Senior-level financial executives are looking for new skills and abilities from the next generation of accounting and financial reporting professionals. In fact, a combination of strong soft skills (like communication and creativity) along with a background in new technologies (such as data analytics and artificial intelligence) are the most highly valued traits sought after by finance organizations, according to the Financial Education Research Foundation and Robert Half’s 2018 Benchmarking Accounting and Finance Functions report.
By learning how to communicate effectively across generations, managers can help motivate individuals and teams to be better performers, helping both themselves professionally and their companies, Michael Seaver, founder and CEO of Seaver Consulting, explained during a recent Financial Executives International webinar:
“Transformation does not happen in one fell swoop,” Seaver cautioned. “There’s a flywheel concept — it is a day-to-day, relentless pursuit until we hit what we might think is an unimportant breakthrough, but it is the thing where we have overcome the challenge.”
“Though it might seem that the generations are very different, at their cores they are very similar,” Seaver said. Supporting his position, Seaver pointed to published articles, each lamenting the lack of motivation of the “younger generation.” But each time, the one complaining was the previous generation — suggesting a cyclical pattern of shared dismay over the up-and-coming individuals regardless of which generation was sitting in judgment.
“We forget in our own lives that we might have behaved in a similar fashion at the same stage of life,” Seaver said.
Know what motivates a generation
Part of the challenge in communicating across generations, according to Seaver, is that each generation is conditioned by the environment they were raised in. So, communication across generations is less about a stereotype of a specific group and more about honoring how the societal environment shaped their belief systems.
Baby boomers dealt with civil rights, Vietnam, and the Cold War when they were entering the workplace. For Generation X, it was Watergate, dual-income families and corporate downsizing. For millennials, it’s terrorism on home soil, “everything happening everywhere,” and digital and social media.
Due to the onslaught of information, the millennial level of anxiety is double that of previous generations, according to Seaver. “The environment in which a person is raised has more to do with someone’s performance than anything they are predisposed to doing specifically as an individual. Psychologists refer to this as fundamental attribution error.”
Find common ground
“Start with the way we are the same and build upon that,” Seaver said, citing the book Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground, which points out 10 ways we are all the same:
1. All generations have similar values; they just express them differently.
2. Everyone wants respect; they just don’t define it the same way.
3. Trust matters.
4. People want leaders who are credible and trustworthy.
5. Organizational politics is a problem — no matter how old or young one is.
6. No one really likes change.
7. Loyalty depends on the context, not the generation.
8. It is as easy to retain a younger person as an older one — if you do the right things.
9. Everyone wants to learn — more than just about anything else.
10. Everyone wants a coach.
While all of the above are important to keep in mind, two shared traits perhaps surface as higher-priority than the others.
No. 6: Approaching resistance to change
The resistance to change is pronounced when people have a change imposed upon them. Leaders therefore need to focus on involving people early in the change process, Seaver added. “Once they’re involved in creating the change and determining how to implement it, they’re going to be more involved throughout the entirety of the transformation.”
He also recommended communicating any changes as transparently as possible, so people affected can communicate with a manager or an executive. People want to know how the change will or won’t affect them.
No. 3: Importance of trust
Similarly, trust is extremely important, Seaver added. “All humans, regardless of context or background, are going to focus on trust. The way we create trust as leaders is to make sure we create safe environments, that allow every person to express their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. If we don’t create that environment, we’re going to waste a lot of time correcting defensive behaviors — people not asking for help, people not wanting to help one another to get something done or people not working across cross functionally.”
He recommended that people wanting to know more read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Speed of Trust and Daring Greatly. Some of his clients have started book clubs in which people can discuss elements of these and other books, providing scenarios that help members of different generations see commonalities in one another.
Understand your team’s makeup
Seaver points out that about one-third of Americans like their job. What does this mean? If you look at 10 people at a company, three are helping it move ahead, five are simply doing their jobs, not making waves, and the other two aren’t helping and may even be hurting the company. One role of a leader is to identify those two, potentially move them out of your company, or help them become more engaged.
Another point to keep in mind while assessing the team is that around 51 percent of employees are looking for new jobs. By opening lines of communication, a leader can determine if a person is looking for another job, ascertain why, and work to provide the environment to get that person to stay (if desired). The answer is usually something other than money, though benefits are important for some. Employees want to know what is expected of them, to receive recognition consistently, to be encouraged to grow professionally, to feel connected to your company’s mission or be given new opportunities to learn.
Quick tips by generation
- Baby boomers will speak freely but want to know their ideas are being heard. Their career defines them more than their personal mission. Managers should tell them why something is happening, not just that it’s being bestowed upon them.
- Members of Gen X want independence and a more informal work environment. They need time for fun to discover parts of themselves that earlier generations didn’t. They want to pursue outside interests. Seaver recommends connecting with Gen Xers by informing them of the company’s philanthropic efforts and creating opportunities for employees to participate in the company’s philanthropic initiatives. “Get them involved in something they can connect to emotionally and they are going to be far happier at work.”
- Millennials like to function in teams. They love to learn from other individuals and want to be around smart people and crave new challenges. “They want variety in tasks, so if we are looking at ways to engage those individuals, we want to find ways to have them learn and accomplish your company’s goals through teams,” said Seaver.
Take action
Seaver recommended that leaders determine which generation each member of the team is from, set a specific goal in alignment with your company’s core values and strategic objectives, and then create an à la carte menu of ways to engage and teach them to work together. One such program to achieve this would be to establish a mentorship program that can help transfer knowledge as well as identify generational commonalities.
In order to do that, leaders have some work to do, said Seaver, citing a Gallup poll that found only 13 percent of employees believe leadership communicates effectively. Gallup also found that women are more engaged than men and baby boomers are more engaged than millennials. However, Seaver cautioned that there is no relationship between the level of education and level of engagement. Happiness at work is more correlated to EQ, emotional intelligence, than one’s IQ, or educational attainment.
“People from all generations have a lot to offer,” Seaver added. He recommended that one of the best ways for managers to work with people is to view and treat each as volunteers. Volunteers are typically esteemed, complimented and recognized for their efforts.
“Remember that members of every generation can be deeply engaged if we honor how society shaped their formative years and the stage of life they are in now,” Seaver said. “We are more similar than dissimilar.”
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.