A couple years ago, I was leading a team that was made up of seasoned professionals, people that were midway their career journeys and younger professionals who were only just leaving their first footprints in their careers. Teams like this can be challenging in terms of reaching alignment, communication, response to feedback, deliverable execution strategies, and much more. At the same time there is so much space for learning from one another and the opportunity to exchange transferable skills. Multi-generational teams are a treasure trove of creativity, innovation, and expansion of thought and expectations.
While working with this team I started an initiative which would consciously bring together the ideas, knowledge and skills of all employees and encourage multi-generational performance. For every monthly team meeting a junior team member was given the opportunity to choose and prepare a topic, get coaching, deliver their topic, and receive feedback – all with internal aid from other members of the team.
The younger colleagues were empowered by the space and support provided, while the older members were given more purpose and responsibility within the team. In turn, all were empowered and relationships were fostered to become more aligned and cohesive.
Different perspectives came together to form a more well-rounded team dynamic and were woven into our solutions – think of a heightened understanding of the technology being used, a more sensitive approach to providing feedback, a better understanding of other people’s why, and much more.
All people involved had one shared goal, to develop their skills and expand their knowledge as professionals – all through the collaboration of different perspectives, ways of working, and contexts. When people share the same mission, it creates a power to be reckoned with – propelling us towards organizational success and loving the journey that takes us there.
