Communicating Across Generations

On Tuesday, October 16, 2012, Cravens Warren welcomed Amy Hart from Hart Training Connection to speak at an office lunch and learn about the issues facing multi-generations in the work place.

Amy explained the differences between the four generations which include Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. Cravens Warren has at least one member from each generation currently working with each other. Participants found it interesting to see what group they fell into and what made them different.

Eventually, audience members were broken into groups of mixed generations where they were asked to come up with better ideas on how to communicate and build relationships with each other. After much laughter and many statements that began with “If you would only...” we got back into one group and shared what we had learned.

Employees were impressed by the topic and felt it was not only interesting and timely, but also very helpful. Afterwards, participants felt they had a better understanding of their co-workers and felt they had been given some good ideas on some ways to better communicate with them in the future. For example Baby Boomers (ages 48-66) who tend to be workaholics and believe in sacrifice for work learned that Generation “Xers” (ages 33-47) like to figure things out for themselves and prefer more of a balance with work and family while Generation Y (ages 12-32) craves recognition and structure.  The talk and following discussion was not only informative, but also fun.

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Amy Hart is the owner and President of Hart Training Connection. To learn more or to contact Amy about speaking at your business see her website at www.harttrainingconnection.com/> , email amy@harttrainingconnection.com or call 832-657-7574.