In most workplaces, there are three generations of workers. The first group we'll consider are the Traditionalists, those who were born some time before 1965. They are likely, at this stage of their careers, to be extremely influential and senior in their organizations. The name Traditionalists, though, is applied because this is a group which embodies the sets of values one most often sees amongst the "old school. They will, most likely, prefer to communicate through structured and rigid hierarchies, and will certainly prefer command-and-control mechanisms in the way they distribute tasks between themselves. As innovators, this group will normally prefer to solve problems they've been directed to examine, and will usually come up with solutions along trajectories which are well established by their organizations. This, naturally, makes them ideally suited to innovation teams which have elected to follow a Play-Not-2-Lose strategy, and whose primary focus is on incremental innovation.
The second major generation in organizations is known as "X', and can be considered to include all individuals born between 1965 and 1983. X-ers can operate in a command-and-control environments, but prefer a much more flexible working style. They believe that individuals are powerful forces in their own right and should be given a degree of liberty in the kinds of challenges and problems they'll solve. When faced with innovation challenges, X-ers will typically look at other industries who have faced similar situations. Their goal will be to find solutions which have worked elsewhere and which can be applied in their own contexts.
The defining factor in self-perception of an X-er is what they know and where they learned what they know. They use their broadness of experience to drive status in their organizations, in contrast to the Traditionalist group, for whom status is a consequence of tenure. The last generation in most workforces are the "Y-ers". Generation-Y was born any time after 1984, and has a very different approach to the workplace than either of the two generations which preceded it. Gen-Y are a group who have spent their lives online, collaborating with peers electronically. This leads them to a belief that their tech is indispensable in any situation, and they have very little regard for command-or-control.
Theirs is the great gift of teaming naturally, and leadership roles switch automatically between them depending on the task at hand. Moreover, their digital connections give them very broad reach to global thinking and insight, and they will often know much more about the workings of the world outside their organizations than either of the two previous generations. This broad grasp of the world makes Y-ers very powerful when a particular innovation problem needs a radical solution. Their broadness of thinking lends itself to out-of-the-box ideas, and their lack of constraint by command-and-control processes means they will often recognize opportunities that X-ers will write off as "too risky" and traditionalists "impossible". On the other hand, Y-ers will usually not be particularly interested in incremental innovation, and when they are forced to do it, will often dream up radical approaches when the tried and true way is better. They can work in either Play-2-Win or Play-Not-2-Lose environments, but, obviously prefer the former to the latter.
Managing different generations of workers is an important aspect of Innovation Management. Much more advice on the topic is available in James Gardner's freely available online Innovation Book.
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Author: James A Gardner
