Building a high-performing multigenerational workforce with emotional intelligence

What is generational diversity in the workplace?

The global workforce is changing rapidly. A recent study from Lancaster University found that for the first time, there are 4 generations sitting side-by-side in the average organization. People born in the 1950s and 1960s are now working alongside people born in the 2000s. 

The outcome is a mix of perspectives, skills and challenges. Success requires HR leaders to train workers, ranging from Baby Boomers to Gen Z newcomers, in the right skills to build age-diverse teams capable of healthy collaboration, improved productivity and high performance.

Bringing together different generations in the workplace

Creating a productive multigenerational workforce requires the ability to bridge gaps and bring people together. Start by concentrating your efforts on helping people develop emotional intelligence. Equipping team members with the ability to understand and manage their emotions – and those of others – facilitates bonding, helps people find what they have in common, and makes it easier to tackle challenges.

When you look closer at emotional intelligence, the role it can play in helping your organization overcome multigenerational workforce challenges is clear. Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman breaks it down into 5 key components:

• Self-Awareness: Recognizing and understanding one's own emotions
• Self-Regulation: Managing and controlling one's emotional responses
• Motivation: Using emotions to drive and achieve goals
• Empathy: Recognizing and understanding the emotions of others
• Social Skills: Managing relationships and building networks

Learning to excel in these areas supports stronger interactions, keeps relationships stable, and fosters engagement. It even makes people more open to new ideas. Additionally, emotional intelligence creates the sense of empathy needed for team cohesion. And when you have strong, resilient teams, it’s easier for your organization to fully experience the benefits of generational diversity in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence also plays a major role in establishing the social skills needed to make a good impression on clients by increasing awareness of how they feel. In turn, this can make it easier for people to find common ground despite belonging to different generations and age groups.

Conscious communication and generational differences in the workplace

Think of conscious communication as a natural partner for emotional intelligence. After all, once we understand emotions, we need to know how to best express them and keep them from negatively impacting our interactions. Communication is also about much more than just words. Verbal and non-verbal cues send strong messages, and are influenced by our feelings and relationships.

Communication is also divided into 4 basic levels: content, procedural, relational and emotional. Being able to identify and move between them using targeted interventions can enhance interactions and keep conversations from getting stuck or wandering off track. Conscious communication skills are also a powerful tool for handling the tensions that arise when discussing sensitive topics and navigating the characteristics of different generations. 

Multigenerational workforce training with an impact

People often assume emotional intelligence and strong communication skills are innate gifts some people are born with. But they can actually be studied and learned through the right training. If you want your teams to develop these skills, start by creating a basic action plan to determine your needs by following these 4 steps:

1. Identify the key emotional intelligence skills your people need 
2. Set clear objectives for establishing strong multigenerational leadership
3. Explore ways of creating a culture that values continuous learning and adaptability
4. Establish a plan for the ongoing development of emotional intelligence skills

Your approach to training should also explore how diversity influences communication among age groups. After all, people from different generations often express and respond to emotions in unique ways. Individuals from one age group might keep their feelings private while others openly share them. To truly experience the benefits of a multigenerational workforce, the ability to adapt to a variety of people and situations is essential.

Training that supports communicating with different generations in the workplace

When trying to figure out how to manage different generations in the workplace, don’t fall into the “one and done” training trap. Emotional intelligence and conscious communication are complex, multifaceted skills. They require digging deeper into our core selves while finding ways to better understand and control intense feelings.

To put it simply, this isn’t something that can be learned in an afternoon. Continuous training designed for people at every level of a career – from starters to leaders – is needed to build these skills from the ground up, and reinforce them over the longer term.

HR leaders and L&D professionals looking to manage generational issues in the workplace can also benefit from improving their own emotional intelligence and communication skills. After all, these kinds of roles often require dealing with people who are experiencing a wide range of feelings, so knowing how to respond is crucial.