In a recent meeting, our team needed to make a decision regarding our company’s presence at a trade show. The oldest teammate, who had been in the industry for more than 25 years and was a long-time show attendee, was insistent that we spend the money to attend. The youngest teammate suggested forgoing the event and creating an online webinar to connect with our customers. The middle-aged director was concerned about return on investment based on the cost of exhibiting at the show.
It is hard enough for a group of like-minded peers to make a decision but even harder when those types of decisions involve multiple generations. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we’ll share four critical approaches to multi-generational decision making from Jill Johnson, president and founder of Johnson Consulting Services.
1. Don’t assume everyone has enough insight. Decision-making does not get a participation trophy; just showing up is not enough. Careful consideration of the available decision options is important. Frequently, the assumption is made that everyone at the table has enough insight and information to participate effectively in the process. All too often they don’t.
Make sure your intergenerational team has enough information so they can be more mindful in evaluating your options. Established professionals can get grounded into a black or white point of view that makes them hold fast to historical assessments of potential options. Younger participants can have a limited viewpoint about possible options and consequences. This is not because they are incapable of complex thought; it’s just they often don’t have enough experience to engage in a more nuanced deliberation.
Prepare them for participating in this process. Do they need advance reading material, such as an article about the critical issue you are going to address? Write up a summary of the critical elements of the issue and why a decision needs to be made. Set the stage at the outset by doing a comprehensive presentation at the first decision-making meeting. Provide them with clarity about how the decision relates to your organizational business strategies and why this is an area of concern.
2. Clarify the decision parameters. Establish a framework of what must be considered and the boundaries for how far they can go with the decision options. Set limits. If there are budget or staffing limitations, say so. Make sure to clarify the boundaries of the group’s role in the decision-making process too. Are they the decision-makers, do they serve in an advisory function to others who will decide, or are they influencers with critical insight into key decision options?
Have interim check points and keep redirecting the discussion as needed. It is also easy for younger team members to defer to older professionals because they are seasoned and have experience. But older professionals can also fall into the trap of only thinking within a box of historical options that limit consideration of new approaches to solving problems. You need the insight of all generations at the table. But the discussion has to be effectively channeled.
3. Manage the decision discussion. You don’t have to be there for every workgroup conversation, but you still need to manage the discussion. Most importantly, encourage candid dialog. Clarify for everyone the stakes and the resources of information you need, and begin discussing the decision parameters.
Have the group walk through the potentials outcomes of the options under consideration. Require them to discuss the pros and cons of each option. Encourage them to ask questions of each other to explore the consequences of the ideas being suggested. Carefully manage how the group communicates so those with strong voices do not drown out innovative ideas from more introverted participants who may lack confidence in speaking up in the group.
4. Manage expectations. With intergenerational teams, also manage their expectations about how much influence they will ultimately have on the decision-making process. It goes back to the role they play in the decision. Will they get a vote in the decision? Or will they be influencing how you decide? Carefully managing their expectations at the front-end will help manage angst at the back-end if you are the final decider and go a different way than they recommend.
When you can effectively manage inter-generational teams, they can find ways to link possibilities in powerful and sometimes unexpected ways that may create amazing results.
Source: Jill Johnson is the president and founder of Johnson Consulting Services, a highly- accomplished speaker, an award-winning management consultant and author of the forthcoming Bold Questions series. Johnson helps her clients make critical business decisions and develop market-based strategic plans for turnarounds or growth. Her consulting work has had an impact on nearly $4 billion worth of decisions. She has a proven track record of dealing with complex business issues and getting results.