Siouxland Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 2

What Is Wrong With ‘Kids’ These Days?
By Cyndi Hanson
I’ll bet you’ve heard that statement in the
workplace – an environment where we have the
potential of four to five generations working
side-by-side.Questions such as: how do you manage
millennials? Why are baby boomers such control-freaks?
Who are the Gen-Xers? Why do they email everything
instead of getting up and talking to me? And my favorite
– why can’t these people just get along?
When it comes to generational issues in the workplace,
I posit that it really isn’t a generational issue – it’s a
communication and understanding issue. I was first
introduced to this idea more than a decade ago when
the notion of generational differences was just starting to
emerge as a relevant workplace topic. The concept that
was introduced is called “Generational Repetition”.
Generational Repetition is the notion that each generation
believes four characteristics regarding the next
generation. Are you ready for them? As you read them,
ask yourself if you ever heard someone a generation
older say this about you? And ask yourself if you’ve said
this about someone in a younger generation (yet)?
Did you chuckle? I did, because there is so much truth and
so much fallacy in the notion. The truth of the matter is, we
probably do think that of the following generation(s). The
fallacy is that the assumptions aren’t accurate. I would take
this step further and suggest these assumptions aren’t just
true of generations, they are often true of people period.
Many of us tend to see through our own lens, assume
others see things, believe things and want things the same
way we do. That projection of our ideas and ideals onto
others is not new. What is newer is that our society is less
homogeneous. We encounter people with different ideas
of success and ‘hard work’ more often than we used to –
and some of those are people from another generation.
If you struggle with “generational issues” at
work, I think one of the best ways to improve
the situation is to ask questions.
The first question I recommend is to be asked of yourself
– What assumptions do I have that may be impacting the
situation?
Ironically, the most vivid example of a ‘generational
issue’ that I encountered was when I was the “kid” in
the workplace. I had a knack then (as I still do today) for
asking questions – such as why do we do it that way? Have
we ever thought of doing it this way?
I found that I was having a lot of conflict with a supervisor
centered around my questions. Prompted by the
questions of a friend and mentor, I took a step back from
the situation and tried to see how my questions might be
interpreted. COLOR BLOCK: Suddenly I realized, while I
was asking for explanation to learn and understand what
had been done before; what the supervisor heard was
someone questioning her intelligence, criticizing a process
or system she created. I “assumed” she knew my question
was curiosity not critique.
With this newfound knowledge, I started approaching
my supervisor in this way. “I don’t have the history, can
you explain to me why we do it this way?” The reaction to
my question was distinctly different. Our relationship and
communication improved dramatically and before long
I didn’t need to preface the question with a statement of
intent, we both got over our assumptions.
If you don’t know what assumptions you have or
how they may impact a situation, ask someone
to help you. It’s hard to see our own blind spots.
Look back at those generational repetition
concepts and ask yourself if any of those are
assumptions? Or you could be really brave and
take the courageous step to ask the person you
are interacting with.
“It seems like we have a conflict and I don’t understand the
root cause. Can we talk about it so I can see what I’ve been
missing?”
Said with a sincere sense of curiosity, a question like this
can open a tremendous dialogue and opportunity for
both parties to better understand each other. It doesn’t
mean that you’ll walk away sharing the same belief about
the situation, but you may walk away with information and
perspective you didn’t have before.
How much better generations (or people in general) may
get along if we all asked more questions and made fewer
assumptions?
Dr. Cyndi Hanson and her daughter enjoy exploring the
world and asking a lot of questions together. Cyndi is also the
Executive Director of Northeast Community College’s South
Sioux City Extended Campus. This position allows her to use her
experiences with questions to guide interactions with students.
Siouxland Magazine | Question / 11