140: Cross-Generational Communications — How to Bridge the Gap to Engage Multiple Generations

We are in the early years of a fundamental demographic shift. What worked in the past will no longer be enough. In order to attract and keep top talent — and to influence their actions — you will need to change how you engage people.

Today’s workforce is made up primarily of three generations: Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials. While every individual is unique, the three generations display key distinctions in motivations, preferences, and behaviors. In particular, the Millennial generation — which is even larger than the massive Baby Boom generation — now makes up a third of the workforce. As younger millennials continue to graduate from college, their powerful mix of values, communication style, and work perspective is driving a work-culture revolution.

In this episode, Jesse explains key generational distinctions and provides a framework to help leaders develop effective communication strategies, including three cross-generational lenses to calibrate your strategy.

Thank you to Freshbooks for sponsoring this episode of Engaging Leader. Freshbooks is offering our listeners a free month of unrestricted use of their online accounting software (no credit card needed). Claim your free month at Freshbooks.com/Leader and enter “Engaging Leader” in the section that asks how you heard about Freshbooks.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Recent podcasts and blog posts about mobile engagement

Podcast: Episode 127: Let’s Get Visual – 6 Engaging Ways to Use Images

Podcast: Episode 136: Sticky — 7 Keys to Making People Notice, Care, and Act

Podcast: Episode 138: Nudgy — How to Influence People to Make an Optimal Choice in the ‘Moment of Truth’

Podcast: Episode 003: 5 Steps to Creating a Communication Plan

Subscription Links

iTunes

Stitcher

RSS

Your Feedback

If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at [email protected], subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.