"navigating Inter-generational Mistrust" (it?s All About The Thinking)

"navigating Inter-generational Mistrust" (it?s All About The Thinking)

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Each generation has its own ideas about the past, the present, and the future. Each group sees the others as having the wrong perspective, the wrong ideas, the wrong passions, the wrong dreams. At best, the groups tolerate each other. At worst, they undermine each other?s efforts, suggestions and ideas. Still, each of us bears significant responsibility for developing strategic plans for leveraging the differences to create positive environments.

Without making any pronouncements, start by listening to members of each generation. Identify the words they use. Listen for what they say is important to them, especially their passions. Listen for what they say they want to accomplish. As you become more deeply acquainted with the characteristics of each group, you will see the similarities and the differences. All generations care. All generations applaud achievement. All generations want to matter. All generations believe that their path to the future is the correct one and that others have been wrong. However, times change us all.

You know that "wrong" is a non-issue because the information the generations bring to any situation differs from the information that other generations bring. The gray hairs of the radio and, subsequently, television world bring that history with them. The graying activists of the sixties remember their dreams of a newer, more free world that differed greatly from the world of their parents. All generations have something to which they can say, "I can remember a time when such and such did not exist." Today's adult generation can probably remember a time before search engines, but certainly before Twitter. It is largely a condition of that "time before" perception that colors our thinking.

As you gather more and more information from the generations, the common focus that emerges is achievement. If you believe you lack sufficient information to develop a navigational plan, simply pose the question, "What do you want to achieve?" You can ask the question to discover personal dreams. You can also anticipate the emergence of professional goals. In the end, you will know what they want to change. It is this desire for change that opens the door to conversations. It is the commonality among us all. It is the future to which the generations can navigate together.

When you can identify several changes the multiple generations want, you can now establish the strategic vision for the future. They all have some common destination in mind. You simply need to work with them to establish the travel plans and timetables for getting to the destination. See what stops they identify in the trip. These will be the anticipated hurdles to jump. Some will be erroneous conclusions. These are easy to correct. Many of them are made of "we can't" and "we never" stances. Some will be attitude positions. These frequently involve "you don't know ..." and "you don't understand ..." comments, beliefs that are held even if they are unspoken. Air as many of these comments, concerns, conclusions and assumptions as possible. Dealing with them quickly and openly smooths your future navigation.

You are now ready to ask them how they would accomplish the change they desire. You can listen, then, for progress steps that mark the movement from desire to achievement. You listen for changes in word choice --- one generation using the vocabulary of another. You watch for the connections the generations make in building the bridges over the gaps in their own thinking. You listen for "support comments" to replace "suspicions." You see the barriers evaporating as they focus on a common, desired achievement, not on differences. You can feel the shift from struggling to prove "right" versus "wrong" to the identification of a common destination, a destination that demands a diversity of history, a diversity of personal experience, and a diversity of thought.

This very diversity is the needed ingredient of future, inter-generational achievement. It is the WE, not the THEY, that accomplishes.

About the Author:
Virginia L. McBride, The Haven Maven
Founder, EPROW Images
Creator, IT?S ALL ABOUT THE THINKING
Virginia builds personalized "thinking environments" to strengthen innovative thought. Working with EPROW Images, clients learn how to listen for inter-generational language. Gathering information promotes behavior changes.
To qualify for a free 30-minute consultation, submit a "pitch" through EPROW?s PAPPY program => http://www.eprowimages.com



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