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Intergenerational or cross-generational leadership does not require a specific program, it is really about allowing leadership to evolve organically from within a team. This more plastic development permits different people to lead depending on their exertise and skills, promoting communication and skills-sharing between diverse demographic groups.

Firms are often worried about measuring and increasing their return on investment (ROI).  However, most companies only focus on financial capital and forget that human capital is equally important.  Patricia Nazemetz, former Chief Ethics Officer at Xerox, believes that success depends on a businesses’ ability to build on peoples’ basic skills. Moreover, identifying the right skills for your company can differentiate your company from competitors.

What do you think?  In today’s service-oriented economy, is human capital more or less important than before?

Patricia Nazemetz, Principal NAZ DEC., blogs on the benefits of diversity and talent as catalysts for successful workplaces. More recently, Pat was Chief Human Resources and Ethics Officer of Xerox Corporation. She is also on the Advisory Council for The Center for the Study of the Workplace.

In her recent blog, Patricia Arredondo described the opportunity to attract and retain Talent through thoughtful diversity management initiatives. She made the point that much of what was written 15 or 20 years ago is still relevant today.

I agree. And I’d like to spend a minute on the next diversity stage and its link to building an effective and engaged intergenerational workplace.

The Diversity “Trail”

The road we have traveled in the U.S. workplace for the past half century has taken us from Affirmative Action (1960s and 1970s) to Diversity (1980s and 1990s) to Inclusion (2000+) to Participation (next for The Talent Age).

Each new stage or benchmark incorporates the one before. So if you do not have a workplace culture that applies affirmative action principles to the building of its workforce, or that values the diversity in action, not just words, and if you suffer from an exclusive or exclusionary work environment, you are not likely to achieve a truly participatory workplace. You cannot fake any of these stages.

Common Denominators across Generations

Unmistakably, generations have different characteristics and priorities. However, they often have much in common. Sometimes the common threads are lost in focusing on the differences. So, what is the same? What is the common ground for multiple generations and backgrounds?

In my many years in Human Resources with the Xerox Corporation, I learned that people want to have an impact. And, they want to be part of something bigger than themselves. So, how does an organization attract and keep talented people of every age and background? What is the common “stickiness?”

Getting to Participation

In my opinion, common “stickiness” means finding a way for everyone to PARTICIPATE in the workplace. This means building effective teams of people who are ready, willing and able to come together to do meaningful – and hopefully important and interesting work. They need to feel that they have a role to play and that their part of the work or team effort matters.

How do employees get to participation and engagement? The road to participation involves skills-building, experiences (like work on projects, teams etc) as well as communities of practice – places real or virtual where people share a set of skills and knowledge as well as a passion and expertise for the work.

Meaningful participation in the work place is what keeps people at work. Everyone wants to have a voice and have that voice be heard. People bring to the workplace (virtual or actual) their knowledge, skills and abilities as well as their life experiences and unique perspectives.

Meaningful participation creates a sense of belonging and belonging leads to engagement. When people are engaged in their work, something wonderful happens. The power of their discretionary effort comes into play. Something as small as 5% discretionary effort across the enterprise is like a supplementing the workforce by 5% for free.

Getting to Engagement

My former boss used the expression often that “people know”. They know what to do; they know what needs to be done. People=“know how”. So how do you get them to bring that know how to work each day and put it to the best possible use all the time? You invite them to the table, ask for their input and let them participate to the fullest extent of their talents.

The table is virtual and there are no fixed number of seats. Invite everyone to take a seat, to have a voice and to be heard.

Who’s at your table?