We hear a lot about the challenges caused by demographics in the workplace. One that creates a lot of stress is when an older worker must report to a much-younger boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you find your self in this situation, rather than getting stressed out about it, why not find ways to make the relationship flourish?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forget about the norms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of us have grown up thinking that the person in charge\u2014parents, teachers and coaches\u2014should always be older. Reporting to someone younger goes against this traditional norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are going to have to get over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most companies are actively recruiting young people to their organizations. To retain these younger workers, these employers will promote them quickly into leadership roles. This means that, increasingly, you are going to see bosses who have limited experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Show respect for your boss\u2019 knowledge.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In many cases, it\u2019s not so much an \u201cage\u201d thing as an \u201cexperience\u201d thing. For example, we think nothing of taking skiing lessons from a 20-year old instructor, who has been skiing since they were a kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you discount a younger boss, look at their technical skills and subject matter expertise and how you can learn from them. Respect will go a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use your life experience constructively.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While your younger boss may have more technical skills than you, you likely have more experience dealing with people and difficult situations. Try to find a way you can help them deal with these situations without acting like their parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t focus on how you can get your boss\u2019 job.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of age, you should never be aiming to replace your boss through less-than-desirable ways. Your best strategy should always be to work hard, show respect, and be productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Build a partnership with your boss.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of your age differences, you will not likely become close friends with your boss. But you can still have a good working relationship by working with them as a peer. You can do this by understanding what your boss\u2019s problems are and help them come up with solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Push back against stereotypes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve all heard the stereotypes: boomers are not tech savvy, Gen X-ers are only focused on work-life balance, millennials are entitled and lazy, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stereotyping is dangerous. Even though your boss may be younger, they may be no different from you in how they think and act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One more thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Treat this relationship as you would any other business relationship. Try your best to make it work. If it\u2019s not, talk it through with your HR department who may be able to offer a solution. You should also seek other people who have worked for a younger boss successfully and learn what they did to contribute to the relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We hear a lot about the challenges caused by demographics in the workplace. One that creates a lot of stress is when an older worker must report to a much-younger boss. If you find your self in this situation, rather than getting stressed out about it, why not find ways to make the relationship flourish? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9383,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9163\/revisions\/9383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geraldwalsh.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}