Talking About My Generation

From Gen Z to Millennials, Generation X to the Silent Generation, all the way to Boomers – has there ever been a time when members of so many generations shared space in the workforce? In this episode we talk about how the generations and work together and learn from each other.

 

Transcript

Talking About My Generation
That Solo Life Episode 211

Michelle Kane (00:17):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. How are you?

Karen Swim, APR (00:32):

Hey, Michelle. I'm really, really great. One day we are going to have to put together a video of our bloopers, which includes one this morning <laugh>, and put it on YouTube so that people can have a good laugh with us.

Michelle Kane (00:45):

That's right. That's right. Because, you know, as super polished, as we always sound here, <laugh>, it's not always the reality. And you know what? That's okay. Life is messy, and we're going to talk about that a little bit today. We're focusing on the generational divide and how sometimes, especially if you are in an office or if you work on a team with everyone ranging from Gen Z all the way up to Boomers, you know, sometimes work styles differ, tech appreciation differs. And  not to be ageist, because I think sometimes that flows both ways. I've encountered supremely tech savvy Boomers, and I've also encountered not so native Gen Zers, because we all have adapted and used that kind of thing. Things from the tech world in our own way and just, just really work styles. Our experiences inform what we bring to anything and sometimes in the workplace that is intensified. So, we’re going to dig in a little bit on this today.

Karen Swim, APR (01:46):

Yeah. You know, the reason that this topic is so important is because we do, we have like all of these generations in the workforce. And that's crazy, right? I don't remember when I was the age of our Gen Zers, and at the start of my career, I honestly don't remember this many generations being employed at the same time. So times have really changed. And I know that as someone who is nearing the end of my career, it's sometimes difficult to adapt your style. It does take work. It takes being open and flexible, and there are things that we know, knowledge that we have, experiences that we have that can sometimes be frustrating when it seems like we're not being heard or we're not being valued. And I imagine that honestly is true of every generation. So, we all share that. We all want to be heard, we all want to be valued in our work, but as solo PR pros, you know, we're dealing with clients. And so we're in a bit of a different position in that we're not directly managing all of these generations, but we are corralling all of these generations, and we have to communicate internally across the divide. And so, it's well worth it to understand kind of what motivates them.

Michelle Kane (03:16):

Very, very true. And I don't know, I try to look at it this way, right? Just with communicating in general, in a professional setting, I like to vibe off of, well, how are they communicating with me? Are they leading with email or do they prefer hopping on a Zoom, or are they phone call oriented, or are they text oriented? <Laugh>, which I will reserve for a precious view, <laugh>, because I know for me, having to bop around different screens makes me crazy in the head. But that's also why I have a texting app in my browser. So I guess that also speaks to how we make our own accommodations within that realm too, to work in the best way we can while bridging and meeting them where they are.

Karen Swim, APR (04:13):

And I think it's really important, obviously we want to always be client friendly, but in terms of being really inclusive when it comes to generational preferences, I think it's also important to talk about these things as part of your onboarding process and really solidify what channels you're going to communicate through. Because to your point, I end up with people that use Microsoft, Microsoft Teams, people that use Slack, and so you can have things coming in and scattered directions. And so it's important for us to say what really works for us, and to talk with clients and negotiate that right up front and explain why. Because we want to have the communication streamlined. We don't want to have to look a lot of different places. And maybe those conversations should include like, what's the best way for quick questions and messages?

And then for everything else that you need to have - history attachments, that type of thing - usually email does function better for that. So have that conversation. Don't make assumptions because a person is a certain age that they're going to have a certain preference, because while there are these big buckets for things, that's not always true. You know, I don't really line up with the generation that I was born in, in many, many things. <Laugh>, I line up with the generation that comes after me more. And I know that that's true of many people.

Michelle Kane (05:48):

Yeah, that's very true. And you know, a lot of times too, it's, I think especially as communications professionals, sometimes we bat around so many ideas in a session that we might forget. I always love to follow up somehow in writing, whether that's a Slack message or an email just to say, “Hey, here's what we talked about, blah, blah, blah, blah.” But like you say, that comes with the onboarding process and of just agreeing how we're going to work together. You know? And I don't know, I, I don't like to say that I'm blind to the generations because they definitely bring different things to the table. But I like to always adopt a person-first attitude over, oh, you're young, you'll do, you know, I'm not the person like, you young people, go set the timer on the thing. I don't understand it. <Laugh>, I try not to be “get off my lawn,” although I have had moments in the past. But to their credit, in those instances they were put in an environment that they just were unprepared for. They were unprepared for how working in an office worked and that really wasn't their fault. That's not the background they came from. And so that's a real thing that many of us may encounter along the way.

Karen Swim, APR (07:08):

I think, you know, one of the things that I find the most challenging about working with so many generations is that everyone has these perceptions about the other generation. And sometimes everybody can be negative about everybody. So yeah, you have a younger generation and I want to speak to Gen Zers, just because a person is of a certain age, please don't discount them and please don't devalue what they have to offer. Being older with more experience doesn't mean that you don't understand things and how they work now. So sometimes I feel like you're shoved to the side because of your age. We know that ageism is a very real thing. I know people that are older who have been laid off and very much are still in the prime of their working years that are not being given jobs because they are too experienced.

And we all know that that's code for being of a certain age or just flat out, you know, you interview with somebody that is 30 years younger than you and they look at you differently. So I would encourage younger workers to open up their minds and to have a more positive attitude and accept that just because someone is not your age doesn't mean that they're not with it, that they don't understand the trends, that they can't do their job, that they're going to be stuck in the mud or inflexible, that older workers have something to offer too. And by the way, older people really want to contribute to the workforce. And for many of us, again, that time in our life, because we've lived longer than you have, we've hit that point. These are our prime working years.

Michelle Kane (08:57):

And we <crosstalk>

Karen Swim, APR (08:59):

You on the other end of the spectrum. Sorry.

Michelle Kane (09:01):

No, no.

Karen Swim, APR (09:02):

On the other side of the spectrum we can sometimes have an attitude of either feeling like you have to guide the younger workers and you can discount what they don't have in your experience and not take seriously their approach or their ideas. And so I think for all of us, I would say let's start from a place of respect, mutual respect, and treat everybody as a colleague and as a professional. Hear one another out, listen, even when it may be different than the way we do something, because that's going to make work better for all of us.

Michelle Kane (09:39):

Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And leave your perceptions at the door, you know, to your point on the older quote unquote older workers. We've seen the things, you know, we've seen a lot of rodeos and sometimes, you know, we could say, okay, this is probably going to go this way. It's not presuming that, oh, you just don’t know. And I think too, I think all of us along with our perceptions have to sometimes check our attitudes. And it, it could be something that we say without realizing it, or it just comes out of our mouths. We go, oh, didn't mean to say it that way, <laugh>, but you know, at the end of the day, we're all human and stuff happens. But, I agree, it is wild to think that there are at least, goodness, what - five different generations all in the workforce at one time.

Karen Swim, APR (10:30):

Yeah.

Michelle Kane (10:31):

That is wild. It is just wild to think about. And it's kind of exciting, like, rather than look at it as, “Oh no, we're not going to get along.” It's kind of cool. Right? I mean, can you imagine really at what time do we have the opportunity to bring not only a breadth of experience, but also fresh minds and ingenuity all together? How cool is that?

Karen Swim, APR (10:58):

And I think we can look and say the things that we built, it's really exciting to see it through someone else's eyes. To do it in a new way and to see how we can keep improving and keep moving the profession forward. It can be difficult for us when we do have those clients that have the wrong attitude and view older workers as not up to the task because of our age, but then vice versa. You know, I know that younger people probably feel the same, that they are also unfairly judged sometimes by their youth. And so I think we have to work together as generations to make sure that we are not being discriminatory towards anyone because of age. That we truly are all working towards inclusivity and judging each individual their merits.

Michelle Kane (11:55):

Yeah. And so how, what are some ways that we can do this as solos? Of course, the easy one is get an intern. The Philly PR Association that I belong to, we're working really hard on this. We have a board level position that is focused on college relations. And it's not just, “Hey, kids come to our event.” It's really looking at ways to interact with these young professionals just entering the profession and creating that relationship. Because we know we all benefit from it. So however that works for you in your solo world, try and seek that out. Sometimes as a solo shop who probably works out of a home office, you may be reluctant to bring an intern on thinking, well, goodness, it's not like they're going to come and sit in my kitchen every day. But there are ways <laugh> to engage with an intern where that doesn't have to be the case. You don't have to give them a little cubicle next to the copier that doesn't exist because you're not in a traditional office.

Karen Swim, APR (13:01):

In addition to hiring an intern or bringing on somebody that's a different generation or mentoring. I think also when you're in a situation where there is someone of a different generation, make time to get to know that person and what they care about. And I say that's true of everybody. For me, that's part of my client relations is that I definitely want to understand what's important to the company, what the goals are, what they need. But on an individual level, with every contact at the clients, I really want to understand what's motivating them, what's important to them, what are the things that you're trying to accomplish in your job, because that allows you to really establish that one-to-one connection. And so I think that that is really important. Detroit PRSA is doing an event where they're combining baseball with mentoring the younger professionals that I thought that that was a very cool thing.

So maybe you want to get involved in PRSSA too, the student chapters of the PRSA, they are sitting right alongside professionals and learning things. And it's really very valuable for students that are still in college who want to go into the communications field. So yeah, I encourage older workers to, to, you seek out mentoring opportunities. I encourage younger generations to seek those out as well and to be willing to be mentored. But I encourage us all to just be kind, respectful and understand that everyone has something to contribute.

Michelle Kane (14:48):

I agree. You know what, be a good person is basically <laugh> our message today.

Karen Swim, APR (14:55):

I know Solos do that day in and day out. I think that we want to just continue to motivate you to keep doing what you're doing and spread it because while we in the communications field know and practice this, the world around us doesn't always, and so <laugh>

Michelle Kane (15:14):

Yeah. Not so much <laugh>.

Karen Swim, APR (15:17):

Let some other people in because unfortunately everybody hasn't gotten that memo.

Michelle Kane (15:25):

Yeah, yeah. So, as we do in many ways blazing the trail lead by example and you know, if enough of us start doing that or continue to do it, there will have to be some kind of ripple effect. I firmly believe that. And I also believe that you are wonderful if you're choosing to spend some time with us today and listen to us, please do share it around. That is probably the nicest thing you could do for us, is to share our content and tell a friend and check us out at soloprpro.com. And until next time, thank you for listening to That Solo Life.