Mind the Gap
Understanding the Generations

Overview

Inter-generational interactions are commonplace in the workplace and all spheres of our lives. Whether you are leading and managing younger (or older) staff, connecting to customers of all ages (and adapting your style appropriately), recruiting, training or trying to retain talented young employees, or just trying to understand your children (or ageing parents), this workshop has critical insights and practical suggestions for you. Once you understand 'generational' attitudes and behaviour you'll have a clearer picture of why other people are like they are, and why they act as they do.

Today, it has become vogue to talk about the generations in many circles. The media's constant references to "Boomers", especially as they head for retirement, or "Gen X" and "Gen Y" as descriptions of today's young people, hides the fact that most people use these labels without a depth of knowledge about the implications of generational theory. Most people know just enough to be dangerous, and not enough to be truly useful. So, maybe you think you know about generations because you know the labels. Graeme will take you much further and deeper than this surface level understanding, to a true appreciation of what defines each generation, why their value systems were shaped in certain ways, and what this means for their different expectations, attitudes and actions.

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Take Home Value

By the end of the session, participants will:

• Understand WHY younger and older generations think and act differently.
• Know HOW to connect more appropriately to the underlying values that drive attitudes and behaviour of different generations.
• BE more confident in their approach to younger and older staff and customers.
• Have numerous practical ideas of WHAT to do to improve inter-generational connections, specifically relating to people strategy, sales and marketing.
• Have the ability and resources to take generational understanding back to the office and empower staff and leaders to understand and apply these insights.

The insights in this presentation have direct application in areas such as product development, marketing, and advertising to valuable customers, as well as attracting, retaining and motivating talented staff. Participants leave understanding why younger and older generations differ in so many ways, how to connect with them as staff and customers, and the implications of the new value set evident in today's young people.

If you think you've understood the dynamics of generations - from Boomers to Generation Y, or Veterans to Xers - you haven't seen it the way Graeme presents it. Playful, yet powerful; nostalgic, yet future-focused - this presentation is crammed full of "aha" moments that will help you make sense of your colleagues, your boss, your customers, your children and parents, and, most importantly, yourself.

Click here to read what previous participants and clients have said about Graeme and this presentation.

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Practical Business Applications

Graeme goes well beyond most platform speakers, offering much more than just motivation or simplistic "how to's". He helps audiences to understand why things are happening. In order to ensure his clients are able to get the maximum benefit from the understanding and "shared vocabularies" that Graeme creates in his presentations, he has worked with an international team of researchers, practitioners and experts to develop a set of Practical Application Modules. Graeme draws on this work to customise his presentations for each client. The TomorrowToday team is able to use these modules as a basis for developing bespoke interventions, workshops and presentations for many different applications, functions and industries.

The following are some of the most successful practical business applications of this presentation, with the most immediate impact on our clients' bottom lines:

• Business Strategy - the ability to connect with talented staff and high value customers is critical to any business's success in the 21st century. Putting people at the heart of business strategy is vital to sustained, competitive advantage. Right now, understanding generational divides can provide the keys to developing new products, opening new channels, developing and more fully understanding existing channels to market, developing leaders and teams, and impacting business culture. One of the important aspects of generational theory is that it can predict the future behaviour of groups of people as they age through different lifestages. This understanding provides nuanced insights into future staff and customers.
• People External - Graeme's team has strong expertise in connecting with clients, particularly:
  • Developing the generational proposition - for sales, customer service, call centers, e-service - across all channels
  • Generational marketing communications - customising all types of communications for specific generations, and introducing new channels where applicable.
• People Internal - A focus on the dynamics of staff and leaders, particularly:
  • Leadership across generations - Leadership development, with a particular focus on the Boomer-Xer leadership dynamics (Boomers leading & managing Xers, and Xers leading & managing Boomers). We deal with generational implications on practical issues including communication, motivation, management, appraisals, job performance, control, delegation, teamwork, and more.
  • Talent management - recruitment, job definitions, corporate culture, performance, appraisals and motivation of talented people from different generations. We focus on both the young talent, as well as the talented older workforce who are heading for retirement but could be rewired for retyrement instead.
  • Team dynamics - this is one of the most obvious applications of generational theory. Graeme's team can assist with everything from understanding who multi-generational teams can become more effective, to designing team functions, to facilitating team building events. A good starting point is an audit of generational profiles within the organisation. The focus is on identifying areas of strength and weakness with regard to generational interaction and effectiveness. This is an important step in understanding not only what needs to change, but also why.
  • Inter-generational training and development - assistance and training for the trainers and courseware developers in an organisation, to help them apply mutli-generational insights to their work.
• Meet the Millennials - a specific focus on the youngest generation about to enter and redefine the world of work.

As with everything Graeme does, all of the above modules are customisable. Contact us to request specific information in this regard.

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Download a summary of the slides

PDF versions of all Graeme's presentations are available for download. Click here for the full list, and to download a summary of this presentation.

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Links to resources

See a video extract of Mind the Gap at YouTube - The Baby Boomers.

Probably the most important resource associated with this presentation and workshop is Graeme's book of the same title, "Mind the Gap". Click here to find out more about the book and for ordering information.

Graeme, and the rest of the TomorrowToday team, write regularly on all these issues on their blog. Click here to go directly to the appropriate category at ?iC@TmTd.

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Multimedia used

Graeme uses many multimedia clips in his presentations, including movie clips, songs, adverts and videos. Under the banner of TomorrowToday, he has a performance license for all multimedia used. Where possible, specific permissions have been obtained from the copyright owners. Where no response was obtained to such requests, and where the Music and Performance Rights certificate does not cover the media used, Graeme claims international fair use policies.

Please note that because of these copyrights and permissions, Graeme cannot make any media available to third parties. Graeme recommends AdCritic for all latest adverts. It requires a subscription, but is well worth it.

Depending on the version of the presentation you saw, the following media could have been used - follow the links to purchase the albums or movies:

• Movie clips: "Four Yorkshiremen" from "That 1948 Show"
• Audio clips: Winston Churchill's "We will never surrender"
• Audio clips: Martin Luther King, Jr, "I have a dream"
• Advert: Volkswagen, "Memories"
• Music: The Beatles, "Yesterday". Best album is ONE: or or
• Video clip: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft away, "I love this company"
• Advert: X-Box, "Life is Short"
• Advert: Sasol, "Turbo charged fuel"
• Advert: Pepsi, "Mafia kid"

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Related Presentations

Either as a follow up to "Mind the Gap", or as stand alone presentations, the following are related in content and approach:

• Winning the Talent Wars - In the global war for talent, companies have discovered that a new generation of "bright young things" seems to have the upper hand. Asking more, giving less, moving more often and generally giving their managers a headache, these young people are nevertheless vital to most companies' success and future. This presentation or workshop explains why today's talent think and act as they do, and provides seven keys into what your company can do to create an attractive culture that not only retains them, but energises and motivates them, too. It encourages an important mindset shift for all companies that are battling with staff turnover, and for those that have identified the need to get - and keep - talented staff as a critical priority.
• Regeneration: Power Selling to All Ages - There is no detail page for this presentation. It is simply an application of the Mind the Gap framework to the critical task of sales. The focus is on helping sales people of all ages connect more effectively with customers and clients of any age. After a brief overview / recap of the generational framework, this presentation or workshop focuses on case studies, practical examples and real life applications of an understanding of the values driving the behaviour of different generations. The outcome is a more confident and more capable sales team, resulting in improved profit, customer satisfaction and retention.
• "Hannah's Rules": The Rise of the Ethical Consumer - the impact that a new generation of consumers will have on business as they care less and less about what you sell, and more and more about who you are and how you sell, and strategies to connect with them before your competitors do.
• Invitational Leadership: The Future of Leadership. New times require new scripts. The new realities of business in the 21st century require a new leadership framework. This presentation (or workshop) highlights five critical shifts taking place, in the leaders's context and task, the new metaphors for leadership, what leaders measure and the leader's challenge.
• Prime Time - How to retain your retiring ‘baby boomer’ workforce in innovative ways that meet your business needs as well as their ‘re-tyring’ goals. Help them to retyre, refire and rewire, and also harness their talent and wisdom.  In all other life stages the ‘baby boomers’ have changed the world and as they reach the traditional age of retirement, they are set to change that life stage as well. This is the wealthiest, largest, aging population the world has ever seen. Are you ready? Do you know what they want and why? As a workshop, this framework also explains how to harness their marketplace power to your advantage.

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