Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground

frustrated. The good news is that our results show what development

people want and how they want it. Using these results (see Tables 9.2

and 9.3) can help reduce everyone’s frustration level by showing

where (and how) efforts and resources can effectively be directed.

How This Applies to You

If you are a manager, coach, or HR professional, think about (1)

what your people actually need to know before they start a job,

(2) what they need to learn while they’re in a job, and (3) how you

can help them get the needed learning and development. Given

the likely restrictions in your budget of both money and time that

you can put toward development, it is beyond wonderful that most

people of all generations want to learn on the job. So what you

need to do is figure out how to do it!

If you look at Table 9.3, you can see some of the major areas of

development people think they need to do particular jobs. If you

take that as a starting point, you can assess an individual’s strengths,

weaknesses, and specific developmental needs in relation to the po-

sition she is going to be going into or that you are trying to develop

her for. Once you understand what she has, doesn’t have, and

needs, you can go about deciding how that particular individual’s

development should occur. Development targeted at an individ-

ual’s needs is more effective than wasting time and resources by

making everyone go through cookie-cutter training that doesn’t

necessarily meet his or her learning needs. If the person needs de-

velopment in soft skills, you should probably opt for on-the-job

training combined with one-on-one coaching and peer interaction

and feedback. You might also think about some sort of classroom

instruction to jump-start and focus the process (especially for

Silents, Early Boomers, Late Boomers, and Early Xers). Even if you

can’t make sure everyone has all the development she needs, you

can definitely make sure she has the most important information

and that she is receiving the development in the most useful and

transferable way.

Give me a young man in whom there is something of the

old, and an old man with something of the young; guided

so, a man may grow old in body, but never in mind.

—CICERO (MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, 106–43 B.C.)

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