{"id":2382,"date":"2016-09-29T16:24:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2016-09-29T16:24:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:24:03","slug":"what-survivor-millennials-vs-gen-x-teaches-us-about-working-in-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/?p=2382","title":{"rendered":"What Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X Teaches Us About Working in Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>How Different Generations Work Together<\/h2>\n<p>The latest season of <em>Survivor<\/em> premiered last week and while reality TV is certainly not discussed on this blog often, this season has a special twist that makes it relevant. The latest season features one team (called a \u201ctribe\u201d on the show) made up entirely of Gen Xers while the other tribe is made up of Millennials. It\u2019s interesting that the \u2018generational divide\u2019 has finally caught up with reality TV.\u00a0 There is obviously enough friction between the two generations for the producers to believe that pitting one cohort against another will make for entertaining viewing. They refer to the show as \u2018the greatest social experiment\u2019, so no doubt the episodes will be full of generational mud slinging.<\/p>\n<p>Now, obviously, reality TV isn\u2019t a perfectly accurate look at society, and being stranded on the beach is quite different than working in a team in an office, there are still some lessons we can gather from this show.<\/p>\n<h3>People are More Than Stereotypes<\/h3>\n<p>Survivor leans hard on the stereotypes of Gen Xers being hardworking individualists while Millennials are characterized as lazy and self-absorbed. While some of these traits may exist in each generation, it\u2019s important to remember that each generation is more than the stereotypes that are associated with them\u2026 and which are magnified on reality TV. \u00a0Recognizing this will make it easier to work in a multigenerational team because it challenges us to digger deeper than typical stereotypes (usually negative) to uncover the strengths each generation can bring to a team.<\/p>\n<p>On Survivor, one of the first members of the Gen X team to speak to the whole group immediately stated that he\u2019s sick of how Millennials expect everyone to get a trophy. Having an attitude where you immediately judge other generations based on stereotypes might get you some screen time on a reality show, but it certainly won\u2019t help you work together in your organization. Watch a clip of the show here\u00a0that highlights many of the negative stereotypes about both Millennails and Gen Xers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0obeV-xcbwk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While different generations certainly have different skills, expectations and tendencies, it\u2019s important that you don\u2019t immediately dismiss a member of another generation without knowing them personally and attempting to communicate and work effectively together. If they do posses different skills, take advantage of this situation by finding ways to work together that allow both of you to showcase your unique talents.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also important that you don\u2019t fall into behaviours that reinforce the stereotypes of your own generation. On the TV show, several members of each tribe immediately started acting the way their cohort is \u201csupposed to.\u201d Now, this could be because of casting or because contestants were told to \u201cplay up\u201d the stereotypes of their generation but in the work world, it can be detrimental to assume that you have to behave in a certain way, adopt a particular style, or possess a specific attitude just because you are a Baby Boomer, Gen Xer or Millennial.<\/p>\n<h3>Recognize Differences &amp; Adapting to them<\/h3>\n<p>When working and communicating with different generations of colleagues, customers and leaders, it\u2019s important to understand that based on their life experiences members of different cohorts will interpret situations and messages differently. This isn\u2019t a negative thing. It\u2019s simply an acknowledgement that our unique perspectives influence our expectations. Communicating in a way that all members of your team understand the intended message makes your message more effective and ensures that not just the content, but the tone behind the message is clear. This does not mean automatically assuming that a person will react a certain way because of their generation, but it does mean taking their unique situation into account when speaking, emailing, texting or presenting to them.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a Millennial may consider an in-person meeting to discuss a situation unnecessary and might even believe that their time is being wasted by having to sit down and meet with a colleague in their office. A Baby Boomer, for example, will consider this time while spent. However, that same Baby Boomer may be offended by a business-related text message in response to a serious situation, while the Millennial will find this response not just acceptable, but preferable.<\/p>\n<p>In order to alleviate these issues, it\u2019s important to work to communicate your needs and your preferences effectively with everyone on your team. Failure to do so can cause resentment and clash points.\u00a0 We suggest establishing team communication protocols around:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Preferred medium<\/li>\n<li>Response time (immediate, within the business day, 24 hrs, the week?)<\/li>\n<li>Frequency of communication<\/li>\n<li>Levels of involvement \u2013 who will be engaged?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>We\u2019re Stronger When We Work Together<\/h3>\n<p>Both the Millennial tribe and the Gen X tribe had difficulties on the Survivor premiere. However, overcoming these difficulties was possible in most cases because the individuals on the tribes worked together. In fact, many Survivor challenges are specifically designed so that team members will need to co-operate with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Research shows that those who work well together in teams aren\u2019t just more productive, but they\u2019re also happier and more engaged employees. This is because supporting one another, relying on others to contribute, and brainstorming together to solve problems helps build trust and bonding among employees.<\/p>\n<p>In organizations where a collaborative environment exists, employees enjoy their roles more, get along with their managers much better, and are overall happier.<\/p>\n<p>Even on Survivor, where the tribes are split up by generation, eventually different generations will have to work together. If you\u2019re unfamiliar with the show, there is typically a \u201ctribe merge\u201d at some point where the two different teams come together and live together. This means that both generations have to be prepared to live with one another and be a productive team.<\/p>\n<p>In the work world, as well as on reality TV, teamwork and recognizing how to best interact with those who are both similar to, and different from yourself, leads to success and keeps you from being voted out by your team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Different Generations Work Together The latest season of Survivor premiered last week and while reality TV is certainly not discussed on this blog often, this season has a special twist that makes it relevant. The latest season features one &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/?p=2382\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[90,19,141,202,219,187],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions\/2386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ngenperformance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}