Currently, in companies from various sectors, it is increasingly common to have teams made up of members of different ages, what can have its advantages and disadvantages. However, sometimes, this age difference can cause distancing between people and it is up to leadership to address this issue, that usually starts when the leader themselves cannot handle all the generations
It is understandable that a leader of a certain age has more 'affinity' with people who are close to their age group, but this cannot become a reason for differentiation. For example, if I am an older leader, I will only consider what the older employees say and will not listen to the younger ones? The same applies to younger leaders, that do not listen to older employees
We know that being a good leader is not an easy task and that it also doesn't happen overnight, it is part of a process and can be time-consuming. The manager who is placed in this position needs to be prepared for it and willing to improve every day, making improvements to your posture to develop an appropriate conduct for the position you hold. And many times, it is necessary to abandon behaviors that no longer make sense
After all, a good leader requires some essential skills that are developed over time, how to have active listening, be fair and impartial in day-to-day decisions, learn to delegate tasks and know how to make employees feel that they have a safe space in the work environment, where they can share ideas, expose doubts and even make constructive criticisms
The fact is that acting this way is already a big challenge for many, which increases as the company has people of various age groups on the team. And why could this be a challenge? When we have people of different ages, we need to adjust our way of communication and handling so that each group can understand the message being conveyed correctly
I see many negative comments about Generation Z, for example, what are people aged 14 to 28. However, is it really this 'terror of managers', just as they are being classified by various articles I read, they are the leaders who do not know how to deal with them? Because from the moment we have people from other generations working alongside us, it is essential to provide the proper guidance
In this sense, I believe that the OKRs – Objectives and Key Results – can help leaders to be good for all generations, because we are seeking to achieve results through ambitious goals, it matters little the age of the person who is speaking, as long as hypotheses and data are raised, so that later it can be identified which of them were found to be true and validated and which were not
In this way, the tool encourages teamwork and also motivates each employee to perform their role in the best possible way, what facilitates people of different age groups working together to deliver better results, forming a more powerful multigenerational team
