The Class of 2011: what Berlin wall?
http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/2011.php
Just think, most students entering college in September were born 1989. Ok, excuse me, but wasn't that the day before yesterday?
Beloit College has published the Beloit College Mindset List for the 2011. The list has 70 factoids for this group of freshman. The list gives you an incredible snapshot of how context is everything. Let me give you a few examples:
1. What Berlin wall?
8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.
11. Rap music has always been mainstream.
13. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM
And we wonder if we need to do cross generational bridging in our organizations? I wonder how we are able to communicate at all. We should take heart that we have done as well as we have but we must focus on the multi-generational workforce (as well as multi-cultural). This is to our sustained success...we must learn not only how to work together with different viewpoints, values, ideals...but we also need to know what knowledge is critical to transfer and how we can do it with relevance.
Given the above list and what you will find at the Beloit website, it amazes me that we are so shortsided as to think we can learn to collaborate cross generationally without any assistance. Let us learn to take the best of the best, whatever age they are, and share it with zeal in a way others can absorb. We are not all the same. Thank goodness. Let's work with that and move forward by leaps.
Showing posts with label Cross Generational learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cross Generational learning. Show all posts
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Monday, August 06, 2007
The Many Forms of Infrastructure
It has been a difficult week here in Minnesota. The collapse of the 35W Bridge has left many people devastated and taken a number of lives. Pictures of this tragedy have dominated the news and touched many Americans. I know the people of Minnesota have pulled together not only during the crisis, but to show support to the families of the victims as well as to each other in the aftermath.
Now, in the wake of this tragedy we must learn what went wrong and understand how to apply the lessons to keep other lives from needlessly being lost. We must identify and share key lessons. We need to work on the underlying physical infrastructure of our country. This was known previously but until it became a crisis once again, we lived in denial. Actually this is only one type of lesson to be learned.
We must also recognize that we are human. As a society we have been traumatized by events such as 9/11. Seeing those events again and again on TV and the internet, feeling helplessness, fear and sorrow....all of this has left scars. The collapse of the bridge a few days ago was re-traumatizing as we again saw devastation and watched good people lose loved ones.
Our emotions are the infrastructure of our own lives just as the highways, pipelines and bridges are part of the infrastructure of our physical lives. We need to ensure our emotional infrastructure is sound and that we are giving it the time, the focus, the energy we need to continue to be strong and solid.
In Minnesota, when the bridge collapsed, I saw people with that same look in their eyes as I did when in the tri-state area near NY during 9/11. There is a glassy quality, a bit removed, dazed and almost vacant. The look of trauma and sadness so profound it is hard to express much less experience.
Let us not forget that we need to take time for each other, take care of our emotional selves and heal, just as we work to rebuild the 35W Bridge or the rest of our physical infrastructure. We need to look for signs of fatigue in our selves, as we do in the steel structures around us. And if we find them, we must not be afraid to take the time to heal, and to heal each other. We need each other, and we need to learn our lessons together, with kindness and compassion.
Let's learn together that we need to be allowed to be human, to feel what we feel in a healthy way, and to deal with each other in compassion. Take the time to repair the infrastructure around us now, so that if and when another crisis hits, we will be able to withstand it. I am thankful for the people of Minnesota who pulled together during this time and proud to be in their presence.
Now, in the wake of this tragedy we must learn what went wrong and understand how to apply the lessons to keep other lives from needlessly being lost. We must identify and share key lessons. We need to work on the underlying physical infrastructure of our country. This was known previously but until it became a crisis once again, we lived in denial. Actually this is only one type of lesson to be learned.
We must also recognize that we are human. As a society we have been traumatized by events such as 9/11. Seeing those events again and again on TV and the internet, feeling helplessness, fear and sorrow....all of this has left scars. The collapse of the bridge a few days ago was re-traumatizing as we again saw devastation and watched good people lose loved ones.
Our emotions are the infrastructure of our own lives just as the highways, pipelines and bridges are part of the infrastructure of our physical lives. We need to ensure our emotional infrastructure is sound and that we are giving it the time, the focus, the energy we need to continue to be strong and solid.
In Minnesota, when the bridge collapsed, I saw people with that same look in their eyes as I did when in the tri-state area near NY during 9/11. There is a glassy quality, a bit removed, dazed and almost vacant. The look of trauma and sadness so profound it is hard to express much less experience.
Let us not forget that we need to take time for each other, take care of our emotional selves and heal, just as we work to rebuild the 35W Bridge or the rest of our physical infrastructure. We need to look for signs of fatigue in our selves, as we do in the steel structures around us. And if we find them, we must not be afraid to take the time to heal, and to heal each other. We need each other, and we need to learn our lessons together, with kindness and compassion.
Let's learn together that we need to be allowed to be human, to feel what we feel in a healthy way, and to deal with each other in compassion. Take the time to repair the infrastructure around us now, so that if and when another crisis hits, we will be able to withstand it. I am thankful for the people of Minnesota who pulled together during this time and proud to be in their presence.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Managing Knowledge Virtually
Recently a colleague told me about the virtual reality site 'Second Life'. It's an online world in which you create an 'avatar' or a virtual self. Of course the new you does not have to look like you or sound like you, but can be any alter ego you wish. The colleague asked how I might approach Knowledge Management in this new world.
http://secondlife.com
As I thought about that and began to explore 'Second Life', I also witnessed a virtual team here in this reality experiencing communication breakdowns and a lack of ability to manage and share their knowledge. The 'real' team struggled to keep each other up to date and in sync while working from various coasts and on varied projects. The storming, forming, norming and performing that is natural for any team was causing breakdowns large enough to threaten their ability to survive as an effective group. They somehow could not make time to meet, keep each other updated on progress, or create shared visions around projects. Things were going awry.
Yes, there are interventions to be put into place, and behaviors which can be enhanced for this team. But if we are challenged still to manage knowledge and behavior across a living, breathing group of individuals, imagine how we might be challenged to do so in a virtual world.
'Second Life' might sound like nothing more than a pipe dream or a new fad, however major companies are exploring this virtual reality world to see how business can be done. In fact, business is already being done, if in a small way. More will come of this, even if it does not replace global commerce. Tools like this may well enhance it. I simply wonder how ready we are. We have not yet mastered the discipline needed for communication across offices, geographies, cultures, generations....and now we are considering doing so across realities.
http://secondlife.com
As I thought about that and began to explore 'Second Life', I also witnessed a virtual team here in this reality experiencing communication breakdowns and a lack of ability to manage and share their knowledge. The 'real' team struggled to keep each other up to date and in sync while working from various coasts and on varied projects. The storming, forming, norming and performing that is natural for any team was causing breakdowns large enough to threaten their ability to survive as an effective group. They somehow could not make time to meet, keep each other updated on progress, or create shared visions around projects. Things were going awry.
Yes, there are interventions to be put into place, and behaviors which can be enhanced for this team. But if we are challenged still to manage knowledge and behavior across a living, breathing group of individuals, imagine how we might be challenged to do so in a virtual world.
'Second Life' might sound like nothing more than a pipe dream or a new fad, however major companies are exploring this virtual reality world to see how business can be done. In fact, business is already being done, if in a small way. More will come of this, even if it does not replace global commerce. Tools like this may well enhance it. I simply wonder how ready we are. We have not yet mastered the discipline needed for communication across offices, geographies, cultures, generations....and now we are considering doing so across realities.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Managing Knowledge for the future
Most of us understand how to help those of our own age or era share and manage knowledge. Yes, it is challenging to share experience and wisdom across geographical or cultural boundaries, but if we are dealing with our contemporaries, we find it doable.
Managing knowledge across generational boundaries leads to a whole new set of challenges. We learn differently, communicate differently, are motivated differently and collaborate differently. We sometimes make blanket statements, judge each other, make assessments about the boomers, the X-ers, the traditionalists which simply do not help us work together. When it comes right down to it, we confuse the daylights out of each other. This has probably been true for centuries. This is the first time in recent history we have had four generations in the workplace. Therefore right now this is all hitting home.
Cross-generational knowledge sharing takes true consideration and self awareness. What are our own assumptions about the generations before or after ours? Do we find it difficult to teach or train or learn from them? We do not have the luxury of letting this opportunity go, of walking away from the challenge. Knowledge management is not for the faint of heart.
We need to first check our own assumptions. Second, check each other's assumptions. Build some common language. And create opportunities to work through the barriers and attitudes which we allow to separate us. We are aging. New people are coming up through the ranks. Our job is to make what we have built sustainable while allowing and facilitating change for the future. That is how we will not only survive but thrive.
Managing knowledge across generational boundaries leads to a whole new set of challenges. We learn differently, communicate differently, are motivated differently and collaborate differently. We sometimes make blanket statements, judge each other, make assessments about the boomers, the X-ers, the traditionalists which simply do not help us work together. When it comes right down to it, we confuse the daylights out of each other. This has probably been true for centuries. This is the first time in recent history we have had four generations in the workplace. Therefore right now this is all hitting home.
Cross-generational knowledge sharing takes true consideration and self awareness. What are our own assumptions about the generations before or after ours? Do we find it difficult to teach or train or learn from them? We do not have the luxury of letting this opportunity go, of walking away from the challenge. Knowledge management is not for the faint of heart.
We need to first check our own assumptions. Second, check each other's assumptions. Build some common language. And create opportunities to work through the barriers and attitudes which we allow to separate us. We are aging. New people are coming up through the ranks. Our job is to make what we have built sustainable while allowing and facilitating change for the future. That is how we will not only survive but thrive.
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