No employee is an island

In a new book titled, Chasing Stars, author Boris Groysberg studied the performance of Wall Street analysts to determine if the success of individual “star” employees was transferable to other businesses. Groysberg a professor in the organizational behavior unit at Harvard Business School studied the careers and job changes of 1,053 top analysts at 78 investment banks between 1988 and 1996. What he found was that “Star equity analysts who switched employers paid a high price for jumping ship”, according to Groysbery, “Overall, their job performance plunged sharply and continued to suffer for at least five years after moving to a new firm.”

It appears that the analysts’ skills were not as portable as they or their new organization expected they would be. Groysberg suggests that when employees leave they lose “the capabilities of the old firm and the practiced, seamless fit between their own skills and the resources of the company. . . an analyst who left a firm where he or she achieved stardom lost access to colleagues, teammates and internal networks that can take years to develop. . .new and unfamiliar ways of doing things took the place of routines and procedures and systems that over time had become second nature.”

The message of book is quite interesting and thought provoking. It made me think of a few individuals that I have known over the years that were hired because they were “super stars” at their prior organization but who failed to achieve the same level of achievement in the new organization. I remember wondering what anyone saw in these people who came with such high recommendations but turned out to be less than outstanding.

No employee is an island, no matter how unique their tacit knowledge may be, there is also the familiarity with the culture and the network within the organization that adds to an employees value. I think Groysberg’s book helps makes the case for the importance of professional networking inside and outside an organization so that should you leave your organization you will not be losing access to all of your professional network.

Review - Bridging the Gaps: How to transfer knowledge in today’s multigenerational workplace

The Conference Board Research Working Group (RWG) on Multigenerational Knowledge Transfer met from April 2007 to January 2008. Their purpose was to explore which knowledge transfer techniques were most effective, why they were effective, when to use them, and how to adapt them for more successful cross-generational knowledge transfer. The result of their research was a report titled Bridging the Gaps: How to transfer knowledge in today’s multigenerational workplace. The report makes the case that knowledge transfer is very complex and requires analysis through many different lenses in additional to a generational perspective.

The report opens with a discussion of the complexity of sustainable organizational knowledge transfer. The knowledge transfer life cycle is described as being continuous and dynamic.

Step 1 – Identify and evaluate the knowledge

Step 2 - Validate and document the knowledge

Step 3 – Publish and share the knowledge

Step 4 – Transfer and apply the knowledge

Step 5 – Learn and capture the knowledge

The RWG offers that there are many different ways to transfer knowledge and offers 15 different methods to facilitate the flow of knowledge from one individual to another. The question of which method to use is answered by choosing one of three approaches.

1. Select a knowledge transfer method by user needs. Can be used when an individual, team, or organization has specific needs in mind.

2. Select a knowledge transfer method by context and types of knowledge. Can be used when an individual, team, or organization has a specific type of knowledge to be transferred.

3. Select a knowledge transfer method by level of experience. Can be used when the potential receiver of the knowledge has a specific level of experience.

The 15 knowledge transfer methods are:

1. Action Review

2. Blogs

3. Communities of Practice

4. Instant Messaging

5. Knowledge Capture

6. Knowledge Elicitation

7. Knowledge Distillation

8. Knowledge Self-Capture

9. Leadership Transition Workshop

10. Mentoring

11. Peer Assist

12. Podcasts

13. Retrospect

14. Storytelling

15. Wikis

Each method is described in terms of purpose and benefits, generational considerations, common business applications, and how to get started. I recommend, Bridging the Gaps: How to transfer knowledge in today’s multigenerational workplace, to anyone wanting to have a better understanding of the many different tools available to facilitate the flow of knowledge transfer.

Book Review - Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization: How to manage the unprecedented convergence of the wired, the tired, and technology in the workplace

There is a lot I liked about Ira Wolfe’s book beginning with the title. The book is organized in three sections, part one addresses the question, “who are the generations?”, part two explores the convergence of youth, experience, and technology in the workplace, and the final part provides management solutions, tips, and recommendations for recruiting, managing, and motivating a multi-generational workforce. The author suggests that you should view each generation as you would a balance sheet; weighing the strengths, and limitations of each cohort. Dr. Wolfe points out that generation gaps have always existed and will continue due to the unique events that shape each generation’s worldviews. This seems to be a fact that eludes many people.


The four generations are defined as:

Veterans (born before 1946)

Baby Boomers (1946-1964)

Generation X (1965-1979)

Generation Y (1980-2000)


The first part of Dr. Wolfe’s book is similar to other generational books that describe, what each generation remembers, who each generation remembers, approaches for managing each generation, and messages that motivate each generation.

In the second portion of the book titled, Unintended Consequences of Generational Crowding, the author discusses the different generational expectations, assumptions, and priorities present in the workplace. One significant observation in this portion of the book was a discussion of the new skill sets that are required in the workplace today. “We’re moving from an economy built on people’s backs to an economy built on left brains to an emerging society shaped by right brains. While logical thinking remains indispensable, it’s no longer enough.” Employees increasingly need to be adept multi-taskers able to quickly process large amounts of data and solve complex problems.

In the last section of the book titled, ConverGENce – Converting Clash Points into Collaboration, four clashpoints are listed and discussed.

Clashpoint #1: Work

Clashpoint #2: Communication

Clashpoint #3: Meetings

Clashpoint #4: Learning

Four different managing styles are proposed as a means to effectively manage employees at different stages of their life. The Supporting Style for people in the winter of their lives, the Empowering Style for workers in the peak years of their career and personal lives, the Steering Style for employees (Gen Xers) in their productive growth years, and finally the Building Style for employees in their 20’s who are a high maintenance group requiring management inputs of clarity, focus, energy, and engagement.

Dr. Wolfe makes the case that differences in the workplace can be minimized by having a common behavioral language, which fosters adaptability. He acknowledges that speaking the same language does not preclude disagreement but it may avoid basic misunderstandings and offers a communication mode to defuse and prevent conflict. He proposes the use of the DISC model or a similar tool.

D = Dominants the controllers of people and situations

I = Influencers the persuaders

S = Steady Relaters are the accommodators

C = Conscientious are the analyzers

Dr. Wolfe concludes his book with three activities that can be used as icebreakers and discussion starters to facilitate understanding generational differences and commonalities. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization and recommend it to anyone of any age who wants a better understanding of how to bridge differences in the workplace.

Book Review - Retiring the Generation Gap: How employees young and old can find common ground.

Unlike many other books written on generational differences in the workplace. Retiring the Generation Gap is an empirically based research study. Jennifer Deal (Center for Creative Leadership) analyzed the workplace perspectives of over 3,200 employees of varying ages. Research-based books are not always enjoyable to read but Jennifer Deal does a good job of making the quantitative analysis bearable and meaningful with practical advice for how employees of all ages can find common ground. Each chapter contains a description of the issue, a description of the research conducted, the principal conclusion of the research expressed as a principle, and the author’s take on how to apply the principle to make cross-generational work life easier.

On the first page of the book the author states:

1. Fundamentally people want the same things, no matter what generation they are from.

2. You can work with (or manage) people from all generations effectively without becoming a contortionist, selling your soul on eBay, or pulling your hair out on a daily basis.

Finally, an empirical book with a positive focus that discusses the things that the generations have in common. The introduction also includes an important discussion on the dangers of making generalizations because as the author notes, there will always be individuals who do not fit a particular generalization.

The author divides and defines the generations as:

Silents (1925-1945)

Early Boomers (1946-1954)

Late Boomers (1955-1963)

Early Xers (1964-1976)

Late Xers (1977-1986)

The book presents ten principles but the author also discovered an underlying theme that informs each principle. The theme is that “most intergenerational conflict shares a common point of origin: the issue of clout—who has it, who wants it”. The author concludes that fundamentally, generational conflict often stems from a particular group’s notion that it gets to make the rules and that the other group has to follow those rules.

The ten principles are:

1. All generations have similar values; they just express them differently

2. Everyone wants respect; they just don’t define it the same way

3. Trust matters

4. People want leaders who are credible and trustworthy

5. Organizational politics is a problem—no matter how old (or young) you are

6. No one really likes change

7. Loyalty depends on the context, not on the generation

8. It’s as easy to retain a young person as an older one—if you do the right things.

9. Everyone wants to learn more than just about anything else

10. Almost everyone wants a coach

One of the important take aways from Retiring the Generation Gap is “you don’t have to tie yourself into knots trying to accommodate each generation’s individual whims, and you don’t have to worry about learning a new set of whims when you next generation comes along. People from different generations are largely alike in what they think, believe, and want from their work life.”

Are video games the source of the generation gap in the workplace?

In Gadgets, Games, and Gizmos for Learning, author Karl M Kapp offers tools and techniques for transferring knowledge from boomers to gamers. Kapp suggests that the gamer generation, has “grown up in the video game world of immersion, unlimited do-overs, and instant feedback. The result is that they have verifiably different mind-sets, attitudes, and behaviors regarding business, education, and culture from those who did not grow up playing video games”. According to Kapp, gamers learn differently from Boomers. Playing electronic games has created a learning style for the gamers that:

• Aggressively ignores formal instruction

• Leans heavily toward trial and error (the Reset button is only a click away).

• Encourages exploration and interactive adventures.

• Includes learning from peers but little learning from boomers

• Is consumed in very small bits, exactly when the learner wants usually right before it is needed.

Kapp makes a strong case for the basis of the generation gap between baby boomers and gamers being the hours upon hours of video game play that gamers logged before entering the workplace. By the time a student graduates from college she will have played over 10,000 hours of computerized games. Kapp contends that gamers have “different models about how the world works, how to succeed, how to learn, how to teach, and how to work together.” Gamers have been influenced by video games in the same way that baby boomers were influenced by television.

Research into the use of video games has shown that the learning induced by playing video games occurs quickly and generalizes outside of the gaming experience. All those long hours of playing video wasn’t rotting their brains after all! What gamers learn while they are playing video games can be transferred to the real world and actually increases their ability to quickly assess a situation and determine what to do next. Gamers are able to multi-task effortlessly and require multiple channels to stay engaged

If Kapp and his research are correct, then having an understanding of the differences between generations is far from being enough. Organizations cannot expect to use old paradigms to transfer knowledge to a new generation. To truly connect the generations and facilitate tacit knowledge transfer, organizational leaders must tap into the gamer’s love of gadgets and need to be connected. Optimal knowledge transfer will occur when leaders can tap into the existing inclinations of the gamers and provide strategic learning opportunities in harmony with the way they learn and acquire new information.

Book Review - Deep Smarts

In their book Deep Smarts, Leonard and Swap described employees’ ability to make the correct decision at the correct level with the right people as deep smarts. Employees with deep smarts developed unique experiences and skills and made decisions based more on knowledge than on facts. Guided experience is the most successful manner in which to cultivate and transfer deep smarts. Baby boomers inclined and enabled to transfer tacit knowledge can only do so if they have a willing recipient, a common code, common knowledge, or overlapping knowledge.

Leonard and Swap described the pending baby boomer retirement as a tsunami. Many organizations will not realize the value of the loss of employees’ deep smarts until workers leave their jobs. The unique, context-specific knowledge residing in the heads and hands of baby boomers is an undervalued and poorly managed organizational asset in most organizations. Because knowledge depends on context, the deep smarts of employees are difficult to measure, harvest, and transfer.

Book Review - Managing the Generation Mix

In Managing the Generation Mix, Bruce Tulgan and Carolyn Martin begin their book on generational differences in the typical manner by defining the names and characteristics of each generational cohort. Their categorization of the four generations is:
Generation Y – (born 1978 – 1989)

Generation X – (born 1965 – 1977)

Baby Boomers – (born 1946 – 1964)

The Schwarzkopf Generation – (born before 1946)

Tulgan and Martin gave the oldest generations their label in honor of General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the allied forces in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. General Schwarzkopf’s view of management can be condensed into two rules:

1. When in command, take charge

2. When in doubt, do what’s right

The author’s felt that the “take charge” and “do what’s right” attitude aptly describe the oldest generation in the workplace today.

The first four chapters of the book are dedicated to defining and describing the unique characteristics of each generational cohort. Within each chapter is a section devoted to helping leaders understand how to manage that particular cohort which includes some very practical tips and guidelines.

The next chapter of the book titled “Bridging the Generational (Mis)Understanding Gap” lays the groundwork for an actual training exercise that the author’s claim will “start to clear the air and help each generation acknowledge the strengths and contributions each makes to the workplace”. This 2 to 3 hour exercise has participants:

1. Create a profile of their generation’s characteristics, values, and contributions to the organization.

2. Share their perceptions of the characteristics, values, and contributions of other generations.

3. Validate the uniqueness of all generations and the contributions each makes to the team.

4. Raise awareness of what each generation can learn from and teach others.

The second section of the book describes what it takes to become a great “Gen Mix Manager”. The author’s suggest that manager’s need to master three basic skill sets: focus, communication, and customization. Of the three, I feel that customization is the area that many leaders fail to appreciate and practice. Key to managing a multi-generational workplace is the ability to individualize interactions with employees. Managers must recognize that every employee is motivated differently and what drives one employee to the highest productivity level will not be as effective with another employee.

The final section of the book discusses four multi-generational challenges that the author’s feel are of critical importance.

1. Retaining the wisdom, knowledge, and expertise of retiring Schwarzkopf’s and Baby Boomers.

2. Overcoming the midlevel leadership crisis by building Gen X and Y bench strength.

3. Helping young leaders manage workers old enough to be their parents or grandparents.

4. Teaching teens to become customer service experts adept at maintaining customer loyalty.

The author’s conclude by encouraging leaders to be true “Gen Mixers”, “employees that no matter what the age bring their enthusiasm, talents, skills, expertise, wisdom, and voracious desire to learn and to teach”. This last sentence is probably the most important of the entire book. It is a reminder that no matter what our age we should be willing to teach and open to learning from anyone that has knowledge we do not have. It does not matter if they are 40 years our junior or 40 years our senior. The 21st workplace is unlike any other work environment in history. Each generational perspective and knowledge when combined has the potential to raise an organization to a level of unparalleled excellence and heightened competiveness, if properly managed.