From boomers to Gen Zers - know your virtual class generations

Having generational diversity on your virtual team or your virtual class provides different perspectives and ways of looking at today’s world.

Many factors, including family of origin, early life experiences, community involvement, parental support, technology, and world events during adolescence, just to name a few, influence the way people present themselves and interact with others.

 People from every generation have significant life events, different modes of learning and connecting that shape who they are, and unique ways that they show up as a virtual classroom member. Here are a few tips for working with all the generations on your virtual team or classroom to create and nurture a productive online learning culture:

 Baby boomers  - Born between 1946 - 1964

Typically characterized as ambitious, responsible, competitive, self-focused, and optimistic. Many baby boomers made their careers the priority over family obligations, so the growth of virtual teams and flexible work schedules are an exciting and welcome change. However, baby boomers, despite having flexibility, often still choose to work during traditional work hours. Depending on the boomers’ work experience, they may need more time to adjust to a collaborative team/classroom environment, because they may be more accustomed to top-down, hierarchical management style.  You may find boomers more reserved than their younger colleagues when speaking up and offering opinions. As a rule, boomers are conscientious and, in general, complete tasks on time. After all, they’re the generation that created the term “workaholic.” Most importantly, don’t assume that boomers are averse to technology. They may not have grown up with ubiquitous Wi-Fi and a smartphone in their hands, but research has proven that they adapt well to tech environments given the time to ramp up.

 Baby boomers are also highly valuable on virtual teams and classrooms because of their many years of work (and life) experience. Older team members have a greater perspective on issues and long-range insights into the ebb and flow of markets, consumer opinions, and product development. Respect their knowledge and experience. Across the United States, baby boomers are delaying retirement. Virtual teams and training, tech-enabled flexible work schedules, and the gig economy are allowing this generation to continue to work. Many boomers are finding that virtual teams and classrooms, where diversity is encouraged, is in some ways a better fit than a traditional office, where ageism is more likely.

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 Gen X  - Born between 1965 - 1980

They are characterized by their independence, self-reliance, and skepticism. They question authority and are the pioneers of technology and the architects of the Information Age. In large part, Gen Xers have rejected the baby boomers’ philosophy of commitment to one company, one career, and long hours dedicated to the achievement of titles, perks, and salary. As more and more Gen Xers enter C-level jobs, they’re living up to their reputation by rewriting the rules for corporate policies and practices. They’re open to working differently, are achieving high productivity with work-life balance, and aren’t particularly interested in the frills of corporate success, like moving into the corner office. They’re the most entrepreneurial generation and are leading some of the most innovative startups today. They also encourage autonomy and independent thinking. All these traits make them great fits for virtual training and virtual teams, both as team leaders and team members.

 Millennials – Born between 1981 and 1997

Tuning in to the high-tech Millennials, also known as Generation Y. They’re the much-maligned generation that is now the largest employment group in the United States. Their noted characteristics are being self-expressive, diverse, globally minded, and tech dependent. Millennials have a high level of comfort with technology; they’re the first generation to grow up in a fully digital world. They welcome change and embrace innovation and creativity on a team. They’re impatient with long-range planning, and they crave constant feedback and appreciate using technology to provide feedback to team members. Millennials thrive on new goals and challenges to keep them motivated, whether they’re new concept or a new activity.

Across the board, Millennials are far more comfortable with openness, collaboration, and transparency. Millennials are business savvy. They absolutely care about the bottom line, but they care equally about their communities and the environment. Although Generation X may have started the flexible work revolution, Millennials have changed the game completely. They believe that work and life events aren’t separate and that they both occur around the clock. Millennials don’t care where and when you work — or what you wear — as long as you get the job done.

 Gen Z  - Born since 1998

Members of Generation Z, the newest generation to enter the workforce, were born since 1998 and are characterized by craving security and being more cautious than Millennials. Gen Zers are hard-working, technologically advanced, and fiercely entrepreneurial. Being the first majority nonwhite generation, they value working with people from different backgrounds and are curious and passionate about acquiring new skills. They’re also skilled multitaskers, having grown up shifting from one screen or task to another. Many are opting out of traditional four-year college (and debt) and seeking education and work experience in other ways. Gen Zers are extremely adept on global virtual teams and classrooms, in part because of their comfort level with diversity and because they’re an adaptive generation. Adaptive generations follow a disruptive generation, which has significantly changed society like the Millennials. Adaptive generations take the problems that surfaced by their predecessors and work on fixing them. In this way, Generation Zers are taking on diversity, global awareness, cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, and sexism in the workplace and exerting strong political influence over societal issues outside of the workplace. They are extremely collaborative and flexible, value compromise, and embrace change in the workplace.