ACTivity/ The Crossgen Challenge

What is needed to start Crossgen Collaboration: Responses from an Indo-Pacific audience in New Delhi.

Manila, 26 April 2023 — What will Crossgen meeting rules look like?

Story

It happened two weeks after graduating from university with a Masters degree. Two specialists called me up to join their team. One was a senior water resources engineer and the other a senior public health specialist, and both were working in tropical countries. As an eager young professional, I was where Gen Zers are today. And my two senior colleagues were like the Boomers of today. There were two generations between us. And yet, we could collaborate very well across our generations. 

In our discussions, the senior specialist gave me ample time to speak up, and they showed curiosity about what I had to say. As a consequence, I learned and contributed fast at the same time. To their credit, they were receptive to making decisions together. A few years earlier, while working as a consultant, I had a management specialist as my supervisor. He was full of curiosity and support for my growth. Upon reflection now, I was lucky to have those experiences. Today, when I observe the challenges faced by many Gen Zs and quite a few Gen Ys too, I have come to realize that Crossgen collaboration does not happen without deliberate intention and conscious efforts from people of all the generations involved.

As I advanced in my career, I kept finding opportunities to influence colleagues, supervisors, executives, and board members by consulting them in a collaborative way. On the other hand, I also experienced situations where I felt diminished and not taken seriously by colleagues from earlier generations. Today, unfortunately, that’s still the experience of many Gen Zs and Gen Ys whose voices are unheard. Too many workplaces are still suffering from a lack of effective collaboration among Gen Z, Y, X, and Boomers in the workforce. Why is that still a problem?

Challenge

Reflecting on history, there should not be any doubt that young professionals can inspire and influence positive changes in their workplaces and the world at large. They always have. Rather than being treated as future leaders, they can and should be embraced as fellow leaders in the present. Sadly, however, that is still difficult to see for many senior professionals and executives with a fixed mindset. Often, these executives even lack the awareness of what they and their businesses are missing out on. Certainly, none of the generations in our workplaces can solve today’s complex problems by working in generational silos. It’s imperative that we find ways to collaborate. Why is that still such a challenge? 

After exploring this question over time with several fellow leaders from different generations, I have observed three hurdles. The first is a Lack of Awareness among senior experts and executives who, in my experience, are often the main bottleneck, as indeed they have been throughout history. Yet, never before have there been so many opportunities for positive change and life-long (un)learning as we have today. It’s high time for Boomers and Gen Xers to stop putting Gen Y and Z (often called Youth) into separate rooms and activities, and to start treating them as partners.

The second hurdle is a Lack of Openness. Many Gen Xers and Boomers may feel a sense of competition with ‘Youth’ and a threat to their own job security. Yet, while change can always feel scary, there are so many opportunities today to create new roles where each generation can be turned into partners. There is really no need to resist change and hang on to the status quo. The third hurdle I see is a Lack of Engagement. Many executives, I found, are positive about change and just don’t know how to get started, resulting in a lack of momentum and tipping points for change. To get going, some of my Crossgen dialogue partners have suggested that it’s time to experiment with new rules that help to make cross-generational collaboration possible in meetings. I agree. 

Question

Meanwhile, we can ask ourselves who are the early champions whom we can learn from in this challenge. For a start, I saw examples in businesses, especially those that depend heavily on the buying choices of Gen Z, like the fashion industry. The Guardian has reported on innovations such as appointing ZEOs and using reverse mentoring. I’ve been thinking about how we can tap the power of such innovations to catalyze change in other industries and government agencies struggling with climate action and the other big issues of our time. It’s time to learn from what pioneers are already doing.

Not surprisingly, one of the issues that came up in my recent Crossgen dialogues is how to influence Gen X and Boomer executives for change. Not everyone has taken to reverse mentoring yet. And how to move the debate beyond the binary distinction of youth vs the others? Such distinctions rarely solve problems and can trigger unproductive us-and-them thinking. Instead, what can we do to get more specific about each generation’s contribution and give them space to practice recognizing colleagues from the other generations?

When it comes to influencing positive changes in the workplace, we know that leadership happens in relationships and conversations. So, why not experiment with some new rules for Crossgen workplace meetings? What can they look like? For example, they could guide who gets invited, who gets to speak first (and often longest), and who gets to make decisions. My Gen Z colleagues suggested that using meeting facilitators will help to bring such changes, especially in workplace cultures that are still heavily skewed towards seniority and where executives persist in using yesterday’s recipes for tomorrow’s success. I’m interested to hear from you about how Crossgen collaboration can be introduced in your workplace. What has worked, what hasn’t worked yet, and what can we learn from those experiences?