On GovLoop a few weeks ago, there was intense reader interest and great comments surrounding this post by Andrew Krzmarzick: Are Civil Servants Too Old and Selfish for Government 2.0? In his piece, Krzmarzick, in response to Stephen Dale’s earlier blog post, ” Are Civil Servants made for Social Media?”, ponders this question, “So between these two proposed issues – government employees nearing retirement who don’t get (and don’t want to get!) social media and an entrenched bureaucratic culture that’s wired to hoard vs. wired to share information – are we fighting an uphill battle?
One thought-provoking blog post sparked yet another, (don’t you just love it?!) and Nina Ilnyckyj, a Gen Y government worker in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada put up a post, “Is butting heads necessary to incite change?” She writes about feeling frustrated trying to incite change into her organization and offers some valuable insights she learned from the process:
- Timing is important in actioning the next move in the battle. Sometimes it’s just not the right time. I have a collection of little battles, so I should press pause on one if it’s not the right time, and focus my energies on another.
- Cheerleaders are critical for success and sanity. Seek support from other colleagues and change agents. It tends to work better when a few (or more) people have your back. It works really well to lead change acting by proxy, rather than acting alone.
By way of continuing the conversation, Nina’s boss, Robin Farr, a Gen X-er, blogged a response, “The old dog, the kid and some new tricks” where she talked about the two different generational approaches to change, describing it as radical vs. realistic change.
“There are days when I feel like an old dog. A fuddy-duddy. (Yes, I actually said ‘fuddy-duddy.’Like I said, I’m feeling old.) Because despite my revolutionary bent, there are young people in our organization, Nina included, that are revolutionaries on a whole other level. They have a tendency to be radical revolutionaries while I’m more of a realistic revolutionary.”
The more things change – having your boss talk about you to the world on a blog – the more things stay the same – generational divide. As a Baby Boomer working generally with Boomers and Gen X executives on Web 2.0 efforts in a variety of workplaces, I can say that yes, there can definitely be some generational push back when it comes to putting in place web 2.0 projects and initiatives across departments, but so often it’s coming from a place of fear, misinformation and lack of knowledge, rather than just because someone younger thinks it’s a good idea. Especially with Boomers, we’re the generation of self-improvement and reinvention (see Botox, spas and Madonna) and it’s not hopeless to get us to embrace change.
A few ideas to throw into the effecting change conversation that I’ve learned along the way from working with clients and from my management coaching toolbox:
Practice active listening. When you’re sitting at a conference table and tensions are running high, instead of half-listening to the next speaker and formulating what you are going to say next, practice active listening. Defer your immediate judgment and take in – including body language – what the other person is saying. Reflect what has been said by offering feedback such as “What I’m hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are saying…”
Conflict isn’t always a bad thing. In the workplace, we try to avoid ruffling feathers, rocking the boat and all those other cliches. Our primitive, “lizard” brains are basically hardwired to avoid conflict. But the truth is successful conflict negotiation and resolution can be an opportunity to bring diverse teams together because they ARE able to have intense conversations and constructive fights while maintaining the rules of respect and focusing on common goals and a positive outcome.
Different working styles: The wired to hoard vs. share debate. I’m probably a bit unique in this department as I’ve always been a huge fan of a collaborative working style. I recently did some volunteer work with the CrisisCamp Haiti DC group, and working with volunteers in their 20s and 30s where we collaborated on tech skills and figured out together on the best ways to build digital platforms to promote information put a huge grin on my face all day.
However, not everyone is comfortable with collaboration and for many older workers, it’s often because it’s something they frankly haven’t experienced much in their many years of top-down, turf-wars work experience. I’ve found when collaboration is needed for a particular web 2.0 initiative, focusing on how it fits into the organization’s overall business strategy, frequent how-we’re-doing communication updates, as well as having as necessary, one-to-one conversations with wary participants goes a long way into creating a successful outcome.
Over this past week, the Reuters multimedia news agency launched their Reuters TV channel on YouTube, as well as a roll-out on the Reuters.com website. This launch comes during the same week that The Huffington Post Media Group announced their plans to offer an online programming channel called the Huffington Post Streaming Network, or HPSN.
