Generations@Work

Søren Kierkegaard wrote about it. Golfers try to perfect it. Bloggers rely on it, or at least I do. What is it? Repetition. So, here is yet another post on a strong recurring theme in both our blog and our work: the relationship between generational forces in the workplace, changing work, and changing technologies of work. The interactive effects of these three phenomena are blossoming in ways that are nearly impossible to keep up with.

Let’s start with the announcement, again, this week from IBM Labs of the launch of a new suite of collaborative tools for the workplace. Recognized in a previous post about social networking, we mention them again, not because IBM is the only company out there developing products such as their new Craft, Many Eyes, or Malibu — in the Web 2.0 world collaborative tools such as these are launched every day — but because the accompanying press release explicitly references a new generation of workers:

“There is a new openness at IBM about what we are doing in our labs,” Irene Greif, IBM fellow and director of the collaborative user experience at IBM Research, said at a press conference.

IBM employees, Greif said, have begun using Web 2.0-style tools in Lotus and as standalone applications to collaborate within the company, share API and create more knowledge about what’s going on in research.

Alistair Rennie, vice president of development and technical support for Lotus software, framed the changes as vital to keeping up with the next-generation workforce.

The syntax of collaboration for many older workers too often means: I tell you my idea, you tell me your idea, you repeat your idea, and then we try to find a compromise, or, in the end, the person with the most power makes the decision. If you want to see what this type of “collaborative” process means in the real world, just look at any GM vehicle. Collaboration, yes. Innovation, not so much. But then look at the syntax of collaboration for many — not all, but many — younger workers. For them, collaboration means lots of people bringing bits and pieces of information together in a way that allows more people to see new possibilities or patterns that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. It can also mean looking at existing sources of data and seeing new relationships, and then sharing these insights with others. The “space” created, called collaboration, is open to anyone who wants to contribute, while most everyone seems to take responsibility for keeping this space alive.

Now, let’s bring in some of the generational perspective. Using a very unscientific sample of Gen Y bloggers I came across several interesting posts. The subject, the Millennial attention span, or, if you like, Millennial boredom in the workplace. If you are willing to suspend the obvious snickers about Millennial attention deficit disorder, the learning for me from these two posts is how essential it is to engage younger workers in a truly collaborative work process. The call to employers to get on the social media bandwagon is another way of saying ‘let them work with the tools and techniques that suit them (Millennials) best.’

It just shouldn’t be a mystery any longer. The generations have very different ideas about what is meant by collaboration. If you have trouble getting the attention of your young workers, you may need to think about getting them some new tools.