Understanding Each Other and Working Together, Multigenerational Health Teams

1. Understanding Each Other and Working Together, Multigenerational Health Teams Karen Dunlop RN BN LLB May 2007

2. The world is changing • Pluto is no longer a planet!

3. And so are we…

4. Multigenerational Workforce • Today there are at least three and sometimes four generations working together in the workplace. • Veterans, born before 1945 • Baby Boomers, born 1946-1964 • Generation X, born 1965-1980 • Millennial, born after 1980 • Boychuck Duchscher J.E., Cowin L., Multigenerational Nurses in the Workplace, JONA Vol. 34, No. 11, pp. 493-501, 2004.

6. The Veterans, born before 1945 • Born into conservative, overprotective, two parent, one income households; as children, were “seen and not heard”. • Rules were clear, authority clearer. • Heroes had clear unarguable and great purposes such as saving the world. • Born into the Industrial age.

7. Veterans’ Work Ethic • Aspired to and expected life long single employer career. • Diversity was uncommon. • Future was predictable. Roles were clear and traditional. • Fiscally prudent or frugal. • Value organizational loyalty, discipline, teamwork, pay your dues.

8. Veterans’ Work Ethic • Value history and experience. • Comfortable with chain of command. Believe in central command and control. • Expect professional managers in a hierarchical structure, who communicate formally and officially in a proper manner. • Want formal recognition, symbols of prestige and status.

9. Coaching Veterans • Acknowledge their knowledge and experience. • Use one-to-one face to face meetings; formal feedback, recognition and communication mechanisms. • Acknowledge their long service. • Teach them about evidence based practice, research, new models of care, shared leadership. • Encourage them to express views, question decisions if they see a problem.

11. Baby Boomers • Comprise at least 55% of the workforce. • “Me” generation. • Raised in nuclear traditional families. • Spirit of rebelliousness and idealism. • Learned to challenge authority and value those who questioned the status quo. • Equate work with self-worth, and personal fulfillment.

12. Baby Boomers • Strong work ethic. • Invented the word “workaholic”. • Competitive, strong willed. • Desire but did not achieve work-life balance. • Will work longer than traditional cohorts.

13. Baby Boomers’ Work Ethic • Want to work in organizations that are democratic, humane, caring and have a positive effect on the world. • Value a manager who knows them personally and treats them as a peer. • Expect their individual achievements and contributions to be acknowledged. • Value a strong work ethic.

14. Coaching Baby Boomers • Recognize their achievements with formal status symbols and titles. • Peer to peer coaching situations. • Recognize with perks. • Understand they are a stressed “Sandwich generation”. • Provide organizational supports, stress management resources and continuing education.

16. Generation X • Raised in dual income or single parent households of ethnically or culturally diverse parents, in an adult orientated society. • Under protected, latchkey kids. • Self-reliant, resourceful, technologically savvy. • Born in the Information Age. • Saw their workaholic parents get downsized.

17. Generation X • Described as alienated, skeptical, cynical, nonconformist and radically individualistic. • Grew up with Sesame Street and computers in the classroom. • Learned to be self-reliant and turned to friends to fill the gap from absent parents. • Pragmatic, outcome focused, independent. • No faith in institutions.

18. Generation X Work Ethic • Want to work independently on outcomes. • Want opportunities for professional growth. • Are committed to their profession, not their employer. • Value “employability”, not long term employment. • See work is a job. • Have a “free agent” mentality

19. Generation X Work Ethic • Focused on information rather than personal experience. Want facts over emotion. • Expect immediate feedback and success. • Less willing to make sacrifices for the greater good (not part of it). • Are not interested in process, committees that don’t accomplish anything.

20. Coaching Gen Xers • Give them a task and leave them alone. • Provide opportunities to grow professionally. • Provide technological resources e.g. internet • Allow them to learn by doing e.g. role playing • Listen to their input and feedback. • Deemphasize bureaucratic obstacles. • Respect their value for work life balance. • Recognize them on the basis of merit.

22. Millennial • The second largest demographic cohort, after their parents, the Baby Boomers. • Born into multicultural, biracial parents, many in single parent households. • Optimistic, goal orientated, educated, ambitious, confident, technologically sophisticated. • Accept that the world is a global economy. • Understand multiculturalism as a way of life.

23. Millennial • Respect authority, hard earned achievement, hierarchy and teams. Morally grounded. • Similar to Veterans in sociopolitical attributes and work ethic. • Share the Veterans traditional values, respect for heroes that accomplish great things e.g. 9/11 • Considered generous, sociable, practical and morally convicted.

24. Millenials’s Work Ethic • Expect work-life balance. • Expect mutual respect, support, commitment and trust. • Like working in teams. • Tolerant, loyal, motivated • Have career plans and paths.

25. Millenials’s Work Ethic • Change is inherent in their lives. • Multitask easily. • Technologically confident. • May have limited social and personal interaction skills. • May have limited clinical or practical experience. • Outspoken.

26. Coaching Millennial • Want information, education, communication and lots of feedback. • Want a leader who has a vision, can communicate, is honest, has integrity, can motivate others, is knowledgeable and supportive. • Want lots and lots of coaching and mentoring. • Expect structure, guidance and extensive orientation.

27. Coaching Millennial • They want to be involved in decision making and implementation of new practices. • They have little patience for a lack of resources, rigidity, or blind insistence on doing things “the way they have always been done”. • They want to learn from experience but not be burdened by it.

28. Technology has flipped traditional hierarchy of knowledge • Younger generations know more about technology.

29. Stress in the workplace

30. The #1 issue in health care today: • Recruitment and retention (health human resources). • Ours is an aging workforce. • Boomers poised to retire. • We are not educating, hiring or retaining enough nurses to replace us. • 30% of new graduates leave nursing.

31. Why do nurses leave? • Not valued as a professional • Not respected as a person • Loss of self • Lack of recognition • Workplace stress • Lack of acceptance • Lack of opportunities in nursing/other opportunities available.

32. Sources of Disrespect • Other nurses • Other staff • Patients and their families • The organization

33. Conflict • Inevitable in human interactions…. • Unresolved conflict leads to error, staff turnover, decreased patient satisfaction.

34. Generational Conflict • Members of each generational cohort share common experiences that influence their attitudes and expectations toward authority, organizations, work expectations, career goals and private life. • These perspectives can create stress, misunderstanding and conflict in the workplace.

35. The generational divide • Disrespect Disconnect ↓ ↓ • Peer conflict Poor working relationships ↓ ↓ =Burnout + Professional attrition

36. “Every generation blames the one before”* • Believing one’s own perspective to be unique and universal. • Different assumptions regarding roles. • Participating vs. challenging • Pay your dues • Focus on differences not strengths. • Expecting to teach not learn. • *Mike and the Mechanics, In the Living Years.

37. Why do nurses stay?

38. The people

39. Workplace attributes • Strong visible nurse leader. • Autonomy • Respectful work relationships • Control over work

40. R-E-S-P-E-C-T

41. Respect • Requires valuing and understanding of each other. • As a team, group • As an individual. • Stereotypes and generalities are used only as guideposts. • Generational • Area or place of practice e.g. ER nurses

42. COMMUNICATION

43. You’re so phat…

44. “Beam me up Scotty”

45. VALUING

46. Valuing every member of the team • Veterans • experience, knowledge, skill and judgment • Baby Boomers • clinical and organizational experience. • Gen Xers • innovative, independent, creative, new models. • Millennial • technologically sophisticated, connected, spirit of optimism.

47. STRATEGIES

48. Strategies for Leaders • Conduct a generational inventory. • Hold every employee to the same expectations, organizational policies, code of conduct. • Promote the concept of team. • Set ground rules the reinforce an expectation of respect and tolerance. • Communicate, communicate, communicate. • Be a role model.

49. Strategies for Leaders • Explore new ways of doing things. • New nurses are not interested in lengthy outdated policies and procedures, delayed communication, meetings. • Develop a generation-sensitive coaching and mentoring style.

50. Strategies for Leaders • Promote career management to manage turnover. • Create, facilitate or promote continuing education and professional growth opportunities.