Our Take on: Working Effectively With a Multi-Generational Staff
If you’re like a lot of marketing operations these days, you are working with a hybrid staff of Millennials, Gen Xers and Gen Zers, with a few Baby Boomers still reporting in as well. It can be a challenge to create a smooth-running marketing machine from these diverse elements. It takes an understanding of what staffers from each group bring to the table, and the determination to meld those qualities into a cohesive and effective whole.
The Benefits of a Multigenerational Staff
If you’re operating a digital marketing team these days you should be awarded a medal for bravery. Today’s constantly churning global marketplace, stiff competition and limited budgets demand ultimate creativity and follow-through from your team. By combining the best qualities of people in various generational groups you can combine new, fresh ideas (courtesy of Gen Zers, for example) with the experience to build context around proposed new approaches (thanks to input from Millennials or Gen Xers.) You might say that younger people have a window on culture, while more seasoned professionals are tuned in to history. (For example, just ask a Millennial or Gen Xer what they think of a planned campaign and they’ll be more than happy to tell you why something similar succeeded or failed.)
By bringing those two points of view together, you can create a multi-faceted approach to creating campaigns and solving problems. Employees of different ages present unique opportunities to share experiences, ideas and thoughts. Combining multiple generations is an excellent way to problem-solve effectively and devise creative solutions to your team’s challenges. It just stands to reason that diverse experiences lead to diverse ideas. With four generations’ worth of different life experiences and worldviews, everyone on your staff is bound to have a unique point of view for every challenge you face.
How this creative combo can play out: For example, for one client we needed to solve a problem of how to bring years of expertise in a niche industry to the Market to compete against competitors' thought leadership. Our client team had every generation in it and so did our agency team. Our agency team was able to talk about the benefits of a thought leadership content marketing practice in terms the Baby Boomers would understand sitting across the table from us (the word infomercial was even bantered about)... while the agency Gen Zers sitting across the table from the client Gen Zers could immediately collaborate on ways to showcase the company on social media. Meanwhile, back at the agency, our different internal generations shared client notes and we were able to create a successful campaign that spoke to all levels at the client.
Some Road Hazards We Have Learned To Avoid
- It’s tempting to favor approaches and viewpoints of teammates from your own age group - let's face it, they just get you and your jokes. In the interest of diversity, try to resist any such prejudices.
- Steer clear of stereotypes in your thinking. For example, you may think older colleagues will be resistant to change. But I have found experienced staffers are secure enough in their skills to be open to new ideas.
- Respect peoples' communication preferences. You may find some are most comfortable with face-to-face or technology-light communications, while others are adept at using the latest tech tools. What's interesting is that we see that some older colleagues prefer using more technology and some younger teammates like less tech. Completely the opposite of a lot of stereotypes. So it is best to just avoid stereotypes altogether.
The point is to respect the individual no matter their generation and I guarantee you will have more interesting ideas come out of your Marketing.
Up Next: Are Ideas or Execution the Holy Grail of Marketing?
Spoiler alert: It's Both.