Many generations, one world

Last week I attended a series of meetings for staff and Board members of Southern Tennessee Regional Health System – Lawrenceburg. Most were health-care related, but I want to share the information from one of those sessions.

“How to Survive and Thrive in a Multi-Generational World” was presented by Bob Augustin, the hospital’s Director of Human Resources. The hospital is a workplace with employees of all ages, where understanding characteristics of different generations is helpful. I believe it can help everyone, because we all live in a multi-generational world.

People of the Silent Generation were born between 1922 and 1945. They have great respect for authority, conformity, discipline, hard work and loyalty. Those traits brought our nation through the Great Depression and World War II and made America the most prosperous nation in the world.

Tom Brokaw writes of this Greatest Generation, “They have given the succeeding generations the opportunity to accumulate great economic wealth, political muscle, and freedom from foreign oppression to make whatever choices they like.” Still, this generation is humble about their achievements.

I am in the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer. This generation extends from nine months after the end of WWII to 1964. Unlike our parents, we questioned authority (until we became the authority) and are more self-centered. We protested a war and took on other causes, and embraced rock ‘n’ roll.

We Baby Boomers have a strong work ethic and tend to define themselves by their careers. We are resourceful, disciplined and goal-oriented. We’re team players but also competitive, which can sometimes cause problems on teams.

Generation X includes people born between 1965 and 1980. Their mindset is often described as “cynical,” maybe because of the change their parents tried to make in the world.

TheBalance.com reports, “Generation X came of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates, and a faltering economy . . . . Women were joining the workforce in large numbers at the time of their births, spawning an age of ‘latch-key’ children. As a result, Generation X is independent, resourceful, and self-sufficient. They value freedom and responsibility in the workplace. Many in this generation display a casual disdain for authority and structured work hours.”

Millennials (Generation Y) were born between 1981 and 2000. They grew up with technology and are primarily responsible for the popularity of social media – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and probably others this Baby Boomer doesn’t know about.

This shaped Millennials and the way others see them. They are better educated, and more mobile, so tend to not stay with the same employers for many years. This is a game-changer since they also make up the largest segment of the work force. At the hospital, 43.3 percent of employees are Millennials.

One USA Today report describes something I’ve witnessed to be true: “Millennials have a strong sense of community both on local and global scale. Compared to previous generations, they focus on larger societal needs rather than individual needs. People born between 1980 and 2000 are the most civic-minded since the generation of the 1930s and 1940s.”

The results aren’t in for Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2015 and pampered by their Generation X parents. Maybe for that reason, their lives are divided into a whole series of stages, unlike previous generations’ three: Childhood, Teenage years, Adulthood. Generation Z’s lives include an extended childhood and young adulthood, something most of us have noticed.

In the end, generations work together best in an atmosphere of mutual respect and flexibility. We can all learn from each other if we focus on our similarities, with an underlying awareness of our differences. I believe this is just as important in our homes as in the workplace.