Going Beyond Generational Differences
11/11/2020
As consultants, one of our initial challenges is reading people accurately to glean an understanding of their motives, communication style, values, priorities and overall approach to business. The personality of individuals is complex, but we learn ways to interpret and categorize certain tendencies.
Generational differences can be quite prevalent in family businesses and are often a key driver of the decision-making process. In the last 25 years of studying and training hundreds of groups on generational differences, and having seen two new generations (Millennials and Gen Z) appear during that time, it is clear that generational differences are being over-emphasized.
From my observations, in reality there are four factors at the core of understanding human behavior. They are behavioral style, character, work experience and generational differences. Putting excessive emphasis on one of these will skew our ability to effectively understand an individual, leading to misunderstandings and eventually eroding our credibility as their advisor.
Behavioral styles have been classified through a variety of methods including Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram and others. These break people into identifiable patterns of behavior with labeled categories. Some are more complex than others and each provides its own unique approach to profiling. The bottom line is that they are not identifying a person’s overall “personality” (despite some of their claims and terminology) but rather consistent tendencies toward identifiable patterns of behavior.
These behavioral styles are not affected by age and are expressed consistently in population percentages and tendencies from one generation to the next.
Character differences include the individual’s emphasis on values such as honesty, integrity, genuineness, common courtesy, justice, work ethic, etc. Though each generation may subtly express these values differently, they exist in all generations. Some of the differences, and the way we see them expressed, could be because a younger generation may simply need time to develop their values to more mature and consistent levels of expression.
The third category that I mention, work experience, is another factor affected by age. Every new generation that arises needs time to develop an understanding of the workplace, appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, what it means to put in a full day’s work, how to work as a member of the team, how to manage and prioritize their time, and many other traits that determine if they are a great employee—or just mediocre. As individuals in each generation mature, these abilities should develop as the person gains additional experience.
It is interesting that from generation to generation, each younger generation is seen by the elder generations as lacking the skills, attitudes and passion to be successful. They need to realize that younger people are unavoidably inexperienced. It was not uncommon in the 1960’s and 70’s to hear older people say, “…these kids these days aren’t going to amount to very much!” They said that those kids, “…would probably never figure out how to balance a checkbook, put in a good day’s work, take care of a family…” or a host of other traits expected in adults–much like today’s perspectives on younger people these days. And yet, Baby Boomers (the kids that were being criticized in the 1960’s and 70’s) brought us much of today’s technology, entrepreneurism, global companies and sustainability strategies.
The last of the four categories that we must consider, actual generational differences, are those traits that are uniquely prevalent within one generation but not nearly as prevalent in another generation. These tendencies are developed during their key developmental years, ages 6 to 18 or so, and are the result of parenting, social norms, cultural dynamics, major life events and experiences, key relationships, who their personal influencers were, educational culture, etc. that were prevalent in their life during this timeframe.
Isn’t it interesting that we tend to complain about the generational tendencies of each generation, and yet…many of the factors that created those tendencies were beyond the control of the individual at the time they were being influenced by those factors.
The bottom line… We need to remember that people are complex, and we cannot paste a label on them or pigeonhole them because it confirms our personal biases. There are many factors that make up a person’s overall personality, and we cannot use only one of those factors to define them. The more we take a comprehensive approach to assessing who they are as a person, the greater level of influence we can have with them as advisors.
Don Tyler
Tyler & Associates
As consultants, one of our initial challenges is reading people accurately to glean an understanding of their motives, communication style, values, priorities and overall approach to business. The personality of individuals is complex, but we learn ways to interpret and categorize certain tendencies.
Generational differences can be quite prevalent in family businesses and are often a key driver of the decision-making process. In the last 25 years of studying and training hundreds of groups on generational differences, and having seen two new generations (Millennials and Gen Z) appear during that time, it is clear that generational differences are being over-emphasized.
From my observations, in reality there are four factors at the core of understanding human behavior. They are behavioral style, character, work experience and generational differences. Putting excessive emphasis on one of these will skew our ability to effectively understand an individual, leading to misunderstandings and eventually eroding our credibility as their advisor.
Behavioral styles have been classified through a variety of methods including Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram and others. These break people into identifiable patterns of behavior with labeled categories. Some are more complex than others and each provides its own unique approach to profiling. The bottom line is that they are not identifying a person’s overall “personality” (despite some of their claims and terminology) but rather consistent tendencies toward identifiable patterns of behavior.
These behavioral styles are not affected by age and are expressed consistently in population percentages and tendencies from one generation to the next.
Character differences include the individual’s emphasis on values such as honesty, integrity, genuineness, common courtesy, justice, work ethic, etc. Though each generation may subtly express these values differently, they exist in all generations. Some of the differences, and the way we see them expressed, could be because a younger generation may simply need time to develop their values to more mature and consistent levels of expression.
The third category that I mention, work experience, is another factor affected by age. Every new generation that arises needs time to develop an understanding of the workplace, appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, what it means to put in a full day’s work, how to work as a member of the team, how to manage and prioritize their time, and many other traits that determine if they are a great employee—or just mediocre. As individuals in each generation mature, these abilities should develop as the person gains additional experience.
It is interesting that from generation to generation, each younger generation is seen by the elder generations as lacking the skills, attitudes and passion to be successful. They need to realize that younger people are unavoidably inexperienced. It was not uncommon in the 1960’s and 70’s to hear older people say, “…these kids these days aren’t going to amount to very much!” They said that those kids, “…would probably never figure out how to balance a checkbook, put in a good day’s work, take care of a family…” or a host of other traits expected in adults–much like today’s perspectives on younger people these days. And yet, Baby Boomers (the kids that were being criticized in the 1960’s and 70’s) brought us much of today’s technology, entrepreneurism, global companies and sustainability strategies.
The last of the four categories that we must consider, actual generational differences, are those traits that are uniquely prevalent within one generation but not nearly as prevalent in another generation. These tendencies are developed during their key developmental years, ages 6 to 18 or so, and are the result of parenting, social norms, cultural dynamics, major life events and experiences, key relationships, who their personal influencers were, educational culture, etc. that were prevalent in their life during this timeframe.
Isn’t it interesting that we tend to complain about the generational tendencies of each generation, and yet…many of the factors that created those tendencies were beyond the control of the individual at the time they were being influenced by those factors.
The bottom line… We need to remember that people are complex, and we cannot paste a label on them or pigeonhole them because it confirms our personal biases. There are many factors that make up a person’s overall personality, and we cannot use only one of those factors to define them. The more we take a comprehensive approach to assessing who they are as a person, the greater level of influence we can have with them as advisors.
Don Tyler
Tyler & Associates
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