Connecting Zoomers and Boomers

The Connected Zoomers and Boomers. Wouldn’t that be a great name for a rock band? This week’s Kickstarter group certainly thought so as they addressed the difficulties of communication in a multi-generational workplace. In a world where several generations could be working together, it is essential to explore and leverage the different communication characteristics. The Kickstarters group created a great frame for a powerful conversation: See differences as strengths and learning opportunities.

Positive Frame

Name it: Different generations are unable to connect and understand each other.

Flip it: All generations understand each other.

Frame it: See differences as strengths and learning opportunities.

Other suggested frames

• People appreciating talents, abilities, and ideas from all members.
• Happy engagement, creative solutions.
• A welcoming and engaging environment.
• Connected relationships, laughter and sharing.
• Respectful acknowledgement of differences.
• Shared understanding and seeing commonalities.
• Energizing conversations, a more collaborative environment.
• Bridge building between wisdom and new learning.
• Appreciation for one another and excited to learn from each other.
• More complete robust work outcomes and new ways of thinking.

Generative Questions  

To arrive at the frame, the group created the following questions on the whiteboard:

• What has been effective for you in finding a common goal with others?
• Think of a time when you struggled with connecting and understanding: How did you overcome that?
• When we connected well across generations in the past, what were we doing?
• What has been a high point experience working with others who are unlike you?
• What have you seen work during different decades?
• Tell me about a time when you feel most connected to all?
• What theme song or band best describes what you’d like to see in the workplace?
• When have you had a really cool interaction with someone who was not your age?
• If there were no limits, what would we want to see?
• Tell me about your previous work experiences with others?
• What would happen if we were to walk through each generation’s approach to communication and choose a strength we would like to adopt?
• What do you value about yourself and others in working together?
• What do you most want to learn from your colleagues?
• How can we make space for diverse opinions?
• What do you enjoy most about working with different generations?
• Think of a scenario when you learned something new from another generation. What was that and how did that impact you?
• How might we create environments where we all come together to learn from each other? What does this look like? How do we engage?

Cool Tip from Conversations Worth Having

When creating a positive frame, strive to go beyond what is immediately obvious and consider the thoughts of David Cooperrider and Ron Fry who wrote, “…What can we dream that will lead us and those we connect with to live to our full potential?”

Shared by Sylvette Wake, WakeUP Training & Certified Conversations Worth Having Trainer