I’ve been working on honing this program since 2015, when I first delivered it to a multi-national nonprofit.

As digital marketing grew in use and popularity, overtaking other media and channels in the early 2000’s, some who’d been in marketing for years had a tough time keeping current. At the same time, younger marketers started off their work and careers being more digitally savvy and comfortable with the newest digital techniques and practices.

With change as the only constant in marketing, there’s been a growing distance between the generations that’s only accelerated as Millennials have become the largest generation in the U.S. labor force (back in 2016), and now Gen Z will soon comprise 30% of employees.

The need for leading different generations at work is as great as it’s ever been.

There have been many approaches and programs developed to help “build teams” and “train managers” (and new employees) that are supposed to help alleviate the inter-generational tension found in many organizations.

I didn’t start off in HR – my entire career has been in marketing and business strategy. I started focusing on the interpersonal/human resource issue out of necessity because, within my own organization (a Fortune 500 company) and marketing areas at other companies, there were misunderstandings and teams didn’t work effectively.

Yes, it really works. As long as the following conditions exist:

• People want to be part of solving the issues. If they’re feeling as though they’re not being heard or they’re frustrated with the way things are now, then they have a stake in the outcomes.
• The organization agrees to ongoing touchpoints and updates. These “take the temperature” of how progress is going and it’s the best way to know – for you and for me – if the results are “sticking” or if it’s time for a “refresh.” These ongoing touchpoints don’t take a lot of time, but they do help to foster long-term change.

If both of these conditions are in place then this works and you can expect positive results.

Here’s what you can expect from me:

1. I conduct a quick survey of your employees (and anyone else you’d like to include, such as contractors) to see if there are issues that need to be addressed.
2. An evaluation of the survey results, in which I summarize the findings and my recommendations for working together – if that’s, in fact, appropriate.
3. Together, we do a fact-finding call to learn more about issues that need to be addressed.
4. We plan a bespoke program specifically for your organization, based on the survey findings and the fact-finding discussion.
5. We implement the program.
6. We measure the results right away and over time, based on the ongoing updates from the team.

When we start the program, you’ll see some results right away. That’s because we start with a good basis of what the issues are that need to be addressed and we tackle them proscriptively.

Some change happens faster than others, which is why we insist on the weekly “temperature checks.” These help us understand what’s going on, sometimes even better than you may be able to detect from inside the organization or team.

I conduct a quick survey of your employees (and anyone else you’d like to include, such as contractors) to see if there are inter-generational issues that need to be addressed. Once the majority of people have provided information, I do an evaluation of the survey results, in which I summarize the findings – for some organizations, this can be an eye-opening experience. With that summary is any recommendation for working together – if that’s appropriate.

If we move forward with the work, we’ll do a fact-finding “kick-off” call and then do our training program, adding in focus on the issues we’ve uncovered in the survey. 

The first step is reaching out to me! Email me (janet@janetgranger.com) so we can set up a time to talk about what you’ve been experiencing. Be sure and let me know the best time to contact you. I look forward to speaking with you!