GENERATIONS Speaking their Language

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GENERATIONSSpeaking their Language

• Presentation By
• Gonzalo Huerta
• Dean of Instruction for Applied Sciences
• Imperial Valley College
• March 6, 2009

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Mexican
Baby Boomer
Biker
Dean
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How is a Generation Defined?

• Each cohort has its own Generational
  Personality
• Shared life experiences of formative years
• Similar attitudes, values, and life approaches
• Similar learning and work styles shaped by
• Headlines of the times
• Politics
• Economics
• People
• Places
• Conditions
• Events

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US Generations(Debates on dates and titles)

• GI Generation.....
• Greatest Generation.........
• Jazz Age.........
• Silent Generation.......
• Matures (Traditionalists).......
• Baby Boomers....
• Generation X...
• Generation Y..
• Millennials..........
• Net Generation...

• 1900-1924
• 1911-1924
• 1918-1929
• 1925-1945
• 1909-1945
• 1945-1964
• 1965-1980
• 1970-1990
• 1980-2000
• 1994-2001

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Training Styles(What they like)

• Baby Boomers
• Variety of formats
• Team building
• Seminars and workshops
•  
• Generation X
• To learn by doing
• Opportunity to practice skills
• Computer-based learning
• Immediate feedback
•  
• Millennials
• Learning anytime and anywhere
• Clear orientation
• Cross-training 

TEAM
COMPUTER
LEARN
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Classroom and Workplace Expectations

• Baby Boomers
• Process-oriented
• Personable
• Like agreement and harmony
• Avoid conflicts
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• Generation X
• Frank and honest
• Evaluate ideas on merit, not on years of
  experience
• Welcome change as opportunity
• Like freedom to do it their way
• Admire competence, but dont work well under
  micromanagers
• Prefer to set up their own schedules and work
  terms
•  
• Millennials
• Can be positive and engaging
• Technology is a way of life
• Embrace new technological ideas and implement
  them easily
• Expect to learn and work in an environment that
  is fair and where diversity is the norm

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Classroom and Work Environment

• Baby Boomers
• Equal rights, humane, and democratic
• Personal growth
• Team oriented
• Rewards that include money, titles, and
  recognition
• Generation X
• Fast paced environment
• Functional with loose boundaries around
  leadership
• Balanced personal-work perspective
• Flexible and informal
• Millennials
• Collaborative, creative, and positive learning
  and work culture
• Comfortable in a place with more supervision and
  structure
• Like to be rewarded for their achievements
• Technology savvy
• Prefer frequent feedback

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Work Ethics

• Baby Boomers
• No one wants to pay their dues anymore.
• Generation X
• It is just a job.
• Millennials
• Lets get it done here and now.

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Communication Behaviors and Tips

• Matures (Traditionalists)
• Do not expect them to share their thoughts
  immediately
• Focus on words rather than body language and
  inferences
• Face-to-face or written communication is
  preferred
• Do not waste their time or make them think it is
  being wasted
• Baby Boomers
• Show me generation, so show them
• Body language is important when communicating
• Answer questions thoroughly and expect to be
  pressed for details
• Present options, and answer why,
• Demonstrate flexibility in your thinking

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Communication Behaviors and Tips (continued)

• Generation X
• Prove it to me generation, so prove it to them
• Use e-mail as the primary communication tool,
  informal communication style
• Talk in short sound bites to keep their attention
  and answer why
• Ask them for their feedback and provide them with
  regular feedback
• Share information with them and keep them in the
  loop
• Millennials
• Provide positive reinforcement
• Use action words and challenge them at every
  opportunity
• They will resent if you talk down to them
• Prefer e-mail communication
• Provide them with regular feedback
• Rule 6 Do not take yourself too seriously

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Build a LegacyMatures (Traditionalists)
Career Goals

• Expect to build lifetime career with one employer
  or in a single field
• That loyalty and desire to
• leave a legacy has guided
• career steps for them
• Organizations make mistake when fail to recognize
  their personal responsibility toward workplace

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Build a Stellar Career Baby Boomers Career
Goals

• Always want to excel in their careers
• and to earn at peak capacity
• Less likely to job-hop, but employers can no
  longer assume theyll wait forever for top
  positions
• Developing challenging career paths may be best
  solution. (Does not mean more work. Think
  opportunity or visibility.)

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Build a Portable Career Generation X Career
Goals

• Feel that their careers need to keep
• moving forward or they die
• Have switched from job security to career
  security
• Want to keep building a repertoire of skills and
  experiences that are portable
• Greatest fear is that they might become stagnant

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Build Parallel Careers Millennials Career
Goals

• Being coached by their parents to build extensive
  portfolios for college admission
• Understand importance of balancing
• hobbies, sports, volunteer activities, and work
• Multi-taskers looking for parallel careers
• Why decide whether to be a waitress, a hostess,
  or a cashier when you can be all three?
• Cross-training is a great retention strategy
  which reduces expense of turnover

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Who Has Better Values?

• No one has better values!
• They only have different values!

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Bridging the Gap

• Know who you are talking to
• Learn to accept and appreciate anothers
  perspective
• Discuss expectations right away
• Inquire about immediate tasks (How does going to
  A get you to B?)
• Look at ways to cut bureaucracy and red tape
• Dont be put off by overt ambition
• Keep up with technology

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As a Manager

• Focus on goals
• Because of value-driven differences, workers can
  easily lose sight of objectives
• Distinguish between lively debate and stalemate
• Help resolve problems without dampening
  enthusiasm or disparaging opinions
• Make everyone feel included
• Keep an open mind
• Encourage each generation to mentor the other
• Break the bonds of tradition
• Expect resistance when changing the status quo
• Older employees may want to proceed with caution
• Younger ones will want to move ahead without
  worrying about the risks

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As a Manager...(continued)

• Invest in talent
• Help employees develop skills to succeed within
  the company and in their careers
• Work toward giving everyone an equal footing
• Subsidize further education that is not job
  related
• Show employees the future
• Tell them where the organization is going, how
  they fit in, and how to prepare
• This can help them thru dark times or
  temptations for competitors
• Little changes make a big difference
• Employees of all ages place a high value of
  balancing their work and personal lives
• Build it and they will come and stay

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Nearly all generation-gap experts agree that
dating yourself in a speaking situation can be
disastrous.
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Major Events Pop CultureMatures
(Traditionalists)

• Born 1922 1945
• Population 44.2 million
• Events Pearl Harbor Bombing
• WWII
• Great Depression
• The New Deal
• Korean War
• Icons Readers Digest, Blondie, Golden Age of
  Radio
• Music Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Frank
  Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday,
  Charlie Parker

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Major Events Pop CultureBaby Boomers

• Born 1946 1964
• Population 76.8 million
• Events John F. Kennedys Assassination
• Vietnam War
• Civil Rights Movement
• Womens Liberation
• Moon Landing
• Icons Television, Doonesbury, Peace Symbol,
  Fallout Shelters, Discos
• Music Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimmy
  Hendrix, the Rolling Stones,
• the Beach Boys, the Supremes

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Major Events Pop CultureGeneration X

• Born 1965 1978
• Population 52.4 million
• Events John Lennons Murder
• The Challenger Disaster
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• Operation Desert Storm
• Icons Personal Computer, the Simpsons, Music
  Videos, Tattoos
• Music The Cure, U2, Madonna, Guns N Roses,
  Metallica,
• Nirvana, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili
  Peppers

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Major Events Pop CultureMillenials

• Born 1979 Present
• Population 77.6 million and counting
• Events Oklahoma City Bombing
• OJ Simpson Trial
• Columbine School Shootings
• Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
• Icons Internet, PlayStation, Beanie Babies, Body
  Piercing
• Music NSync, Britney Spears, Justin
  Timberlake, Rihanna,
• Beyoncé, 50 Cent, The Strokes, The Killers

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• Questions