I love the movie "You never stop learning" with Robert de Niro and Anne Hathaway. The story is about a 70-year-old pensioner who does an internship at a hip New York internet start-up. Totally typical: an old employee has to get to grips with new working methods and modern technologies. The young founder of the start-up only has her company on her mind and wants to manage everything on her own, while at the same time her family is slipping away from her. The young colleagues learn business etiquette and manners from their new, life-experienced intern and receive a lot of practical support.
Here it becomes very clear: every generation ticks differently. Each has a different historical, social and political background. Each has grown up with different technologies and innovations. Each generation has to deal with different challenges and masters them differently.
And yet the wishes and aspirations are similar in every generation: a happy relationship, a fulfilled life, sufficient financial cushion, family, hobby, house. Earning money with a secure job.
So how does a young team leader manage to lead a much older employee?
Leadership is a tricky business and not only young managers face the challenge of leading their team - young and old - effectively. As with so much else in interpersonal relationships, mutual respect and meeting at eye level are paramount.
No matter how old someone is, you will ultimately only be respected if you respect the other person. The older employee could be a parent or even a grandparent of the new team leader. The number of years of life alone means that a lot of life experience has already been gained. Successes have been celebrated and defeats suffered. You know where to go.
The situation is not only difficult for the young manager, but also feels very strange for the long-serving employees. The values, the upbringing, the "good tone", the technology - all this has changed over the years.
So how can a young team leader actively use the experience and strengths of older employees?
I have a large facility with many pools and different processes in mind. There are highly complex, complicated, sometimes impenetrable processes going on.
Fresh master electroplaters have the latest technological findings and an incredible amount of specialist knowledge in their heads. And they reach their limits with their acquired know-how when things get a little tricky. This is because they very often overlook the fact that pure specialist knowledge is worthless if, as a manager, they are unable to motivate their team with commitment and lead them with confidence.
The old, experienced surface coaters, on the other hand, have it in their "urine", so to speak. They have a feeling, a sixth sense, when there is a rotten egg buried somewhere. They don't need a coating thickness gauge. No, an experienced eye is enough. And they're already dosing in a very specific bath. Or the flow curve is varied slightly.
And everything is back to normal.
My recommendation to a young manager is as follows: Address this "strange" situation openly in the first one-to-one meeting. And continue to make it absolutely clear how important the older employee's wealth of experience is and that their know-how is indispensable for the success of the whole team.
I have already experienced it in the family environment: the months until early retirement are counted. Innovations? Nope! Why should I learn anything new now? Let them do their own shit ... Statements like this are certainly familiar. They are inevitable when experienced employees feel they are being bullied, when their experience is not recognized.
Let go and learn to trust! Older employees know what they do, how they do it and when it is best to do it.
If the new manager manages to find the right motivating words with a great deal of tact and sensitivity to motivate the old squad and keep them in line over the last few years, then valuable know-how remains in the company.
Perhaps you are now asking yourself: What could motivate the baby boomer generation (born 1956-1965) now to stay engaged in their careers?
Here are a few tips:
- A stint as a coach and mentor to pass on valuable know-how and experience.
- Act as a role model for the next generation(s).
- More flexible working hours so that you have more time for your grandchildren.
- Easier work when the body shows the first signs of fatigue.
- More free time, less working time, so that you can finally travel longer in your camper.
Listen carefully to every team member! Because, as is so often the case, it's the little things that are easy to implement that have the biggest impact! And what is a motivational flop for one team member can be an absolute motivational booster for the next.
