Alabama's Morning News with JT
Dr Julie Shannon on managing Gen Z when you are Gen X
(upbeat music) - Okay, round two. Name something that's not boring. - Laundry, ooh, a book club. Computer Solitaire, huh? - Ah, sorry, we were looking for Chumba Casino. (upbeat music) That's right, ChumbaCasino.com has over a hundred casino style games, join today and play for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. (upbeat music) ChumbaCasino.com. - No percussive. (upbeat music) - This is Alabama's Morning News with JT. I'm Jon Mounts, I'm filling in for the next few days and are you a boss or do you have a boss? Either way, there's often a generational gap between the boss and direct report and sometimes this gap can cause communication and management challenges. Joining me to talk about this is Dr. Julie Shannon. She's a speaker, podcast host and the author of The Winds of Change. Dr. Julie, welcome to Alabama's Morning News. - Thank you, I'm so glad to be here with you. So the internet is divided over whether Gen X doesn't know how to manage Gen Z or whether younger employees just can't get along with older employees in the workplace. Dr. Shannon, I'm Gen X and I have several Gen Z-ish employees who report to me, but also I manage a couple boomers as well. So can you tell me what I need to do? What's the key to managing people who are in other generations? - Well, first of all, we have to be careful with labels. No matter what generation we're in, people can make assumptions about who we are, how we operate and really we need to remember we're all human beings trying to do life together. We really need to be willing to understand where we're all coming from. I think if the Gen Z-ers and say, they have really never experienced in their formative years, they haven't experienced one-on-one relationship in life that doesn't involve a device or a screen. That does create challenges because a lot of people, they're not so good with the face-to-face interaction. COVID only made that worse, but there are some people in the workforce who they don't do that well, and they would prefer to do it through an email or through a text message or just ghost people altogether. And you still have to work with those people because they are still contributing to the work product. But how do you bridge that gap if you happen to be somebody who came from the generation where I will, I'm not gonna send it, I'm just gonna get it from my desk, walk down the hall, walk into somebody's office and say, "Hey, what's up?" And sometimes that's off-putting. - If I would like to walk down to someone's office and I don't want that to be off-putting, maybe it's going for coffee with a coworker and saying, "Hey, just so you know, "sometimes I just want that face-to-face "and I want you to know I'm not trying to put you on the spot, "I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. "We can just be eye-to-eye, being each other's presence "and just discuss whatever this, not even an issue, "but a topic that I want to come ask a question." - What about the other direction like when you're managing somebody who is older than you and there's a little bit of a generational gap there too? That comes with some additional baggage because it's almost like you're managing your dad and you feel kind of like you feel like you want to respect them because they are older than you, but at the same time, you have to tell them if they've done wrong, you have to tell them we need you to do this, you have to tell them if we don't want you doing that, you have to be able to actually tell them what to do yet you're still kind of in this weird relationship because you're younger. - Yes, absolutely, and that can be tricky in its own right. We also have to be very respectful and have almost an outreach and say, "Here's who I am "and I want to learn more about you "and then we have to learn how to be collaborative." It's a whole mindset and we just, every single one of us has a lot to learn and has a lot to listen to and hear others. - And Julie, also, I feel like there's a lot of people who they take criticism too personally, they don't understand that the critique is not even of the person, it's of the work product and we're trying to work together to make this thing right and it could well be that I have greater experience in this and I understand where it is, I have the vision that I know where we're trying to go with this thing, that's why I'm saying do it that way, not this way and it's not a case of I'm attacking you for your values or your beliefs or who you are or what shirt you were today, I'm attacking the product because the product doesn't meet the standards that I know are expected of me and, you know, because you're my direct report of you and that's the reason why I'm actually looking out for you when I say, "Hey, this is not up to snuff, "please do it this way." And I feel like there are some people in the Gen Z crowd who they hear that says, "Oh no, I can't, you know, "I'm used to my participation trophies "and this is the best I can do and if you don't like it "then I'm sorry, you know, I have to have a me day "or something like that." And there is a little difference there because I was not used to, I was like, when I get cracked over the head I go, "Yes sir, I'll do better." And it seems like that doesn't carry through to the subsequent generations. - That's a valid point. We live in a society and in a culture that is, you know, the cancellation culture. If you make one wrong step, somebody misinterprets five words you say and all of a sudden there's just this default reaction. I cannot, I have to learn to regulate my emotions, not to have your emotions, your feelings or your feelings. But if we want to be a successful society, part of doing a job well is being teachable. - Be open, let go of my pride, I wanna learn. I'm here to learn and I'm here to do my job well. And remember, we're all on the same team. At least I hope we are. Dr. Julie Shannon. - Absolutely. - Thank you so much for joining us this morning on Alabama's Morning News. - Thank you. - I'm Victoria Cash. Thanks for calling the Lucky Land Hotline. If you feel like you do the same thing every day, press one. If you're ready to have some serious fun for the chance to redeem some serious prizes, press two. - We heard you loud and clear. So go to luckylandslots.com right now and play over a hundred social casino style games for free. Get lucky today at luckylandslots.com. - Available to players in the U.S. Excluding Washington and again. No purchase necessary. V.G.W. group, vibrated by law.