WomenCo.

I couldn't agree with you more. I had some older coworkers that just insisted that they were not wired for technology. I got one of them on to IM, and then slowly but surely, she got more comfortable exploring other means of communication.

That being said,my mother-in-law is 60 and ims, skypes, and uses online bill pay. I guess you have to have the right incentive.

AM_Morgan08 said:

Our company recently had a diversity dialogue between the different generations that currently exist in the workplace. The biggest issue seems to be gaining respect. The younger people feel like the experienced people don’t listen to them. The experienced people think that the young have a sense of entitlement that is overbearing. The struggle is in everyone accepting that all parties involved bring a unique point of view. No matter what generation you are in how well you respond to change can make or break you.

In the end, the younger co-workers have to realize they can learn from their older co-workers' experience, and their older counterparts have to remember that change isn't always bad. Hopefully they can meet each other in the middle.

Very true as well, Ann! Age groups - like any other population segment - can't be spoken of as monolithic!

I love technology, and I agree that the degree of use by some older persons is less than that of some younger persons. Hey, take my sister and a good friend of mine for example. My sister is convinced that technology (internet, computers) are a waste of time and money. Whereas a good friend of mine runs her a very successful business which involves a great deal of technology use. I think attitudes and lifestyle influence use of technology.

I don't know if I would qualify as "older" or not---I'm fifty.  But I find that the older I get, the more patient I get.  I think that far too many older people tend to expect the young of today to act the way they did when they were young.  What they forget is that when they were young, their parents thought they were rebels, too.  My young friends like me because I remember what it was like to be young, and because I can relate to so much of what they think and how they act.  My older friends like me because I'm more open than they tend to be.  So, maybe it's just about attitude and appreciation, as has been said.  If we learn to appreciate each person's qualities, and if we're open to seeing the good and the positive instead of trying to find something to criticise, we'll all get the benefit of one another's knowledge and wisdom.  Yes, young people have those things, too.  I love it when my friends who are young enough to be my children get close to me and talk about things that are on their minds in an almost conspiratorial way, like I'm their secret buddy.  It's refreshing.  And I love it when my older friends feel comfy enough to have a good whinge with me.  It's comforting.  All of my friends get amazed that I'm not afraid to be friendly with the bloke with the bald head, tattoos and huge earrings.  In fact, these people are quite friendly and respectful to me, because that's how I approach them.  That's the key.  Approach one another the way you want to be approached.  Mutual respect and openness.

I'm going to have to just love this topic as it's my area of expertise: more specifically, as a Boomer expert, one of the areas I cover is the elimination of "cross-generational crankiness" in a company's workforce, usually from the perspective of the Boomer bosses who have much to learn about how to get the most out of their Millennial professionals.

The responsibility of course falls to both generations, but with Boomers in most of the leadership positions today, it is a leader's role to set the vision and expectations, starting with the him/herself.

In all my research on/experience with this topic, I have found a few tenets from which to get started:

• These two generations have more in common than they know


• Each can compliment the other given their respective areas of expertise: a wonderful team approach


• Each teaching the other is the most effective way to both demonstrate the value of each's contributions and bridge the gap

Let me know if I can be of help to anyone, either personally or in your company; but with or without me, do not let this issue be overlooked - it's a productivity buster and it's completely solveable!

Part of closing the gap is realizing age is just a number.

When I was in high school, I couldn't identify with very many of my peers because life circumstances up to that point had made me "older" than I was. When I reached my mid twenties I allowed myself to reclaim part of the childhood that I had skipped. On one occasion several of my peers and I drove to the beach at midnight. On the way home we stopped and gift wrapped our boss’ truck in TP.  We all got in trouble that week at work each called into the office to name names and tell the story. The assumption of his manager was that I should have been the responsible one because I was older. We honestly I wasn't older. There were two assistant managers involved that were 1-3 years older than me. Then I was told I should not have acted like a 14 year old and driven 30 miles to TP a car.  I told him a 14 year old could not drive 30 miles to TP a car. That no one drove 30 miles with the sole purpose of TPing a car. It was merely the result of the kind of relationship that manager had with his team and a night of mayhem. His perception, I was a young punk.

Please note His reason for holding me responsible was age. I was 23.  The other parties involved, 21-26; Our manager 28; His manager 30. By definition we spanned the end of boom and beginning of X. yet there was only a total of 9 years difference.

Some of the music I like Mozart, James Taylor, Clannad, Heart, LinkinPark, Pink, Daradude, Disturbed, Evanescence, Sarah McLachlan, and Jordan Sparks: How old am I?...Does it say anything about what I am capable of in the future?

I always work to find the common ground no matter what the age of the people I'm working with. Your peers are the group you make not the year you were born.

Four years ago I had a team reporting to me that consisted of 16 women ages 23-73.  The department was split into three distinct process areas in different sections of the building. Older people working on the older processes, younger on the newer processes, because that was the way it was always done. The first thing I did was merge the department to one area. There was much talk of worry that I planned to change people jobs and they liked what they were doing. I took the approach of empowering each one of them to identify two people that they could train to be their back up. With the caveat they could not all pick the same two people. This would make it easier for them to take time off during busy periods. After working with this team for a year, they had all adjusted to each other’s strengths and had started to utilize each other to learn new processes and cross-train for vacation coverage. If someone wanted time off, they would send me an e-mail stating which days they were requesting and who would be coving their duties if they were approved. Yes there were still little spats and everyone has a bad day. Yes they developed selective friendships. But when it came crunch time to meet a deadline they all piled in to get the work done.

Then I added a 19-year old, very driven to move up, young man to the team. But that’s a whole new diversity added discussion….