New Roles for Managers: Getting in the Game with the New Workforce

By now, anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that there are four generations of employees in the workforce (Millennials 1977-1998; Gen Xers 1965-1976; Baby Boomers 1946-1964 and Silent Generation 1933-1945). A rapidly growing number of organizations provide overviews, lunch ‘n’ learns, presentations, written material and/or online resources to raise management’s awareness of the four generations.

These educational efforts do a decent job of raising awareness, but that’s often as far as it goes. It’s not far enough. Why? Because every manager needs substantive skills in multi-generational leadership, not just awareness of the generations, to recruit, hire, onboard, coach, engage, retain, and foster knowledge sharing across all four generational segments of the workforce.

From their upcoming book, “The New Game: Managing the Multi-Generational Workforce”, the authors bring life and specificity to how the roles of managing have changed, and why traditional management roles are stale and outdated. Briefly stated, the new roles that managers are expected to play in today’s workplace are: Talent Scout, Orienteer, Development Coach, Engagement Expert, and Legacy Creator.

Multi-generational leadership is not just a fad, it is the new essential. Providing managers with focused skill-building and tools to successfully lead across the generations is the new core, critical element for forward-thinking organizations.