143. Multi-Generational Mentoring at Work with Dr. Summer Watson

I was so thrilled to meet you because a lot of your work focuses on the multi-generational workforce and that aspect of what's going on in the workplace.

Clients often ask me about the differences between the different generations in the workforce.

So for those who don't know, can you explain a little bit about the main generations in the workforce today and any differences with them?

I love that question too, because, and I'm going to look at my little cheat sheet here, because we do have five generations.

We're going on to six pretty soon.

And we have the silent or traditional, what I like to call the traditional.

Some call it the silent generation.

then we have the baby boomers, then we have the Gen X, then we have the millennials, and then we have the Gen Zs, and soon to be the Gen Alphas, right, coming into the workforce.

So we have all these different generations.

And really, there's so much to break down.

But if you even look at a generation, just generally, you'll notice that there are differences.

There's different conditioning.

There's different behaviors.

There's just different ways that we communicate.

There's different ways that we dress.

There's different expectations of us, right? And so when we think about all of that from generation to generation, that's a lot to balance and work with.

And there's different influences, too.

So we're talking about generational influences.

Then we're talking about individual differences.

Right.

So let me just give you an example.

When I look at a human being and their functioning, I don't look at just their behavior, what they're presenting like right now.

What I look at is.

What's their personality like? What's their social influences? Who's around them? Teachers, parents, siblings, who's around them that's influencing them? What is their wellness like? Their mental and physical wellness? What is their overall presenting symptoms? What's happening with them right now to change behavior? And if you look at that construct, you're looking at and applying that to generational shift from in the workplace, You're looking at a lot of variables.

So when it comes to what are the differences, that's really hard to say because there are so many differences amongst the generations.