Last week, I was invited to the Connected Women of Influence: Women Who Lead Conference. As the title implies the gathering was that of women who lead in their perspective fields. Maria Hollandsworth, Jack in the Box's VP of Strategic Initiatives & Operation Services, Mary Evers, General Atomics Human Resources Manager, and Leslie Fishlock, Geek Girl Founder and CEO were there too, among other great leading women. There were speakers and there were Speed Lead Sessions.
For the Speed Lead Sessions each attendee was allowed to choose 6 sessions out of 13. My top 3 favorites were: “Finding Your Passion,” “Is Work Life Balance a Myth or Reality?!,” “and “Be Brief. Be Powerful. Be Done!” The last one was a good reminder of great business conversation success strategies that all female millennials ought to leverage when working with multiple generations.
Female millennials can achieve successful cross-generational communication by:
- stating the problem
- stating the solution and
- shutting-up (pauses are a good thing).
In a later (and phenomenal) panel entitled “Battle of the Generations: Women Leading Across Multiple Generations!” it was easy to catch that different generations see things differently on some things but similarly in others. For example, the older generation panelists think that communication skills of younger generations is spotty, while the younger generation panelists think it’s pretty good. All in all, I tried to take down the meaty must-knows for you on achieving successful cross-generational relationships.
Female millennials can build successful cross-generational relationships by:
- accepting there is a variation in all generations’ perspective on the ability of other generations to communicate
- embracing there is an overwhelming acceptance that millennials are the boldest generation yet
- loving the fact that across generations, motivation comes from fulfilling work
During the same panel, one woman who caught everyone off guard was millennial Entrepreneurship & Experience Learning Coordinator USD, Regina Bernal! She surprised us all with her authentic and witty remarks on her millennial perspective! She explained briefly and powerfully what we need to do to achieve individual and collective success while working with multiple generations.
As per Regina Bernal, female millennials can achieve cross-generational individual and collective success by:
- valuing and give credit where credit is due
- keeping the young motivated, by listening and giving them their due respect (Think “do on to others as they want done onto them” vs “do onto others as you would have done to you”).
- getting curious when we hear “no” and ask “why not?” (this will help us get on the same page and work cross-generationally)
Multiple-generations work relationships: it’s something we all have to work with. So, what do you think? What are your tips on communication, relationships, and individual and collective success when working with multiple-generations? Share them in the comments section below.
About author: Lolita is a wife and a millennial who loves food, travel and tech. She is a sales tech intrapreneur by trade and a social entrepreneur by nature. Lolita produces, speaks, and writes, at times. She lives in sunny San Diego with her husband and puppy. Follow her on Twitter: @LolitaTaub
For more female millennial entrepreneur-intrapreneur insight, visit: youtube.com/thefshow