Different generations at work

A father conversing with a friend complained: “My friend told me that I am behind times on technology. I was so shocked I almost dropped my Nokia 3310.”

Another one said: “It’s a lot of rubbish when people talk about “how good” modern kids are these days with technology. My grandson is staying for the weekend and looks clueless about my VCR and VHS tapes.”

It has been said that two types of people dominate technology: Those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand. And finally, talking about technology, two guys were in a conversation. “Hey, do you think that someday technology will replace paper?” The other guy answered, full of wisdom. “Well, it will be pretty hard to wipe with a tablet.

Have you ever watched people of different generations use technology at work or for work? Here is an interesting observation:

Baby boomers (people born from 1946 to 1964) use the desktop computer sitting on their desks. That’s me. Not only do I use a desktop computer, but what works best for me is an iMac with a 24” screen that I purchased from PowerMac because people my age would prefer bigger fonts and a bigger screen for apparent reasons. Boomers like me usually occupy high and senior positions or are members of the board of corporations. Like me, they are still working BUT for different purposes and a different motivation than many years ago, which could be a topic I can discuss in the future.

The people from Generation X (born between the mid-1960s and the early-1980s) are primarily in executive or supervisory positions, and it would be interesting to see that they are comfortable using a laptop. They do this at work behind a desk, but they can be comfortable using the laptop on the sofa at home or elsewhere. I see many of them in airport lounges doing their work, awaiting their boarding announcements.

The millennials (researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth year and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as the ending birth year) can be seen using a smartphone seated on the floor or lying in bed. My daughter-boss would lie on her bed doing stuff with her smartphone, and while I thought she was playing games, she was not. She was debugging codes on our websites.

You see a snapshot of three generations; business organizations consist of teams that comprise the different generations. Each one is staring at screens and messaging the other. It is common to see them not discussing issues face to face, even though they are in the same room. It happens at work and at home.

The social habits of our 21st-century culture reflect in very clear ways that the socialization of the human population has morphed since the dawn of the smartphone. Much of today’s innovative technology, for instance, has made life easier and more efficient for us but has also diminished the soft skills needed in adulthood and our careers.

I’ve been in leadership and people development training for years. I was surprised to learn that skills would atrophy with the advent of portable devices. Educator Tim Elmore observes that, in one sense, today’s population is advanced compared to past generations. But in another sense, left behind. Educational psychologists measure maturation in children by using four categories. Cognitive, biological, social, and emotional. Our culture has cultivated these realities. Cognitive Growth – advanced as people knew more at younger ages. Biological Growth – advanced as people are physically maturing faster. Social Growth – is behind as people are less able to navigate relationships, and Emotional Growth is also behind as people experience more fragile emotions. Just look casually at posts, tweets, and even newspapers and see how people express outrage over smallest issues. Critical thinking is down, but critical comments are up.

Cancel culture has reached an entirely new level. Enraged parents cannot muster civility in their kids’ sports events and tournaments. The most surprising thing for me is having workers’ parents negotiate for a raise or promotion or barging into HR offices defending their kids.

Do you see those posts on LinkedIn offering tutorials on how, when, and why people have to quit their jobs and contribute to high corporate attrition and turnover?

There is a severe necessity for values and leadership training that espouses the virtues of hard work, perseverance, integrity, teamwork, and respect, especially for the next generation of leaders, whether in private business enterprises or the corporate world. They may not know they need help – and a lot of training.

(Francis Kong’s podcast “Inspiring Excellence” is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.)