Hello, everyone. Welcome to "How to Motivate a Multi-Generational Work Team." This is the next topic in the 2025 Deer Oaks EAP AllOne Health leadership certificate webinar series. This one, again, is "How to Motivate a Multi-Generational Work Team." I apologize for the technical difficulties.

On the GoToWebinar technology today, we're having a hard time screen sharing. So I apologize for that. But I didn't want to delay any longer because we were scheduled to start at 2:00 Eastern Time. So we may not be able to advance the slides today-- my apologies. But I'll be able to at least share the information with you all as we go through today-- and again, my apologies. And we'll have to follow up with GoToWebinar afterwards and figure out why for some reason in today's broadcast. Because this doesn't typically happen-- we're not able to advance the slides.

So folks, I'm going to go ahead and get started. But I do want to ask you all if you can weigh in using the question box in the GoToWebinar software. I would love to hear from some of you. What is your interest about this program today-- how to motivate a multi-generational work team? What about this topic is of interest to you so I can make our conversation?

Even if we won't have the benefit of the slides, you'll still have the audio. And I want to make this conversation as specific to your needs as possible. So again, if you could use the question box in the GoToWebinar software you'll see on your screen and communicate with me and let me know, what about this topic is of interest to you?

While you're thinking of some comments to make, or some ideas that you can share with me, I do want to remind you that the 2025 AllOne Health Deer Oaks EAP leadership certificate webinar series, if you attend either live, or by watching the recording after the fact, all four quarterly programs, we started out in February with "How to Hire the Right Employees." We followed up in May with, "Creating a Culture of Improved Employee Engagement." Today, of course, is, "How to Motivate a Multi-Generational Work Team."

And then we'll come back again in November and share advanced coaching skills for leaders. If you do attend either live, or by viewing the recording after the fact, all four of those programs here in 2025, at the end of this calendar year, you will receive the Deer Oaks EAP AllOne Health leadership certificate. And so for those of you that might have missed one of the first two sessions, there's still time to request a copy of the-- or request you to be sent the link, the recording link from those previous sessions.

So again, if you missed "How to Hire the Right Employees" in February, or "Creating a Culture of Improved Employee Engagement" in May, all you have to do is reach out to us, hit Reply to your GoToWebinar invitation or reminder for today, and one of our staff members-- just say that I'd like you to please send me the link to either "How to Hire the Right Employees," or to "Creating a Culture of Improved Employee Engagement." We'd be happy to send you those recording links so you can still record those after the fact and still get credit for attending. And you'll be attending live, obviously, today.

And then if you also go ahead and attend live, or by viewing the recording link in November for "Advanced Coaching Skills for Leaders," after taking part in all four of those quarterly sessions, you'll receive, at the end of this calendar year, the Deer Oaks EAP AllOne Health 2025 leadership certificate. All right, we're starting to-- starting to get some input from some of our colleagues today. One of our colleagues said that he'd like us to make sure that-- let's see, I want to make sure I get all of this information.

That this is an individual who's from Generation X, from a small city leading people from smaller communities. And this individual leads a team of baby boomers all the way to Gen Z-- so pretty much the whole spectrum. I appreciate that. Thank you. Another one of our colleagues says, I want to address challenges in hiring folks right out of college or tech school. That's a great point. And a lot of those folks nowadays, of course, are Gen Z. Although you might have some older adult students that are graduating from college and tech schools.

Another colleague said that we have employees from 19 years to 84 years in the workforce. Do you provide individual incentives due to age differences, or is there a one size fits all? That's a great question. We're going to talk about those kinds of things today. Thank you. And then last but not least, one of our colleagues says, I want to try to avoid the Gen Z stare. OK, thank you, folks. Thanks for giving me giving me your input. I appreciate it.

All right, let me go ahead and get started. Again, I apologize, we're not going to be able to advance the slides. But the beginning of our conversation today is going to be an overview. So it's going to be an overview of the four different gender-- excuse me, the five different generations now in the workforce. We've got the traditionalists that are born between 1928, 1925-- or excuse me, 1945.

We have the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. I happen to be a younger baby boomer. Gen X, born between 1965 and 1979. Then we have the millennial generation, born between 1980 and 1995 and then Gen Z, born between 1996 and present.

And so I want to share some of the characteristics of each of these different unique generations. So the traditionalists, and these are folks that are now in their late 70s, or early to mid-80s. And like one of our colleagues mentioned, some of these folks are still in the workforce. People are living longer.

So traditionalists, really, the defining moments of this generation were World War II, the threat of communism-- the spread of communism after World War II. They called it the Cold War back in the 50s and 60s. Characteristics of people from this generation. My mother's from this generation. Some of you may have a parent, or a grandparent from this generation, or still be working side-by-side with someone from this generation-- very hard working, very stable, very loyal, really value respect, have a great respect for authority, and want to be respected. Some of them may not want to be referred to by their first name.

When I was growing up in my neighborhood-- you know what I'm talking about-- back in the 1960s and 1970s-- I'm dating myself-- but we didn't refer to the neighbors, to our friends and neighbor's parents by their first name. It was always Mr, or Mrs, or Miss. So I mean, that wasn't something that back in those days, there was much more formality in social interactions.

And some of those individuals from the traditionalist generations, because they grew up in that time when there's more formality, still expect that. So you might be a younger worker working side by side with an 80-year-old, and that person may not want to be called by their first name because that wasn't the kind of thing. We didn't really address people informally that were a lot older than us back in those days by their first name. It was usually very formal-- Mr and Miss, or Mrs.

So that's one thing to keep in mind for that generation. They are set in their ways, sometimes not very quick to change, or change isn't very comfortable. And one of the reasons is not that they weren't very flexible. It's back in those days, the world changed a lot more slowly. We didn't have the technology we have today. Things weren't changing consistently because of the global connectivity through the internet and the continual evolution of technology that it is today. Things change very quickly nowadays. One organizational development specialists said that we are living in a time of unprecedented change, and I believe it.

Next, let's talk about the baby boomers. So the baby boomers folks, this is my generation. I'm a younger baby boomer. Some of the defining moments of our generation for baby boomers-- oh, you know what? I'm finding a workaround. I can actually advance the slides by coming offline, changing the slide, coming back to the main screen here.

So yeah, I know you're all seeing now the baby boomer screen. I didn't know I'd be able to do that. I know I haven't been able to get to slideshow view for some reason through GoToWebinar today. But I do think I found a workaround. So now, let me continue on. So let me talk about the baby boomers.

We remember the Vietnam War. I mean, I was born in 1959. So I'm a younger baby boomer. And so I grew up seeing the Vietnam War on TV every night. As a matter of fact, a lot of people from my generation, because the Vietnam conflict went from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, for those of you remembering the history around that, I basically was growing up thinking, someday, I was going to grow up and go to Vietnam because I saw so many of the older kids in the neighborhood leave for Vietnam. And some, unfortunately, tragically, didn't come back.

And so I had some fear as a young child growing up during that time, that someday I would go off to Vietnam once I was old enough, and so. But that gives you an example of how if you grow up in a certain time period, what's going on in the world during that time period can very much color your experience and in your mindset and your emotional experience. And also, a lot of space exploration. I remember the family and I sitting around the TV in 1969-- again, I'm dating myself-- watching Neil Armstrong be the first man walking on the moon. That was a big deal. There was a lot going on. The civil rights movement was going on during the time that I was growing up and the older people from my generation were growing up.

Now, characteristics of baby boomers-- very ambitious, very goal-oriented. Sometimes, we've been called a materialistic generation. Now, the interesting thing about that is that prior to the baby boomer generation, a lot of individuals from the previous generations, the traditionalist generation, and prior to them, my parent's generation and my grandparent's generations and so on, they didn't have as many options.

And so a lot of people back in those days worked for one organization their whole life and then retired from that organization 40 years later, or maybe only worked for a couple of different organizations their entire career. Or maybe they were in agriculture and farming and basically did that work their whole lives. The baby boomers grew up in a time, where there was more opportunity.

The world was evolving. The world of technology was starting to grow. Personal computing was becoming a reality. And the internet wasn't launched yet. But technology and service industries were really sprouting up all over the place. Where in previous generations, it was harder to start your own business, all of a sudden, the baby boomers grew up in a time, where entrepreneurialism became a thing. There were opportunities that were not there for previous generations to start your own business. And oftentimes, people in my generation, they would move from organization to organization to climb the ladder.

And that's where I think the reputation for being more materialistic. We actually had more-- discretionary income was increased for this generation than previous generations. Like, for example, with the traditionalist generations, those families had a small home. And they used to call that the three bedroom house and one car. And the suburbs was the-- that was the American dream, they were calling it back then.

Well, with baby boomers, we started to have more affluence and more discretionary income because there were more job opportunities. You could start your own businesses. You could advance. There were more room for advancement in the world. And so-- I mean, I was very oriented to that. When I got into the corporate world back in the 1980s, I very much wanted to climb the ladder. That was my goal. I watched my father do it. And I wanted to climb the ladder. I wanted to get ahead and have more for my family. And so I think that really was a sign of the times back in those days.

Now, some of our values, we were very hard working and still are. To this day, the most motivating thing my wife can say to me is, thanks for working so hard for the family. I mean, hard work was a big deal with the traditionalist generation and also a big deal with the baby boomers. And of course, everyone values hard work in every generation, but it was particularly an issue for us.

Stability and structure were important. I'm still to this day very motivated by incentives, by opportunities to advance. And so it just-- and really, folks, the only reason I'm sharing this overview of all the generation at the beginning here-- and then we'll get into what motivates different people from different generations-- is I want us to recognize that we're all influenced by the time period that we grow up in.

And when you're working side-by-side with someone that might be a little bit more ambitious than you are, or a little bit more focused on stability and resistant to change, you might recognize, this is not a character flaw in that person. It's representative of the time period that they grew up in and how that generation deals with stuff. And so that's one of the reasons why I'm sharing this with you today. So when you're working side-by-side with someone from a different generation, you'll have a better understanding of why they are the way they are.

And now that I've got my workaround, I can come back to Gen X. So Generation X-- is the next generation we'll cover-- is born between 1965 and 1979. Defining moments for Generation X is the explosion of information technology. Gen X really was coming up, growing up right when personal computing was becoming widespread and the beginning of the internet was being launched. And so everything was becoming so much more technology oriented in our world as a result, because of technology.

Service industries expanded greatly. Tech companies started forming and exploding. There was so much more opportunity in the world from a career standpoint that people could have. And so the Gen X folks were really coming up right at that time and had a lot more opportunity, again, than even the previous two generations had.

Another unique thing about Gen X is they grew up with the baby boomers and the traditionalists as their parents and grandparents. Folks in the early 1960s, there was a change in divorce law. You went from needing a particular reason to get divorced. And the divorce rate in America back then was about 10% to 15% All of a sudden in the 1960s, the laws changed. And there became no fault divorce, where people could just get a divorce for whatever reason. And as a result, divorce rate, as many of you probably remember, again, from history, went from 10% to 15% up to 50%, where half of marriages were failing, or ending in divorce.

As a result, a lot of people growing up in Gen X-- because they were the first group that grew up with the higher divorce rate than previous generation, at least at that level of 50%-- a lot of them became known as what are-- they were growing up with one parent in the home, or coming home to an empty house. Back in that time also, with the baby boomers and the traditionalists, two income families became more of the norm. Where prior to-- prior to the traditionalist generation, probably 80% of American families had, at least, one parent at home in-- was at home with the children, and one parent working outside the home, or depending on if they were in agriculture, or working in manufacturing, or in business.

And so this generation grew up, where a majority, more than 50% of homes then, as their generation was growing up, because of the higher divorce rate, more increased opportunity for career, there was far more two income families for families, where there was only one parent in the house because of divorce. My parents got divorced when I was 12. And so I grew up with a single mom, who had to go back to work.

And she was home with us the first 10 years of our life before she and my father got divorced. And it was interesting. So I became-- and because I was younger-- baby boomer. And you might notice that if you're on the border of some of these generations, you might share some of the characteristics and values of both, of two generations.

I very much became like a Gen X in terms of I became what was called a latchkey kid. I don't know if anybody remembers the term "latchkey kid." but that was basically a child coming home to an empty house. Now, obviously, the older children would be in that category. Younger children would be in some sort of daycare.

But older children, like teenagers, like I was-- growing up as a teenager, my mom left me because she had to work every day after her divorce to my father. And she left the key for me under the milk box. Some of you might be thinking, what's a milk box? There used to be home milk delivery back in those days in the 1970s.

And so I would come home at the end of the school day to an empty house. I was the oldest kid in the family. And I would get the key from under the milk box. I'd let myself in, make a snack, do my homework, let the dog out. So I became pretty independent. And Gen X was very much-- many folks from the Gen X-- from the Gen X generation, like me, were latchkey kids, where they came home to an empty house. And they, as a result, became very independent. So Gen X is known as a very independent generation.

For anyone that wants to weigh in the questions and share some of your information, if you can relate to some of this and you want to share if you also, like me, were kind of a latchkey kid and came home to an empty house when you were older and able to take care of yourself, this was not unusual in an environment like this but interesting. So this generation became known for being very-- not only very tech-oriented, but very independent. And so to this day, many people from Generation X are not as team-oriented. And this is not 100%. But these are general-- these are general characteristics of people who grew up in this time frame frame.

But a lot of people from, who grew up in Generation X have been, throughout their lives, very independent as a result of having to fend for themselves, sometimes, after school and having a lot of independence. It forces you to-- when you're in a situation, where you're coming home to an empty house, of course, that forces you to have to take care of yourself. And I, again, have those same characteristics and still very much at fend for myself and am very comfortable doing things on my own because I grew up in that environment.

Folks, let me give you a chance to ask some questions now and make some comments. I've got two more generations to do a quick summary around here in a moment-- the millennials and Generation Z. But those of you that can relate to the traditionalist generation, the baby boomer generation, and Gen X, if you could weigh in, if you have any questions, please use the question box. Or if you could weigh in and share any of your observations about what it was like to grow up in those generations, or.

So one of our colleagues said, I was very much a latchkey kid. I was taking care of my little brother a lot at home. Me too! My brother was 2 and 1/2 years younger. And so I would get home first, I'd open the door, open the house. My little brother would come home and I would take care of him-- make sure he got a snack, make sure he was doing his homework. So I can very much relate to that. It's interesting that you can as well.

Folks, anyone else have any comments or thoughts about growing up in that time period, or either the traditionalist generation, working with someone from that generation, or having a parent or a grandparent from that generation, or the baby boomer generation? Any other comments from growing up in either of those three generations, or any questions? Again, if you have any comments or questions.

One of our colleagues says, I relate to the baby boomers-- hard working and high values are definitely present. You and me, both. Thank you so much. I appreciate you sharing that, absolutely anybody else want to weigh in before we continue? All right, let me go ahead and continue.

Next, let's go to the millennials. Now, folks, the last two generation, the millennial generation born between 1980 and 1995 and Generation Z born from 1996 to the present. And I know they're subdividing that. So I think it's the alpha generation that's coming next. I'm going to stop today, Gen Z, because that's the last generation that's now in the workforce today.

But I do want to talk about the millennial generation in some detail, particularly because the workforce is becoming much younger. And that's the way the world works. We evolve, and older generations age out, start to retire. Newer generations come in. Many of you might have heard in the next five years, 70% of every worker in America is going to either be a millennial, or from Generation Z. And so it is important that we really get to know what's the characteristics of those folks and how to work side-by-side effectively, or how to manage them if you're in leadership.

So the millennial generation, obviously, grew up very much tech savvy because of the explosion of the internet during their lifetime. My daughter is in her 30s. She's very much a millennial. And I call her my help desk. I mean, she just helped me with some technology stuff over the weekend. And so obviously, because when you grow up with technology, it becomes second nature to you.

Characteristics of the millennial generation-- very collaborative, grew up online, very connected, with the rest of the world. And so now, they do tend to change jobs more quickly. And so I've heard a lot of experts in the differences in the generations and generational habits and characteristics talk about millennials being less patient and wanting a lot of what their parents had faster. And I don't know if I can comment on that. But statistically speaking, millennials do change jobs a lot more quickly than baby boomers were changing jobs, for example, every 7 to 10 years, where millennials have been changing jobs somewhere around every 3 and 1/2 years.

And now, some of that is because there's more opportunity nowadays. When I was thinking about when I was in my 20s-- and now I'm in my early 60s-- when I was in my 20s, I just wanted to share that back then, we didn't have the internet. It was hard to find job opportunities. You had to wait for the Sunday classified ads to come out, Sunday newspaper.

Nowadays, if someone from the millennial generation, or any other generation for that matter is interested in seeing what's out there for other options for jobs, all they have to do is go online and you can find tons of opportunities. There's lots of job boards, lots of websites that have current job availabilities. And so it's a lot easier. There's more opportunities. Plus, we're living in a time when there's a ton of opportunity, a ton of tech opportunities, a ton of service industry opportunities, financial industry opportunities, much more than we had back in the days when I was growing up.

So I tend to think it's not that the millennial generation is less patient, I think it's just that it's a function of more opportunity. I think if I had more opportunity back in the 1970s and 1980s when I was first getting into the workplace, I probably would have changed jobs more frequently because there would have been more options. But I think that's important to remember.

Now, values of this generation-- they've got some great values, like every generation does. Millennial generation really want to grow. They are the most educated generation in the history of America. People from the millennial generation have more-- they have more-- they have more master's degrees, doctoral degrees, and bachelor's degrees than any other generation in history. They love growth and opportunity for growing.

If you're leading teams with millennial employees, you want to give them lots of opportunities to grow. They're going to be much more likely to stay with your organization if they have opportunities to advance and have new opportunities, learn new skills, try new things within their existing organizations. So that's important to remember-- really do want a good working environment. But again, very educated, very growth-oriented individuals.

Let me switch to, last but not least, Generation Z. So Generation Z defining moments-- I mean, they've become true digital natives. This generation from birth has been technology-oriented. So that's why they call them digital natives. They've never not had technology.

As a matter of fact, if you want to think of the difference even between Gen Z and the millennials, a lot of times, millennials, even though they had a lot of technology, they still were not in a culture of immediate streaming with everything. There's still, for example, you had to go out and rent movies back then. Remember, folks from the millennial generation, remember, going out to Blockbuster Video and renting a video and coming home and having movie night with a CD, or a VHS video. And so back in those days, a lot of you probably remember that.

Nowadays, what folks are talking about with Gen Z, because you have instant streaming of tech-- instant streaming of entertainment, it's rare now for people to go out and rent a video because you've got so much that's streamable right at your fingertips because of the internet and smart TVs. And so these folks have really grown up in a time, where they don't have to wait for things. Everything's at their fingertips.

I'll give you a great example of the difference between me and someone from Gen Z. I'm an ice hockey coach and so I'm at the ice rink. One Saturday, I was at the ice rink to teach some lessons. And one of my, my colleagues, who's in her mid-20s, I had packed my lunch. And so I ate my lunch in the coaches locker room, looking at my phone. But I ate my lunch-- my own lunch. She had Doordash deliver her lunch to the front door of the rink. And so she didn't even have to take her skates off. I mean, she just walked up to the front door and picked up her food and came back.

And I thought, Oh MY gosh, that's a difference. Because nowadays, people growing up in today's world, they don't have to wait. They don't even have to go out and go through drive-through anymore like we did back in my time. They can have everything delivered to the door. A lot of those options weren't there 20 and 30 and 40 years ago.

So again, it's not to criticize that Gen Z is less patient. It's when you grow up in an environment where everything's at your fingertips, that's what you get used to. That's what your expectation and your practice becomes. And so again, not to criticize, I'm sharing this so that we'll be more patient with each other.

Now, there's some generational differences with Gen Z. A lot of researchers are saying people from Gen Z are becoming less comfortable talking in person, or talking on the phone because they've grown up and become so accustomed to having 80 plus of their communication be virtual. Where I grew up with most of my-- even though I'm comfortable with virtual communication, most of my communication was in person, or over the phone.

And so again, we're creatures of-- we're influenced by what's going on in the world when we grow up. And so again, that's why that generation is going to want things a little bit more quickly and want feedback a little bit more immediately because they're not used to waiting for that. The expectation is that stuff should be immediately available.

I'm a little bit more patient about that kind of stuff because I didn't grow up with that. I didn't mind-- I mean, I was used to going out to-- if we were going to eat out, I'd go out and pick up the food and bring it home, or we'd go out to a restaurant. But the option of having it delivered to your door wasn't there back in those days, or at least, other than pizza, wasn't much of an option for most of us.

But again, Gen Z-- very dynamic, very tech savvy, want to do meaningful-- so one of the things I love about this technology, or about this generation is in addition to loving and being great at technology, they want to do meaningful work. They don't want to sit around and do rote work, or work that they consider meaningless. They want to do things that matter.

Folks, I think that's admirable to want to go to work and not just have a job but want to do something that gives back to the world and makes a difference. I think Gen Z is doing a tremendous job of being a group of young people wanting to make the world a better place, wanting to be very inclusive and so. And I could say that about the millennial generation as well.

All right, folks, I know that-- so this is the first part of our presentation today, really, was just to help resensitize us and remind us of the things that are different between the generations and some of the characteristics of the different generations. So when you're working side-by-side with someone from a different generation, maybe you'll have a little bit more of an understanding of them. Another one of our colleagues said that-- this is interesting-- Gen X had to had to work to learn new things. There was no internet. If you were lucky, your parents bought an encyclopedia. I very much remember those days. But otherwise, you had to go to the library or ask experts.

That was the world I grew up in as well. There was a definite value to knowing how to do something, or how things work. People don't place value in learning when you can just look it up on the internet. That's a great point. That's a really good point. This is a gentleman from Gen Z. Thanks for sharing that. And so again folks, again, I'm not sharing these differences to think that any one generation is better or worse than any other, they're just different-- to give us an appreciation of those differences. All right, let me continue. Let me spend the rest of our time talking about how to motivate the different generations.

All right, again, let's talk about potential areas of misunderstanding. So if we want to motivate each other, we need to understand each other better and avoid areas that would be misunderstanding, or that could create misunderstandings. But because the generations are all different, people from the younger generations have, for example, at times have a different approach to authority than people from the older generations.

We talked about for the traditionalists and the baby boomers, the respect for authority was a really big deal. I remember one time being in a room with a lot of my younger colleagues at the ice rink and it was during one of the political campaigns years ago-- I've been at this ice rink part time for about 10 years-- and some of my younger colleagues, they were really ranting and bashing one of the candidates. And of course, I'm not going to go into any detail about that.

But it made me a little uncomfortable just because I grew up in a time when that wasn't something that happened a lot in public. It was almost a norm and a social value back in those days that you respect-- now, you may not like the person in an office, or holding a political position, or some sort of a person of authority in a job, like a police officer, or a school teacher, but you were taught to respect the office. And so I was having a hard time when my younger colleagues were really bashing one of the candidates. And I mean, it was because it just made me uncomfortable.

And they're entitled to their opinion, of course. And it didn't matter which candidate it was, it was just I wasn't used to people doing that out in the open like that. And I've gotten that kind of feedback from a lot of people, who are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s and so on saying, yeah, when I was growing up, that wasn't something you did. You might, behind closed doors, be honest with someone that you're close to about what you liked, or didn't like about someone in office, or someone in a position of authority. But you didn't walk around and bash them in public, like what happens now on the internet 24/7.

There's always a lot of bashing of people in authority happening online. I know we all know that nowadays because of the way the internet works and everyone has free access to downloading-- uploading things and posting things online. And so we just have to remember that some people have a different approach to authority and be respectful of the different approach to authority different generations have.

Another difference is use of negative language in public that I wanted to share. Like, for example, I remember in the 1960s, and this is back in the day, and I was probably 9 or 10 years old at the time, something like that, and we were in the grocery store with my mom. And I was the oldest of three kids. And someone knocked something off a shelf. It was glass and it shattered everywhere. And someone yelled one of the major cuss words, very loud-- of course, not going to say it today. But someone yelled it very loud and the whole store went quiet. It's like everybody froze. Like, who said that?

And back in those days, you didn't hear people openly cussing like that very often in public. Again, there was more formality back in those days. And not to be critical of that, it just was not the norm. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I can't believe that person said that word in public.

But nowadays, it's not the same. Nowadays, you see cuss words online. A lot of times, some groups of people nowadays-- [coughs] excuse me-- use cuss words, not as cuss words, but as part of their slang. For example, my daughter's a millennial, and she and her colleagues, they'll use some cuss words and slang.

And it used to bother me, but now, it doesn't bother me anymore. I've come to recognize that's just the way she and her contemporaries talk. They're not trying to be disrespectful. That's just their slang. And I'm fine with it now because I'm used to it. But back in the day, that kind of negative language wasn't happening very much in public-- so again, a difference. So we know there's differences, we'll be sensitive to them.

And then business dress, one of my favorite generational difference stories of all time. One of my former colleagues said that she went on a business trip with a younger colleague. She was in her 40s, so she was from Gen Z, and he was in his early 20s. He was from-- I'm sorry, she was a Gen Xer in her 40s. He was from Gen Z because he was in his early 20s. And she took him on a business trip. He'd never been on a business trip before.

And so they met in the hotel the next morning in the lobby to drive to the client office. And what she was talking about was she was dressed professional, in her mind, from what's normal for her generation, Gen X. She had a business suit on, high heels. She was dressed ready for a professional meeting in her mind.

He showed up in the lobby wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. She was mortified. She's like, I can't take this young person on this professional meeting with him dressed like that. But then she came to realize that, that was on her. She just assumed that everyone knew how to dress for a business meeting. But he was a graphic artist. So he was very Bohemian, very artsy. That's the way he and his friends dressed for meetings. So he wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just dressing the way his group, his professional peers were dressing.

And so folks, again, I just want to-- again, this is not about judgment. It's not about being critical. It's not about one's better than the other. It's that we're all a little different. And I just think it's helpful to remind each other when we see those differences to be more accepting of each other, instead of being frustrated by the differences.

And one of her colleagues said-- she weighed and she said, yes, I think it's so disrespectful what's happening today. She said, the constant bashing is way out of line and unacceptable. And I would guess that my colleague here is from one of the generations that I'm from-- the Gen X, or the baby boomer. And it's, again, not to be critical of someone, who's younger that's bashing, or someone who's different that's bashing, it's just different-- and just to be understanding that everyone does things a little bit differently.

All right, so here's strategies for interpersonal communications, folks. I want to remind us folks that not everyone does everything. Not everyone is a texter. For folks that are younger that text all the time, I used to get texts from people and I didn't respond to them because up until about 10 years ago, I didn't do a whole lot of testing. I'm just being honest. Texting-- I liked email and picking up the phone, or walking down the hall and talking to someone face-to-face, because that's how we did it growing up when I was coming into the world, the world of work.

And so right now, I have evolved. And nowadays, when a colleague will text me, I will text back. But back in those days, I wasn't much of a texter. I remember one time, one of my colleagues texted me. He texted me and I responded back by email. He texted me a second time, I emailed him a second time. It was three days before I finally responded to one of his texts.

And I learned a valuable lesson, that to be a good communicator, we all need to be willing to adjust the way we communicate to a form of communication that's comfortable for the person we're trying to interact with. So I should have responded to his first text, really, bottom line. And so nowadays, I do. I've gotten more with the program. And nowadays, I text a lot more.

But again, communication 101, as most of you know, is we should be willing-- any one of us should be willing to adjust our mode of communication to what's comfortable for the other person. And so if you're communicating with someone who's younger than you, or older than you, just be sensitive. Maybe if you've got an older colleague, maybe they won't be comfortable being texted. Maybe email or picking up the phone might be something more comfortable for them. And if you're older like me, just be open and mindful of using technology, if that's what your younger colleague is comfortable with.

All right, let's spend the rest of our time talking about motivating the different generations. And so I'm going to start, again, with the veteran generation folks and then the baby boomer generation and give you all a chance to weigh in a little bit as well. so? If you're working side-by-side, or you're in a relationship with someone, a veteran generation-- these are people now, who will be in their 70s and 80s or older. There are people now living longer. Health care has improved. Technology has made things a lot easier for people.

And so one of the things that's very important to older Americans-- oh, I won't just say older Americans-- older individuals, older human beings, really, is to be treated respectfully, not to be devalued. We live in a culture in America that, oftentimes, is very youth-oriented. I mean, just watch commercials, you see most commercials have younger people. It's like Madison Avenue, or the people that are making commercials trying to sell products. They're trying to sell products to people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s because they're seeing them as their target audience.

That's what I wanted. I just wanted to make sure that we recognize that just because someone's older doesn't mean that they're not relevant anymore. They're just in a different stage of life. We're all going to get there. We're all going to age. We all know that. And so I think it's really important to be very respectful to older people. In some genera-- in some cultures which I really love, people who are older are revered for their experience and wisdom. In America sometimes, it's almost like people who are older are treated like they're not as relevant, they're not with it anymore.

And as I've gotten older-- because I'm over 60 now-- as I've gotten older, I've become aware of that. I want to be relevant. I don't want to be considered out of touch because I'm older. And I like when people appreciate that. I have some things to share. Because one of the good things about aging, as most of us know, is you gain wisdom and experience as you go. You become more skillful as you go. The longer we're alive, the more we learn. The more we can do, the more we can give back. And so let's remember to treat people from the veteran generation, the baby boomer generation, with a lot of respect.

My generation still love to be thanked for working hard and still love to have responsibility and new challenges. Folks, I'm not retiring soon. I'm over 60 now, but I'm not going anywhere for a long time. It's not something-- I love working. I love being in the workplace. Work gives value to my life. I love giving back. I love sharing.

I love that I can be with you all today and share the things that I've learned over the years. And then later on, a lot of you are going to turn around and share the things that are-- a lot of you are probably already doing it-- sharing the things that you know to help others. And so I just think it's great to be respectful of people's age and experience.

Next, let's talk about motivating Gen X and the millennial generation. Gen X, give them space. Let's be respectful. A lot of these folks are very independent. Give them some space. If they want to work independently, let them work independently. Give them a lot of recognition. Give them flexible hours.

And I love this that Gen X was well known for starting the work/life movement. A lot of the beginnings of remote work folks that really greatly expanded during the internet happened by people from Gen X stepping up to their organization saying, hey, I'm connected online. And I like working on my own. I like being autonomous. Why do I have to drive to an office? Why can't I work from home? I've got my computer. I think I'll even be more productive if I don't have a commute every day, for example.

And so I think that's an important thing to remember. And I love that. And I'm grateful to my Gen X brethren that have helped pave the way. I've been working remotely now since 2009, and I love it. I absolutely love it. And I'm grateful that they were at the forward side of that and so. But just remember, if you're working with people from Gen X, give them flexibility. Give them opportunities to do things maybe a little bit different than how other people were doing them, if it's reasonable for your organization.

The millennial generation, folks, make sure you're giving them a lot of immediate feedback and praise. Because they grew up with the internet, they're used to getting feedback and having stuff available 24 over at their fingertips. Give them new opportunities, folks. You want to motivate people from that generation. Let them try new things. Let them learn new skills. Sponsor them to go to association meetings, where they can learn new things and network with their colleagues in their industry. You'd be very thoughtful about that.

I truly believe if we give folks from the millennial generation, very well-educated people, opportunities to grow and advance and try new things, they'll stick around. They're not just always going to be looking to go to a new place. They'll stick around if the current place that they work is very proactive in giving them opportunities to learn new things, try new things-- absolutely give them opportunities to learn and grow.

And the last but not least, let's end with Generation Z. Again, folks, quick feedback. These folks are used to having everything streamable most of their lives. Make sure that they have access to the latest technology. Make sure that you give them feedback as quickly as possible.