Thursday, July 10, 2008

I Fell into the Generaton Gap, HELP!

While researching a presentation for next week I came across this clever quiz from Success Performance Solutions about generation gaps in the office. I thought it would be a good thing to share with you. I found the quiz enjoyable because it doesn't just ask you questions, it also provides an explanation in the answers. It's good to know WHY you are wrong, not just that you are. :)

I, myself, am right on the cusp of the X/Y gap and find my loyalties doubly split. Being raised in a home with one of the Baby Boomers who fully equated time and success in the workplace with personal achievement, I had a solid belief that a shirt and tie were required at all times, and that more time in the office was time better spent. My, how that changed when I started working with Microsoft employees and their new generation approach to the whole corporate schema. The entire Seattle area really challenged a lot of people's perspective about what "professional" was.

The past few decades have been an interesting road in learning the nuances of training and managing teams with such gaps in generations and work ethics. Diversity education isn't just about race and religion, it's about culture, and culture has more variables than just where you were raised. Age does, indeed, make a difference. Hopefully, we will see more trainers take the generation gap into consideration when addressing the diversity issues in an organization.

2 comments:

Mo. T. V8r said...

Tim - thanks for the kind inclusion of the Generation IQ Quiz in your post. Love your title too. It gave me a great idea for a follow-up. Stay tuned. If I can provide any info for your presentation let me know.

Tim Murray said...

You are quite welcome Mo. Where should I stay tuned to? My presentation isn't actually on Generation Gaps, I just crossed that information while searching. My presentation is on other approaches to Diversity. Do you have a website for what you do?