How Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, & Gen Z Communicate Differently at Work (and How to Bridge the Gap)

Episode 81: How Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, & Gen Z Communicate Differently at Work (and How to Bridge the Gap)

In this episode, Holly Hibbard - Executive Leadership Coach & Corporate Relationship Consultant - shares with you...

• how Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z communicate differently in the workplace and effective strategies to bridge these generational divides for improved collaboration and productivity. (Generational Communication Gaps)
• the evolving boundaries between work and personal life and how different generations approach work-life balance, mental health, and the expectations for sharing personal values in a professional environment. (Balancing Professional and Personal Life)
• why Millennials and Gen Z demand reciprocity for their efforts at work and how Boomers and Gen X can adapt their methods to foster a more inclusive and dynamic workplace culture that values transparency and open communication. (Adaptation and Reciprocity in Work Ethic)

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Transcript

Hey, everyone.
Welcome back to the Holly Hibbard Show.
I am Holly, your host.
Today's episode, this is gonna be a fun one.
This is a merger of something I have been passionate about for many, many years.
It's a merger of my years of being a public school teacher combined with my current life as a, executive coach that works with organization and businesses on improving their corporate culture to support their bottom line and boost retention and keep recruitment going on a high level.
And, yes, this episode is about communication, but something that I have discovered in the last few years is that communication has so many hurdles to jump between generations.
So this episode today is going to tackle, how boomers, baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, how they communicate differently, namely at work in a professional setting, and how to bridge that gap.
I can't even stress enough for you that if you've never listened to an episode of this show all the way through, have this be the one.
Have this be the one that you do this because you may even be a solopreneur that works at home, from home, on your own, and you don't have colleagues really to think of.
But I promise you, I'm going to share with you in this episode is so applicable, not only in your professional life with your clients at but but also in your personal life.
You can utilize this with your family members, with your neighbors, with people in your community.
Communication is a learned skill.
It is also more so a practiced skill.
And every generation that I just mentioned, the boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, even Gen Alpha, and their skibbity toilet, whatever it is.
If you know, you know.
There are so many changes and I think and I'm very passionate about that it's that it's time for us to look at these differences and learn how we can bridge the gap between them instead of wasting our time expecting that suddenly baby boomers are going to communicate differently and they're going to embrace technology the same way that millennials do.
Instead of waiting for Gen x to soften up around the edges a little bit and be a little less crass, you know, and be a little more empathetic, instead of expecting everybody to get to get tougher as some people might wish Gen Z would.
I hear these things all the time.
Let's break down what each generation focuses on in their communication, why that is, and what you can actually do about it.
Again, in a professional setting and at work, in your organization, your business, but also your personal life as well.
Because I love leveraging this information to your actual life life.
Right?
So that you can grow those relationships and have them be the best that they can absolutely be.
So maybe you've been in your professional setting before and you know that everyone in the office is actually speaking the same language.
For example, I'm in the United States.
So, yeah, we can assume that everyone in the office is speaking English, but it might sound like people at times are speaking a different language.
And I'm not talking about accents from different regions of the US.
I'm not even talking about different dialects of different cultures that have melted together over time or different variations on the English language.
I'm saying that one generation will use a phrase or a word and another person of a different time and different age generation will think that sounds ridiculous.
What are they even saying?
They sound like fill in the blank.
They sound immature.
They sound childish.
They sound like they're trying too hard.
They sound like they're trying to be cool.
How do we even set ourselves up that we can win when these things happen?
So I also noticed within the generational tiers, not only do different generations communicate differently, but they also have different points of view around how they set boundaries with each other, especially in a professional setting, how they set boundaries and limits with their time, their habits that they utilize in the workforce, their opinions on whether or not in office or from home work is as effective or efficient.
And it's just all communicated differently too.
So there's a lot of underlying themes that come up over and over again, which creates more opportunities for people to disagree, see things differently.
And that is not bad.
It's simply different.
Just because somebody does it differently from you does not mean it is bad or the wrong way.
It simply means they do it differently.
So this matters, this topic, because when we understand all of these differences and even if we can't relate to it, we understand these differences, this will improve workplace relationships, which also generates more cohesion amongst the team and, yes, boost productivity.
And also, likely will boost efficiency as well.
Because if we have to spend more time figuring out how a person is communicating, what they are communicating, and in addition to that, judge taking the time to judge how they communicate, it waste time that we could be using to get the project at hand, complete, moving along, moving the ball down the field.
So what's coming up in this episode is, again, how each generation sets boundaries, how do they view their work ethic, Do they share topics personally of their personal life?
How much is too much?
If somebody is being friendly with you or kind to you, are you able to walk away thinking that they, your colleague, are your friend?
And again, I wanna give you some practical ways that you can start to bridge this gap.
Let's start with the numbers.
What do I mean by these generations to begin with?
Maybe you've heard boomers, gen x, millennials, gen z, gen alpha, and you have no idea what that means or you've heard conflicting information where you yourself don't even know what generation you belong to.
So I'm going to start with the eldest group, the the the people who are of the oldest age in these examples that I'm giving.
So when we talk about the baby boomers, the baby boomers are also known as boomers.
That started because Millennials started calling them boomers.
So we're gonna go with boomers.
Sometimes boomers can be used as, you know, an insult, but I don't see it that way and I'm not gonna utilize it.
I'm not gonna use it that way.
So I'm going to say boomers because it's simply easier.
If a person is considered a boomer, they were born between the years 1946-1964.
And people of the baby boomer generation, their preference in communication is they prefer directness.
They prefer a formal communication.
For example, when it comes to email, when it comes to phone calls, that brings more 1 on 1 attention, that personal touch.
They feel that you having yourself, your humanness in the conversation is better than the technological, sometimes seen as more efficient way of doing things.
They prefer emails and phone calls over texting, over messaging app, of any kind, whether it be WhatsApp or a group chat, a group text, anything through Microsoft Teams, whatever it is.
Boomers also place a lot of value in hierarchy, meaning the ranking.
And also they placed a lot of value on having respect for authority.
And I don't even I don't think this is based on necessarily that they are the age that they are and they have simply been on the planet longer than these other generations.
I think that boomers were raised by people who had an immense amount of pride, who literally came from nothing.
Boomers were born after the Great Depression.
And so they were raised by parents who had grit, who worked hard.
They knew the value of being with other people, and they knew that for your value to be seen in the workforce, you had to put yourself out there.
You had to make yourself known in some way.
There and there was a particular way that they saw their parents do that, and therefore, they go ahead and do it.
So if they seem like they value that hierarchy and respect for authority and systems and getting things done in a particular order, it isn't because they are ornery because of how long they've been on the planet, but rather it's a principle, it's a value that they have had their entire life because they were simply raised that way.
That's not to say that Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z won't have those same values.
I'm just simply highlighting that for the boomer generation, it may be it may seem like it is more important and brought up more often in communications.
Now when it comes to Gen X, Gen X are people who are born between 1965 1980.
So I wanna highlight really quickly here.
I was born in 1979.
So technically, for myself, I am a year off of being a millennial, but technically, I am a Gen x.
So I'm a person and also depending on your source for where you look these years up, you may find that you are also right on the border of Gen x and Boomer.
You might find you're on the border of Gen x and Millennial or Millennial and Gen z.
Don't panic about it.
And you may notice in today's episode that you may have attributes of communication from different generations, and that might be because of when you were born and when you were raised, and it also might not have anything to do with that.
So Gen x, again, born between 1965 1980, Gen Xers are known for having a blended approach.
They're comfortable with both a formal level of communication and an informal level of communication.
The reason for this is because Gen x was raised by Boomers.
So, again, the Boomers were wanted that formal communication, and so Gen x, they're born and they're going through their teenage years in the, you know, seventies and into the early eighties.
And what happens is the rise of technology starts making its appearance.
It's in the dialogue.
It isn't existing just yet.
Again, these are people who were born as late as 1980.
So their childhood and their teenage years were through the eighties and into the nineties.
So Gen x were raised by boomers who didn't have access to this technology, who were very much salt of the earth, shake the literal hand of the other person, get yourself out there, put in the time, put in the effort, respect your authority.
And so Gen x adopted that, but then as Gen x, myself included, were raised, computers came out.
Like, computers not only came out really, computer computers weren't invented then, but computers became a household thing.
Gaming became a household thing.
A car phone became a thing.
And what happened is, the blended approach simply comes from being raised with a formality and also the earlier years of your life have that formal aspect, but also the informal starts to creep in because as Gen Xers like myself were introduced to technology, we found that, wow, this is way more efficient.
Or, wow, I can do this in an in an autonomous way.
I can make the choice.
I don't have to wait for everyone around me.
So Gen Xers value a work life balance because they went through we went through a mid big transition of technology during that time.
If you think like to the industrial revolution and how much that changed, the United States and the way that we produce in this country, I would even say that Gen X went through a technological revolution where we had many years where we didn't have access to this level of tech efficiency, connection with people in a digital way.
And then suddenly we did.
So it did create, and it does create a blended approach and also a more relaxed approach.
Gen X has the ability to honor and respect what boomers want from their, with their communication.
But also gen x can see the appeal that I'm about to talk about of why the millennials like the efficiency so much.
So that brings us to millennials.
Millennials are people who were born between 1981 1996.
So these are people who were very much nineties kids, growing up and and going through Y2K, 911, in New York happened when they were, you know, teenagers.
So millennials were born and technology was very much in existence by this point.
I'm not talking they were born and there's iPhones.
Right?
They weren't at that point yet, but their parents, Gen Xers, were people who absolutely knew that blend and they wanted to instill to millennials, hey, here there is this technology.
We don't know how to set boundaries with it yet, so I can use this, iPad as your babysitter, or I can put you in front of the old school TV, or you can go outside and play.
So millennials have a little bit of everything, a little bit of boomer, a little bit of Gen x.
And so as a result of that, they are blended as well, just like Gen x.
So millennials, they prefer collaborations.
They also prefer real time communication, meaning efficiency.
The quicker, the better.
They enjoy things like Teams or Slack, using voice notes, texting, whatever is going to get the response back the quickest, they are more likely to use it.
This is something that increases efficiency.
We know that, but also it's created a conundrum because millennials are so used to that instant gratification, that instant or close to instant response that they may not think about a person who has firm boundaries on their time and their expectations might be higher of how a response is going to get back to them, in what fashion.
They also, because they're sending out their messaging so quickly, maybe less likely to go into great detail.
So millennials are not just sending a quick message, they're definitely not sending you paragraphs.
They're not sending you paragraphs.
They're sending you a question, a sentence.
And that can be frustrating to, for example, a Gen Xer or a Boomer because they might see that more detail is needed, but a millennial may not be thinking well, they might be thinking that far ahead, but they're also more apt to get one solution at a time.
Because again, they're used to that real time communication.
Send it out, get it back, send it out, get it back.
So they don't see it as, you know, something that might take longer than just to write one longer paragraph.
But getting a long text as a millennial, that stinks.
No one likes it.
No one likes it.
So, and especially notice here, I'm not mentioning that millennials love email because they don't.
They don't.
They want efficient.
They want to get what get done what needs to be done.
Work with people, not a problem.
Collaborative.
They want everyone's ideas to be heard.
And the last part about millennials that's unique is I mentioned that boomers value hierarchy, that respect for authority, and Gen Xers are desiring that work life balance.
While Millennials, they expect transparency from leadership.
I'm not certain of where that's rooted, probably because of, again, as a millennial having access to literally all the information in the world at your fingertips, through your childhood and as you get older.
So transparency, easy access to info is something that is valued by that generation and also other generations as well.
But for millennials, all I can say is this is millennials makeup so much of the workforce now, and this is where I think boomers and gen X especially are forgetting that.
I think in our mind it can get so I'm saying our because I'm a gen X.
I think it's so easy to forget that, Oh, you know, millennials are now people in their thirties.
They're they're married.
They have kids.
They have mortgages.
They have student debt, which is a huge issue, and they have massive responsibilities in their personal life.
And so they want that efficiency because they've got so many, you know, fish to fry at the same time.
And they want that transparency from leadership because they want to know how the people who are leading them got to be where they are.
They want to hear the stories.
They want to hear about the hurdles they've overcome.
Millennials are not as afraid of as as, maybe boomers or gen x's are to talk about the hard stuff.
And because of their willingness to go there, for example, millennials have no problem typically telling people what they make, how much they get paid.
For a Gen Xer or a Boomer, that's like unheard of.
Absolutely not.
People don't talk about that.
But millennials, oftentimes it's a form of justice and making sure that everything is fair.
They have no problem talking about what their compensation is, what their bonus checks were.
And it's a personal preference.
I'm not saying that because they may see that everyone also has to do the same thing.
That's not the case.
But it's changing the culture of corporate offices because a corporation will notice that people are talking about more sensitive topics or things that were typically seen as sensitive in the past, like how much money you make.
Right?
Because millennials are willing to put it out there.
They want that level of transparency, humanness, emotion.
That is how they bring humanness to their environment.
Again, they want collaboration.
They prefer efficiency in communication, but they like people.
They wanna be around people, when they're doing their work.
And lastly, that brings me to Gen z.
So Gen z are are people who are born between 1997 2012.
And for those of you that are listening to this and thinking, really, Holly, you're gonna talk about Gen z and the workforce?
Yes, I am.
Because believe it or not, there are people in Gen Z now who are in their mid twenties.
They're in their mid twenties and just like Millennials, Gen Z, they're the ones who are saying all the funny phrases, right, that we're hearing about, like I I said earlier about, you know, skibbity toilet and oh, that's so Ohio and etcetera, that's not Gen z.
That's Gen Alpha.
Those are that's my daughter.
Like, the little kids now.
But Gen Z, they're in the workforce.
And some of them in their mid twenties, they also they've got the student debt.
They've got responsibilities.
They've got a mortgage.
They've got relationships.
Some of them have families already.
So I don't want to I don't want any of us to write out Gen Z because they are here.
They are in the workforce.
This is not a matter anymore of, like, oh, when they get here, those are just those young kids.
No.
No.
No.
No.
These are adults.
So, Gen z, this is the generation that prefers digital first communication.
This is the generation, if they were born as late as 2012, oh my goodness.
All the tech is out.
All of it.
Everyone has a cell phone, iPads, you know, laptops for their textbooks at school.
They get all this.
So they prefer digital first because that's pretty much how they've been raised this entire time.
So they like the texting, the texting.
They like texting.
They like DMs or direct messages, for those of you that don't know what that is.
They like short form responses.
So similar to millennials, they're not a fan of big paragraphs.
They're not a fan of the emails.
They're definitely not a fan of phone calls at all.
Millennials and Gen Z do not like talking on the phone for the most part.
They don't.
I'm again, I'm a Gen X and I'm not a big person to talk on the phone either.
I've gotta be, isn't that funny?
Because I have a podcast.
But, you know, I've gotta be in a zone, in a mood to talk.
And as an introvert, oftentimes I'm not.
And I would prefer to text as well because it somehow rests my brain in some way.
Gen Z, similar to millennials, also values that transparency, that authenticity.
Gen Z typically values inclusivity, making sure that everyone sees, everyone feels seen and heard and understood.
And they also like quick feedback loops.
What this means is, again, similar to millennials who are used to having access to but I think Google.
Right?
They're they're used to having access.
They want feedback quickly.
Gen Z wants to know now, right now, how well they're doing, what they need to improve upon, what has changed, what has shifted.
They want the gratification now.
So if you have a project with a Gen Z and it's going to take a very, very, very long time, it is imperative in your communication, in your compensation, in your reward system, in your incentive in your, the way that you incentivize your employees or your teammates, it is so important that you recognize that Gen z likes a quick feedback loop.
Give them a goal in the very near future and make sure that that goal is seen or recognized or compensated, something of that nature.
It will really support the way that Gen Z thinks.
And again, boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, one is not better than the other.
They are simply different.
So now let's talk about boundaries.
Okay?
So I have different things for each generation.
Now that I've gone in-depth about each one, how does each generation set boundaries and see boundaries?
So the boomer generation, when it comes to setting boundaries, they're like boundaries.
What's boundaries?
Like, a a Boomer generation, their job is their identity.
Their job, their work is their identity.
And they often expect loyalty from people from the jump, from the beginning.
And they work overtime because they can or they will or going back to they have that value hierarchy and that respect for authority, they have an innate feeling that, loyalty is something that comes with the territory.
And if you are, quote, a hard worker, you're going to go above and beyond.
That is how boomers see boundaries.
They don't.
They don't.
And, but that also has led to a lot of burnout, stress, health complications as a result.
So now let's come to Gen x.
Gen x is the 1st generation that pushed back and said we need a work life balance.
Because Gen x was raised by boomers who were stressed out, who had major health complications from all that stress and tension and pressure.
And Gen x was the first ones to say, I don't want that.
I need to find a way to to calm down my life a little bit.
More is not always better.
I don't have to go above and beyond just for the sake of, you know, hurting myself and proving myself.
So gen x wants and desires with boundaries.
They want a clear expectation, a clear agreement of what it is they are to do, and they wanna be held accountable for what they have agreed upon to do.
So if you expect more out of a Gen x, you need to have an agreement in place.
If you expect more out of them and think that they are going to outperform just for funsies the way that boomers do, that is mistaken.
They need to know that they have the freedom to work the way that they need to work and they need a clear expectation.
So lay it out for them.
Millennials.
Millennials love flexibility and they advocate for this flexibility and for mental health.
So while Gen X recognized that the physical health, the body health, right?
Heart health, stress levels, etcetera, was being impacted.
Millennials have been massive advocates for mental health, and that work can be a detriment to a person's mental health.
So millennials, how did they know that?
Because they saw Gen x trying to get this work life balance, but Gen X still struggle with a lot of mental health situations, like depression, like anxiety, and that was getting passed down to millennials.
Because if you are an anxious millennial, it's because you were raised likely by an anxious Gen X parent and they didn't want that.
They don't want them for themselves.
So millennials with their values, they value meaningful work.
They want their work to make a difference.
They also would, they respect they expect that people will respect their need for personal time.
So not only like Gen X was saying, we need work life balance, but millennials took it up a notch because millennials are the ones that are saying, it's not that I just want the personal time.
I need the personal time for my health, for my sanity, for my well-being so that I can live longer and, and be a great employee or a hard worker.
They know that that's a non negotiable, which brings me to Gen Z.
Gen Z, these, this generation is the hardest line on boundaries.
They are massive advocates of having a boundary.
They live so that work they expect that work is going to fit into their life.
They are not going to live to work.
When a Gen z hears that boomers associate their identity with their work, Gen z is like, but why?
They're gonna question it.
Why would you do that to yourself?
That's so unusual.
So they have a hard line on boundaries.
They want their work to fit into their life and not the other way around.
Gen z is also the generation that, in the COVID times well, just after COVID rather, this is where quiet quitting, that term came from.
Gen z, quiet quitting is when a person is doing the job that they are paid for and they absolutely do no more and they do no less.
They only do what is required.
And it's called quiet quitting because again, an older generation may think that they, by default, need to go above and beyond no matter what, and Gen z put a stop to that.
They're saying no, absolutely not.
And the reason that Gen z did that is not because they're brats, by the way, because they're not, and this is why this episode is important.
Gen z is doing that because there's something called the burnout culture.
They've seen the boomers, the gen x, and even the millennials have stress, have debilitating anxiety, have panic attacks, have heart attacks, die at younger ages, and Gen z doesn't want any of that.
They're like, you can miss me with that.
And so the quiet quitting is not because they don't want to work.
It's not because they're lazy.
Absolutely not.
It's a protective it's a protective mechanism that they're setting for themselves now so that they don't burn out in the future.
So that brings me to going above and beyond at work.
I'm sure you can guess by now.
Boomers and Gen X, they measure their success at work by effort and seniority.
Obviously, they've been there longer.
They've been on the planet longer, and so going above and beyond is seen as the norm for boomers and Gen x.
So then when they see millennials and Gen z not going above and beyond because they have a clear agreement and they're following the agreement and they're avoiding burnout culture, boomers and Gen X have opinions about that.
Well, millennials and Gen Z, they are more likely to assess, is the extra effort worth it?
Is it worth it?
Because they expect, millennials and Gen z, that if they're going to put in the extra work and go above and beyond, they wanna see the benefits.
They expect that there's going to be reciprocity, that they're going to receive something for that.
Which next brings me to how much should we share at work?
Personal sharing at work.
Too much?
Is there such a thing as too much?
Boomers and Gen x, they will keep their personal life separate.
They're very professional.
Like I said, that that formality is desired.
Right?
So their professionalism to them means keeping their emotions and private matters at bay.
So there's a protection there of privacy.
Right?
They're not going and telling everybody how much they make, for example.
If they're having a hard day, they're not looking for someone to talk to.
They're not sharing with people that they they're seeing a therapist or talking to a counselor.
They're not doing those things necessarily.
Right?
Some might because they're starting to see the benefits of it, but boomers and Gen x keep it close to the vest.
Millennials and Gen z, however, they're more open minded about mental health and mental health struggles.
They're more open minded about personal values, and so they expect their workplace to be a place where they can be their whole selves, meaning they don't have millennials and Gen z don't have a work persona and a home persona.
They are 1 in the same person all the way through their life day after day, whereas boomers and Gen x have created these different personas, one being the professional one and one being the personal one.
So there's a tension point.
Old generations older generations rather may see openness that Millennials and Gen z bring to the table.
They might see that as, hey, that's too much information.
But younger generations, they see withholding your personal life, withholding details that are appropriate.
They see you withholding that boomers and gen x that you you're kinda cold, or they see you as inauthentic, like they don't trust you as much because you don't go there.
So there is a 4 generations in workforce right now, and there is a clear divide between who thinks sharing is needed and who thinks sharing is not.
So I wanted to highlight that here too.
So how do we bridge this communication gap?
So I wanna leave you today with some practical tips for each generation.
So if you are a Boomer or Gen X and you're communicating with Millennials and Gen Z, What I want you to focus on is be open to the new communication methods that they wanna bring to the table.
Please don't say, you know, I'm I retire in 2 years.
I don't need to learn how to use Slack, or I don't want a text.
I wanna use a phone call.
And a phone call is needed sometimes.
Okay?
And I'm gonna get to that in a second, but be open to learning the new things.
They will teach you.
They will show you.
Please don't try to figure it out for yourself because they'll know that you don't know what you're doing, and then they'd rather just show you and help you out.
They like it when people we like it.
I'm a Gen x.
Right?
I like it when a millennial or a Gen z shows me how to do something.
First time I got on TikTok and started making content in 2020, I didn't know what I was doing.
So I went to my friend who's a Gen Z, and I said show me how to record something.
Show me how to edit it.
And she showed me in like 3 minutes.
It was so much easier than trying to figure it out myself.
Also, boomers and Gen x, if you're communicating with millennials and Gen z, be transparent with them about your expectations.
It's so important.
Again, the way you do it, boomers, the way you do it, gen x, it doesn't mean that what you're doing is the wrong way.
It's simply just a generational difference.
So assume less and clarify more.
Assume less and clarify more.
Don't make the assumption that they know that they should.
Maybe they don't.
Maybe they don't.
Especially, if it is not part of their job their job description, and it's something you expect to see, you've got to clarify that with them.
And lastly, with boomers and Gen x, when you're talking to millennials and Gen z, acknowledge that having a boundary I'm sorry.
Acknowledge that having a boundary, doesn't mean a lack of ambition.
Meaning, please don't look at millennials and Gen Z and think because they stopped working right at 5:30 that they're that they're lazy, like I said earlier, or like they don't care or that they're apathetic.
That's simply not true for the majority of millennials and Gen z.
And so as a bloomer, as a gen x person, acknowledge that their boundaries are a way to ensure that they have that work life balance and that they're avoiding burnout culture and protecting their mental health, and also that they're switching from work mode to family mode or taking care of themselves mode because they wanna honor the whole person.
They don't wanna feel like they have to put a different face on every single place they go in their life personally and professionally.
Now let's talk about millennials and Gen z.
If you're a millennial or Gen z, you're listening to this and you're like, how am I supposed to communicate with Boomers or Gen x?
First of all, be mindful of your tone, because direct communication from Boomers, direct communication from Gen x, or your direct communication to them, being direct isn't personal.
It's just how some people operate.
And if you need some further insight on this, go back to episode 80, my last episode of The Holly Hibbert Show, because I laid out for you 15 ways to be directing your communication without being rude.
So if you like efficiency and you like being direct and you're not quite sure how to do that in a way that is, not taken personally, that's a great episode for you to listen to.
So millennials and Gen z, be mindful of your tone, with boomers and Gen x.
Millennials and Gen z also need to recognize that the idea that boomers and gen x have that everyone is to go above and beyond, above and beyond looks different across different generations.
So if you feel millennial, if you feel gen z, that you are going above and beyond and yet you're getting feedback that you aren't, it's important for you to get clarity from your supervisors, your leadership, whoever the boomer or the gen x is in your life.
Find out from them what they are expecting of you, and does that match what you've agreed to do in your role?
If it doesn't match what you agreed to do in your role, then it's time to get a new description or a new agreement on the books if needed.
And lastly, millennials and Gen z meet the older generations where they are.
So, yeah, like I said before, sometimes a phone call is better than a DM because there are many layers to the questions that need to be answered, and you can get through those layers faster on a phone call than sending DMs back and forth.
Remember, millennials and Gen z, not everyone, even millennials and Gen z, not everyone is great at typing.
Not everyone is great at texting.
There's a lot of people who like using tech, and they are slow texters.
They are slow slow typers.
So it's really important to remember that.
So efficiency, yes, in the communication is about how quickly you can get it across.
And sometimes that human touch is important.
So set it aside, be open to it.
So I really hope that this episode was supportive for all of you today.
I want you to be able to utilize this in your organization, in your company, with the people in your professional life that you care about and also in your personal life as well, because different generations have a unique approach to communication.
They have a unique approach to their work ethic, to their boundaries, and when we can understand the these differences, we're going to be able to collaborate better.
So I'd love to hear from you.
Leave me a note somewhere.
Leave me a note in the comment below.
What is one way that you notice you've adapted to different communication styles at work?
I'd love to hear from you.
What are your stories?
What's a time where you recognize, okay, we don't do things the same way, and I'm going to adjust for them.
Drop me a comment.
I'd love to hear from you.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate you listening, and until next time, I will talk to you next time.