in communication  and conflict generation and conflict resolution. In preparation to what my colleagues are going to propose to you, what are the essential steps? What do we need to do to do that?  And I'm pretty sure all of us have been faced with this dilemma of trying to collaborate in an effective way with older colleagues and with younger colleagues  without understanding what they want and what they need. So why do we need? We need to understand that each one of us have different styles in the way we communicate and we work.  And because of that, we need to recognize that everyone has different values and expectations and that we should tailor the workplace to each one of these groups.  In that way, we should tailor communication styles, but also the collaboration and the teamwork should leverage the differences in benefit of all of us.  And Lilibet and Miguel are going to talk about this. But most importantly, in order to succeed, we need to address the specific needs  of personal and professional development in each one of our groups. What are the basic interventions? I'm just going to mention these so my colleagues can elaborate on that.  We need a management style that can be flexible and able to include the diversity of each cohort.  And we also need managers that can be effective role models in different forms of communication.  And we need to foster collaboration by using the reciprocity of mentorship in between different groups.  For example, older individuals can be coaching technology and social networking by younger individuals. And vice versa, younger individuals can be coached by older individuals  and identify the specific issues that need to be solved.  What can we do? We can use the need for purpose and meaning that each one of us have in order to obtain  and to drive change in our institutions where we can allow for creativity and new ideas from different points of view from each member of the team.  But what is more important is that the actual part of patient-centered care is important to all of us.  And that's the common theme that they can join generations in developing strategies for improvement.  In conclusion, we can say that at this point in world history, in American history,  that for the first time we had four different generations working at the same time in our critical care institutions.  And as of 2016, Generation X and the baby boomers are no longer the largest proportion of workers in our facilities.  And we have to understand that over monetary compensation, younger people are driven by  higher premium on meaningful work and personal development and contribution to the improvement of health care. Thank you for your attention.  This is my contact information if I can help with anything. And now we're going to have our colleagues. We're going to leave questions for the end in terms of time.  Well, thank you very much, Dr. Del Rio, for that summary of degenerational cohorts.  I'm going to talk about establishing a bridge between generations.  I have no disclosures regarding this topic. The image in this slide is the new emergency room and ICU tower in which I practice in Cleveland, Cleanup, Florida.  So, the objectives of my disclosure are, like, to provide leaders and administrators and everybody in the audience with some tools to create a working environment  that is appealing to a multigenerational team. Also, to apply motivational theories in the workplace and to build understanding and better communication among members  of different generations. So, I want to see a show of hands. How many of you have been in a place in the last 12 months where there's a nursing shortage?  How many of you have seen a very talented coworker, not awake, by another institution in the last 24 months? Well, it seems that everybody in the audience have been affected  by this healthcare shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that there's going to be a talent gap of physicians between 41,000 and 105,000 by 2030.  There's also a higher turnover of healthcare workers, and it's in the range of 21% in the last figure from 2017, up from 15% in 2010. We also have an issue with engagement.  As you can see in this data from Press Guinea, the millennials and Generation Y, at the employee level, have the lowest engagement. This is similar in the physician engagement data.  The millennials and Generation Y have the lowest engagement. And why is this important? As Dr. Relvillo mentioned, the millennials now are the highest  group, largest group in our workforce, and we need to be able to engage this group and everybody else in able to be able to provide the care that our patients need  and our institutions expect from us. So this is data from a Deloitte Global Millennials Survey from 2019. They interviewed millennials in 42 countries, and what they found is 49%  of millennials will quit their current job, if they can, in the next two years. And this is an increase from the previous survey, in which the percentage was 38%.  So what are we going to do to solve this problem? So I propose that we utilize data from different fields, research from psychology, behavioral economics,  and human resources, in able to bridge this gap between generations. I'm going to start with the Maslow's Heritage of Needs Theory. This theory was published in 1943.  Maslow divided the needs of the individual in five steps, and each step has to be accomplished in a stepwise fashion in order to go to the next step.  So the basic step is the physiological step,  and it includes food, water, rest. The next step is safety. The third step is love and belonging. The fourth step is esteem, and the highest step is self-actualization.  That's when people achieve their full potential, including creative endeavors.  Another important behavioral theory is from Herzberg. He publishes the two-factor theory in the 1950s, and according to him, there were two main motivational reasons,  one for job dissatisfaction and another factor for job satisfaction. So the factor for job dissatisfaction he called hygiene factors, and he included the working conditions,  the co-worker relations, the policies and rules, the supervisor quality, the base wage salary, and the status in this column. The motivation factors were achievement,  recognition, responsibility, the work itself, the advancement, and the personal growth. So the supervisors and organizations can use this information to balance rewards  and to be able to engage the workers.  One of the newest theories is from Victor Brooms. It's called the expectancy theory, and it's still heavily in the effort and performance relationship, and according to him,  the behavior is the result of conscious choices among alternative decisions, and the individual will maximize pleasure and minimize pain.  He divided the motivational factors in three, expectancy, instrumentality, and balance, and the expectancy is the effort that the worker will put in achieve a specific goal.  The instrumentality will be the reward that the individual will obtain achieving that goal, and the balance is the value that the worker put in that particular reward.  There are also a field of behavioral economics. Dr. Cunningham won actually a Nobel Prize of Economics because of his work in which he linked behavioral theories and economy,  and they use them to create notch for people to perform in certain way or to frame situations in a way  that the individuals will try to choose something according to the notch.  Other researchers have done a lot of work in the generation and clash points at work. I think Dr. Baird will be talking about them in the previous presentation.  So some of the clash points will be the outlook, the view of authority, the reward system, the feedback. For example, the millennials,  they really value constant feedback while members of other generations do not need or do not want that constant feedback.  We need to involve human resources in this bridging of the gap. It's very important that the managers understand how to work with a diverse workforce  and to replace the traditional human resources that were applied uniformly to all employees with something more agile and flexible and to give the employees more choices.  So some of the steps to address age diversity, first will be to conduct some intergenerational evaluation of your own workforce,  and so you can be able to implement targeted recruitment, segment retention, and some succession planning strategies. And to develop some better communication strategies.  Some strategies could be to build a strong generational foundation, a different employee handbook.  The one from the millennials or the younger people could be more online and some, actually a book for older generations that would prefer that kind of handbook.  So make it interactive and apply to different generations.  Way of education and teaching. Also the flexible work options will be important.  Develop some generational competence, participate in formal mentoring programs, improve communication skills at all levels, and have some generational sensitivity.  It's very important to educate the managers on how to handle generation diversity,  to introduce workshops for all employees about the different generational preference, and as I mentioned before, different styles of teaching and coaching.  And to educate and engage some employees and physicians in order to create leaders that will be able to handle this generation diversity.  And openly talk about the stereotypes, and meet their stereotypes. Cooperation, cooperation is very important. Emphasize the shared goals,  reinforce the we instead of the us versus them.  And among other important aspect is not to dwell that much on the difference, to try to build collaborative relationships, to study the employees, to consider everybody's life path.  Some other researchers had proposed that we can use some of the lean tools from business in this reaching the gap effort.  Lean wants to decrease waste, improve productivity, make everything more efficient. So some of the things that have been advocated  are like a standardize of work, the simple diagram, process map, value stream map, key performance indicators, and the Jamba Walk in order to bridge the gap.  And I'm of all to establish this bridge between generations is important communication. Communication, communication is key. And to always respect individuality.  I'm gonna conclude with five things that employees of every generation want. An opportunity to advance within the organization,  better work-life balance, better remuneration and benefits, respect and recognition, and access to opportunities to learn and develop within the organization. Thank you.  This is my contact information. Dr. Cobas will be talking about the strategies.  Thank you.  Good morning, everyone. Can everybody hear me? So thank you, Lilybeth, for inviting me and thank you for the organizing committee to consider this session.  When we were given this time slot, last time slot, the last day of Congress, actually, my over-under was 10 people. And at some point, I thought that,  I was just giving this talk to my other two co-panelists. At one point, we were gonna wait for 10 minutes and then leave. So I'm very happy that I lost the bet  and I actually get to share our talk with all of you with far more people than I thought. My name is Miguel Cobas. I'm the professor of anesthesiology and critical care  at the University of Miami.  And I'm gonna talk about the strategies to achieve a high performance from a multigenerational team and try to wrap up everything that both Mauricio and Lilybeth talked before.  I have no disclosures. I only, I'm gonna do two plugs. I'm the chair-elect for the anesthesia steering committee of this society. And if you're interested,  even if your primary specialty is not anesthesiology, please do select that as your secondary option  because it's always good to be part and we think that we have a very lively and interesting section. I'm also the president-elect of the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists  but that doesn't give me any type of disclosure  that I need to open up. So this is a slide that we have already seen. The first question is, is it good to have a multigenerational team? And the answer, I think,  that's what we're gonna look for in the next few slides. If you look, there are sometimes some discrepancies in terms of what ages and what years start.  Some people say that Generation X sometimes it starts around 64, here is 65. But in general, we're talking about Generation X and millennials composing the majority of the workforce  that we have nowadays with people that are between the 20s to the 60 years old. So those are comprising around 70% of the workforce nowadays. And then you have a little bit of this  and a little bit of that, and very, very, very few of what we call the traditionalists. So we have five generations really that could be very tricky to navigate.  And this, I'm just gonna keep this slide for a little bit longer so we can see what are the key characteristics of each generation. So, and we can concentrate on these three  which are the most common, the baby boomers, the Generation X, and the millennials, Generation Y. So in general, as you grow from older to newer,  what you're looking is obviously, as it happens with every generation, is from more formal to less formal. And this is something that has been there for centuries.  If you look at writings from the 15th century and the 16th century, there are people complaining that the younger generation don't understand the older generation,  and the younger generation being basically a pain in the neck. So this happens all the time.  Actually, just for reference, you can find as early as 1900, people complaining that Thanksgiving was just a shopping holiday. This was as early as 1920.  So it's just a cycle that repeats itself. So peer-to-peer coaching is important since we're gonna be talking about strategies in the workforce. Peer-to-peer coaching is important  and see the coach as partner, whereas millennial actually expect more coaching and expect more feedback. Actually, some people say they expect constant feedback,  and then you can give feedback as frequent or in the form of tweets. If something has to be repeated frequently and something that the younger generation appreciates a lot.  Flexible scheduling and social media impact is extremely important for the younger generation, especially for the Generation Y. Generation Z, we're still not sure  because they are still not an important part of the workforce, but these are some of the characteristics that they have. So they're very technology-driven,  and they want always to be part of the enterprise, not be controlled by the enterprise, which is a little bit different than what was before,  that it was like, I'm part of a company, or I work for a company. Now I wanna say, I'm part of a company, which is a little bit different way of seeing things.  So let me see if I can get this because what talks to you and what do you hear is completely different. I hope that the video and everything works out,  and I hope that we have sound. So I'm gonna talk about a remix. It's a well-known classic song that has been changed by a new artist to make something new.  That's what we're gonna be listening to, hopefully. And in the workplace, a remix means taking practices of habits embraced by previous generation, by the older group, if you would,  and changing them to make it better appeal to millennials, Generation Z, and future generations so they can work, colleagues, and we understand each other.  So I went as far as song as I can find. Well, there's music that is far older than this, but this is relatively well-known. Hopefully we can all hear it. It's beautiful.  Actually, I can probably leave that, and it'll be much more interesting to listen to that than the rest of my talk. But in the interest that you came here for a talk,  I'm gonna actually continue. But that was the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. It's beautiful. And we're gonna listen to this.  This is a song that I wrote when I was in high school, and it's called Moonlight Sonata. It's a song that I wrote when I was in high school, and it's called Moonlight Sonata.  And we're gonna listen to this.  Okay, I think it's gonna load. Okay.  Same music. Same melody. Completely different way of listening to it.  So what talks to you, and what do you hear? Which version do you prefer? And I think that's one of the challenges that we have as leaders. And the thing is that we always talk about  understanding the generation because the older generation is the one that is in charge. I mean, most CEOs, chiefs, and this and that are a little bit older.  So we have kind of the voice that you listen, that is out there. So the challenges are we have four generations in the same workplace. We have convergence of technology  and new thought processes. The generation Y, or millennials, like it was mentioned before, represents the vast, bulky, of highly relevant, employable talent.  And 70% of all US jobs created since 1998 require conceptual skills of knowledge workers.  So technology is becoming more and more important. So the first question, is it good to have a multigenerational team? This is a survey by a company, Rico,  it's a communications company, a copy company, that it shows that 70% of people, 76% of people actually like working with different generations and working in a diverse environment.  And the enjoyment has to do with sharing thoughts,  sharing ways of learning, and sharing different technologies. This, another piece of data, this is done by the AARP, that shows that how much do we like to work with other people?  So the take-home message is that younger adults are more likely than workers 45 and plus to say that they like working with other generations a great deal, or a lot.  So in other words, if you look at the 18 to 29 group and the 30 to 44 group, about 43%, 40%, 34, and 35, they like to work with other generations a great deal, or a lot.  If you look, if you go after the 45 to 59 group and the 60 plus group, that percentage of that, I really like to work with younger people, decreases quite a bit.  In other words, you become maybe a little bit more set on your ways, some people would call that grumpy.  So.  But you are less,  as you say, less amiable or less flexible, maybe to accept the influx of new ideas or ways.  And one of the biggest things that we learn from working with younger people, when you ask the older generation, they say, well, the new technology, tech trends,  how to use technology, that's something that is really appreciated. Work style and skill, work efficiencies. And interestingly enough, new trends and pop culture  is not really something that most older generations enjoy. So maybe just being bombarded by tweets and Instagram feeds, there's not something that,  but the new technology, learning the new technology, it's something that is appreciated. Same thing, younger workers provide others the opportunity to give back,  and are seen as a catalyst for creativity. So you have the older people say, younger workers give me the opportunity to pass along my experience and knowledge,  so that's my value to them. And in the workers age of 30 to 44, significantly more likely than those 45 plus to agree that younger workers make the workplace more creative.  Again, the younger you are, the more accepting you are of newer influx. What about the other way around? What are the biggest things learned from working with older people?  This is the younger people saying about older people, wisdom and experience, work skills, learning how to do the job, learning how to get things done.  Work style and skills. If you look at, appreciate their energy and enthusiasm, and dedication is only 1%. So the younger generation sees the older generation  as non-enthusiastic and just basically just a bunch of boars that just get it done, but they don't like the way they get it done. So that could be some of the stereotypes,  and we're gonna be talking a little bit about that. Older workers are seen as teachers, and we don't have a lot of time about this, but the whole value of mentoring,  it could be a lecture on itself, and how to do appropriate mentoring. It's important. But the older workers are seen as teachers,  and allow others to consider a different perspective, make the workplace more productive.  So those age 18 to 29 years old are more likely than those 45 years old to agree that older workers give them opportunity to pass on newer skills and learn new skills.  Well, because probably the 45 years old already feel that they learn everything. You are at the cusp of your thing. I don't wanna learn anything,  and I don't wanna maybe get new information. However, despite this quote-unquote rosy picture of like everybody likes working with everybody else, it's not that smooth.  And this is some of the complaints that you hear frequently in the workplace. Millennials don't seem to care about the work of the company. They will let us train them,  and then quit the following week for a job and for more money. Millennials don't understand the meaning of work. They want rewards without having to do the work to earn them.  And millennials only want time off for vacation. That seems to be all they care about. Interestingly enough is because, again, most of the people who lead workforce  and who have positions of power or leadership, they tend to be not millennials, except for a few companies. But most traditional companies and most traditional structures of powers  are headed mostly by the time by generation X. But at the end, what we're looking for is the value of meaningful work because this is about how to maximize  our strength in the workforce. So what is the value of meaningful work? And this is the way that a few generations can probably say it. I can traditionally say,  I can even imagine going to a job that I didn't think had value. Whereas the baby boomer says, if I didn't get personal fulfillment and feel like I was doing something good,  it would be miserable to put that much time and effort into something. Generation X says something like, if your job is without meaning, why would you get out of bed?  And millennials say, I would rather make nothing and love going to work every day than make a ton of money and hate going to work every day. So the value of meaningful work,  if you look at it, the definitions may not be mutually exclusive. And if you look at what's published out there, there is this meta-analysis, which I thought it was pretty good.  It's about eight years old, but I think it still stands, is the generational difference in work-related attitudes. And what they found is that if you go deep  into what every generation feels about, how they see their work, and what is value,  there's little evidence supporting that existence of significant and meaningful differences attributable to generation membership. What they found, statistically significant,  they found when they did the surveys on a very large number of people, is that older generations tend to be slightly more satisfied with their jobs than the younger generations,  and older generations were somewhat less likely to leave their jobs than younger generations. So there's more, let's say, job migration with the younger generation,  but only a little bit. And one of the things that they found is that the belief of how other generations are really seen by the other generation is very important.  So what might really matter are not the actual differences between generations, but the people's beliefs that there are significant difference between generations.  These beliefs can get in the way of how people collaborate with their colleagues and could have implications for how people are managed and trained.  So this goes to what Lilibeth was saying about the stereotypes and metastereotypes. If what really matters are not the actual difference between generations,  but the belief that the difference exists, then we need to look at the way that we communicate and the way that we see each other  and how we react to the belief of the other person has. For instance, a stereotype about young people, for example, may be that they're self-centered and narcissistic.  A young person, being a member of that generation, will think that they worry that other people think that they're narcissistic and self-centered.  So they act in a way that they try to deflect that belief that they think that other people are seeing them as such. So that's a metastereotype.  There's the stereotype and the metastereotype. And the workplace is full of stereotypes and metastereotypes. Somebody is old. You think that somebody is old.  Somebody already is constantly in their own ways. Somebody is young. So you will think that this person is just gonna come here and just going to tweet  and not gonna just ask for vacation. And it may be completely wrong. So I think that's very important is to establish expectations of what we think,  what we think each person can bring to the job. And that's one of the things is that there's significant research done in the power of negative thinking.  And we tend to sometimes apply the power of negative thinking to every interaction we have, especially with interaction of the unknown. And every new work, and every workplace,  and everything that is new to you, either a new task, a new managerial job that you have, new workers that come to you, you are very careful  because it's embedded in our reptilian brain that we have to be very careful about things that are negative because that can hurt us. So I'm old enough to remember when New Coke,  which is now very old, is so old that it's no longer available. It only comes out like in, I don't know, like things that totally fail,  but you still wanna maybe have the taste or something that totally failed. New Coke, at one point, was the thing that was gonna revolutionize the taste of Coke. People hated it.  So New Coke is out of the window. So the stereotype, it would be for the older generation, would be that they're responsible, hardworking, and mature.  However, you have to be careful of being seen, or maybe you are thinking that you are seen as somebody that is boring, stubborn, and grumpy.  What other people may just see you as responsible, hardworking, and mature. If you look at something that is gonna be very new, which is the new Tesla truck down there,  which, as a sidebar, I think it's, I don't know, constructed between the creators of Godzilla and Lego, or something in between.  So the new Tesla truck that is coming, the new people may be ethical, energetic, and enthusiastic, where maybe the meta-stereotype that you apply to them  would be inexperienced, irresponsible, and unmotivated. So those are things that we need to be careful about. So the rules of engagement between the generations  are wildly different, and that doesn't mean, like the Moonlight Sonata, that doesn't mean that they are wrong. It doesn't mean, it just means that they are completely different.  And while some people like the piano version, some people like the electric guitar version. It's the same music. So when you, I put every other generation,  and the millennials, because everybody tends to like, you know, take a swing at the millennials. And so boss knows best, boss should listen.  Personal accountability and the collective results. As we move towards younger generations, the collective becomes more important than the individual,  which has always been an issue. Has, you know, if you remember the 60s, I mean, the revolution was about the collective. Now we're going through the same thing.  It's just different, you know, different times, and different technology, and things like that. But it's about, it's the same. Goal-driven, purpose-driven.  Evaluation-responsive, and feedback-responsive. So there's a difference between evaluation and feedback. Here you actively participate. Hierarchy-based, this is my boss,  and this is entrepreneurial-based. I wanna be part of the project, not be just an underling of the project. So what are the strategies?  And I found that's interesting that my co-panelists chose me to do the final part,  because I have a hard time sometimes waking up my son on time. So I'm not sure if I have good strategies for the younger generations to do what they should do.  But still, we should try to do this. We have to assume the best intentions. And again, the power of negativity is very hard.  And that's a bias that we have as a race.  As a human race, we have that,  because it's intrinsic for our survival to think that things may hurt us. So we gotta take that out a little bit and understand that that is present. So assume the best intention.  Communication is likely to be different. And the fact that it's different doesn't mean that it's bad. It's just different, okay?  There has to be an empathy toward newer ways. And I am writing this from the perspective of somebody that is 50 years old. So text earphones.  But that also applies for somebody that would be, if I'm writing this as my 25-year-old self, I would say, well, the empathy toward the newer ways, to me, may be a memorandum  or just a formal letter or something like that. It will be different. There has to be, it's not only from the person that is in power, but also should be from the person  that is up and coming, to have the empathy towards the newer ways.  It doesn't mean that it's newer ways to you. Be very clear of your expectations are. For instance, you can tell the person that you're gonna be working,  hey, if I call you, I expect that either you pick up or that you, it's important. I need seconds to know about this. Maybe if I text you, I want minutes, okay?  A few minutes, but text is rather fast. Or an email, you can take some hours to answer. Something like that. You choose whatever time it is. But you set your expectations.  That way, you don't clash. Things that are spelled out in advance are actually much more well-tolerated. That's something that, there's something that is called  the North Korea syndrome. And I don't mean if there's anybody from here from North Korea, which I doubt, but anyway, has to do with the fact  that if your expectations are that you're not gonna get, that you're gonna have periods of blackout of power during the day because there's not enough power  in North Korea, people get used to that. And if you survey people that have that problem compared to a regular Western civilization  that has power in their cities without any interruption, their levels of tolerability and happiness of that is about the same. But because your expectations is that, I don't know,  from whatever time it is of the day, you'll have no power in your house. So the expectations of what you are gonna get from each other is extremely important  to set from the beginning. So that's a style conversation. What is it that you want? What is it that I want? And how are we gonna understand that? Ask and don't guess.  Because assumption is a problem.  Talk about stereotypes and meta-stereotypes. Share stories, okay? We're humans. Humans, the most powerful way to convey what we are,  what we want, and where we want to go are stories. We're storytellers by nature. And that's how we get to people. So share stories and how to be successful  and how to get from point A to point B. People will find that as something, a communal ground where everybody can grow. So advantages of working with an age-diverse group  and emphasize the sharer's goal. Lastly, don't deny who you are, okay? If you are a manager that works under certain circumstances,  don't try to pass as the hip guy that likes to be tweeting, because that's gonna come out as fake, all right? Of anything, people like authenticity.  And people see when you are being authentic in what you do. And they say, well, you know, my boss is really hard on this and this and this,  but I know exactly what to expect from that. And this is what I should do with that, whereas, you know, so don't deny who you are. And you can say that also  if you are not only the boss, but if you are the person that it's, you know, on the corporate ladder to say, this is who I am,  this is what I would like to do, this is what I like to get. So don't deny who you are. Authenticity is important, especially if it's towards a shared goal.  If it's not towards a shared goal, that's a problem. But if it's towards a shared goal, working with differences actually makes it better.  So I think this is my last slide. And I would like to leave you with this quote.  Mixing one wine, old and young wine may be a mistake, but old and new wisdom mix admirably. So with that, I'm gonna finish, and we have about five minutes for questions.  Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you.  No questions?  Well, thank you very much again for coming, and I hope you have safe travels back, or if you're staying in Orlando, that you enjoy the parks.  Okay. Thanks. Thank you.

Video Summary

In this video presentation, the speakers discuss the challenges and strategies for managing a multigenerational workforce. They highlight the differences in values, communication styles, and work preferences among different generations, including traditionalists, baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials. The speakers emphasize the importance of understanding these generational differences and finding common ground to foster effective communication and collaboration. They also discuss the value of meaningful work and the importance of aligning individual and organizational goals to achieve high performance. The speakers propose strategies such as assuming the best intentions, clear communication of expectations, and sharing stories and experiences to bridge the generational gap. They also stress the importance of empathy, authenticity, and recognizing each individual's strengths and contributions. Overall, the speakers encourage leaders and managers to embrace the diversity and unique qualities of each generation to create a positive and productive work environment.

Asset Subtitle

Professional Development and Education, Administration, 2020

Asset Caption

The Society of Critical Care Medicine's Critical Care Congress features internationally renowned faculty and content sessions highlighting the most up-to-date, evidence-based developments in critical care medicine. This is a presentation from the 2020 Critical Care Congress held February 16-19, 2020, in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Learning Objectives

Identify the different generational cohorts in the health workforce
Compare the behaviors of the main generational cohorts in the health workforce
Formulate strategies that foster team diversity and communication
Outline a plan to achieve high performance from a multigenerational team

Understanding Multigenerational Diversity

J. Mauricio Del Rio

Establishing a Bridge Between Generations

Lilibeth Fermin

Strategies to Achieve High Performance From a Multigenerational Team

Miguel A. Cobas

Meta Tag

Content Type Presentation

Knowledge Area Professional Development and Education

Knowledge Area Administration

Knowledge Level Intermediate

Knowledge Level Advanced

Membership Level Select

Membership Level Professional

Membership Level Associate

Tag Communication

Tag Staffing

Tag Education

Year 2020

Keywords

multigenerational workforce

communication styles

work preferences

generational differences

effective communication

meaningful work

individual goals

high performance

diversity

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