Your Boss is Younger?

Millennials having such a larger presence in the workforce, and of course in leadership and management roles, the dynamics are going to change. Interview questions are adjusting to the incoming Millennials now in supervisory positions. The old model of working your way up to a Gold Watch and Pension is largely a thing of an era long gone.

Shifting the frames of reference can be tricky in the first place, largely because work experience is vastly different. Recognize also that work motivators, reward motivators, time motivators, and social references are so vastly different.

So how should we approach this shift in sharing authority and respect?

For starters, ask permission to share ideas. Older people sometimes assume that their thoughts and their experiences and their beliefs are more important than younger people. The “older but wiser” construct, whether it's done consciously or unconsciously, isn't always welcomed or appreciated in the vein they intended - in fact, it often destroys the opportunity to build trust.

You know this - when we're judgy to other people, they're going to be judgy back to us. Take a few minutes to consider your existing bias (because we ALL have them!) and then make sure you leverage your experience in a way that is helpful to your team. You have the opportunity to see both the big picture as well as the potential pitfalls your new boss is trying to navigate. When you embrace your own issues and look for opportunities to improve, you have re-joined the team mentality toward progress.

Our younger workforce has grown up with rapid change.

Their agility and ability to change is oftentimes quicker, could you help with historical or relation-based data that would help shorten their success curve? Identify your goal for sharing your ideas. Is what is needed a change process or policy improvement, communication channels need some help, should you look at evaluate efficiencies in work-flows? Something as simple as, “I have an idea around this (needed change), can I share that with you?” may be all it takes.

Avoid making broad assumptions about your younger boss.

You're coming to a conclusion about something that that person may do or may not do. Just because your boss is younger doesn't mean they're partiers and always surfing social media. And if you don't take your supervisor seriously, regardless of age, that's going to be a problem for you. Frame your communications with the understanding that ultimately your boss will answer for whatever is decided, so a partner-approach may prevent unnecessary drama.

Finally, keep it professional.

One danger zone for older workers, when they find themselves working for a younger millennial boss, is that they move into “parent” role. Don't do that, you run the risk they will only see you in that light and it could hurt your career. You definitely don't want to be the one that is giving the advice, getting personal beyond that professional level. Just treat them the way you would an older boss or peer.

“Authority may be appointed but trust builds when we are consistently showing up and choosing kindness and respect.” - Dr. Maria Church

At the end of the day, we want to support our bosses because it strengthens our team and when our team is successful, our organization is successful.

Wishing you successful interactions,

Maria

We have found ourselves in the Rage Age.

Incivility is almost becoming the norm. In a recent retreat I facilitated for a Mayor and City Council, incivility was a big part of our conversation. They’ve noticed an increase of incivility in the community, especially after the last major election. It was their belief that the frustration with the federal government and the incivility demonstrated during the last divisive presidential election continues to trickle down to the local government level.

We certainly do not need to look far to see the incivility demonstrated on “social” media. I know of many people who stopped using Facebook and Twitter during the campaign because the conversation went from civil discourse to rage, rude, and abusive dialogue…in other words, the conversations became uncivil.

We also see this in our own communities. A very good friend of mine recently was the victim of road rage. When I discussed this incident with a local sheriff, he explained that he wasn’t surprised by this act of rage as it is becoming much more apparent in this time of uncertainty. Wow, living in uncertainty contributes to rage.

This incivility is also showing up in our workplaces.

18% of the 867 hate incidents reported in the 10 days after the election occurred in workplace environments. However, incivility in the workplace is not new. A study conducted a few years ago uncovered contributing factors to this phenomenon at work. More than half of the employees said they were overloaded at work, 40% claimed they did not have the time to be nice, and 25% reported that their rude behavior was because that is the way their bosses behaved.

According to another study, the experiencing rude behavior reduces employees’ self-control and leads them to behave in a similar manner, which only prolongs the cycle of incivility. This type of behavior is compounded in workplaces that are perceived to be political in nature where co-workers act out of self-interest rather than what is best for the organization or the community in which they serve.

When people don’t feel respected, productivity, innovation, and loyalty suffer. People just stop communicating with each other. They stop sharing and seeking information. This can be the death of an organization.

Another study showed that people lose the ability to concentrate after being treated rudely. Cognitive skills dropped 30% in experiments that the researchers conducted.In many cases, rude, uncivil behavior stems from a lack of self-awareness.

People who behave rudely often don’t realize the impact they have on others around them.

We need to get those people who are acting rudely to understand what is going on around them and how they can improve their behavior.

Start now, to create more civil workplace cultures by:

Getting support from senior leaders to change their cultures.
Walk the talk, model the behavior you want to see.
Coach your executive leadership team, department directors, managers, supervisors, and employees on how to be civil and respectful of each other.
Hold people accountable, regardless of their title in the organization.This change won’t happen overnight, but moving in the right direction with commitment and awareness will help to change workplace cultures to civil, productive, and innovative organizations.

As always, I love to hear from you. What steps have you taken to help create a civil culture?

With Love and To Your Success,

Maria

A Course in Leadership: 21 Spiritual Lessons on Power, Love and Influence Buy on Amazon