Howdy ,
In case you missed the memo, the current workplace is one of the first where you have multiple generations of people at the same time.
Concurrently, you have Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, & Gen Zers working at the same time.
So, why is this important?
Well, each generation has a colour lens that they see things through.
And the colour pattern flow from technicolour to 3D.
To win sometimes, you need to know what colour palette the people you are working with have. It will help you to adapt your messaging to them.
During a session with someone where we were trying to get a little more efficiency from his time, I asked him if he had asked his boss about doing remote work for a few days.
Why did I bring this up?
He was doing a lot of commuting to and fro the workplace. This had an impact on his productivity. He could gain time and deliver more on select days if he worked from home.
Immediately, he gave me his answer, I asked "Is your boss a baby boomer?" His response showed I was right on the money.
His boss was not open to remote work because he came from a generation where most of them measured productivity by physical presence.
"I need to see that you are busy before I can believe you are being productive" is part of the mantra of that generation.
It's not a problem that can't be won. It's just a matter of presentation.
To win, the baby boomer boss needs to know exactly what he will be delivering on the day he is working from home.
It's the simple rule of "create agreements to generate expectations."
He and his boss would need to jointly agree on what he will deliver working from home. The agreement now forms the basis of the boss' expectations.
The more he delivers on the agreements, the easier it is to generate the expectation of productivity working from home with the boss.
He will also need to add softer agreements like availability for meetings and response time to phone calls.
And creating a double win for him and his boss.
His boss is not stressed thinking "Is this guy working or watching Netflix" and he gets a bit of commute stress out of the way.
More than that.
He is winning at work and in life
Tata,
I am a Workplace Multiplier.
Tola Akinsulire
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