With many of our work teams now spanning four generations, how can you best leverage their strengths, promote engagement, and improve quality outcomes?
Gerry Altmiller, Professor of Nursing at The College of New Jersey will be presenting Working with Multi-generational teams: Unlocking Agency at AORN Expo today. She’ll share her findings from interviews with four nurses from the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964), from Gen X (born 1965-1981), and Gen Y, also known as Millennials (born between1982 and 1997).
She answered questions from Expo Daily News about some of the insights she’ll share:
What is “agency” and why does it matter?
Agency is the ability of an individual or group to choose to act with purpose. Two important elements contribute to agency:
- Power, which gives us the ability to act with purpose, and
- Courage, which provides the emotional resources one needs to choose to act.
Unlocking agency in our colleagues requires that we focus on strengths, which completely changes the conversations we have with others. Our strengths give us the power to do hard work and take on responsibilities beyond our requirements. The focus on strengths is what creates engagement and gives meaning to our work.
What are the top strategies you uncovered for leaders and organizations to promote staff engagement and unlock agency?
The most productive strategy to promote staff engagement is to debunk stereotypes. People enjoy categorizing people by their age and fitting them into pockets that fit common beliefs.
Ask anyone to imitate a millennial and the person will pull out their phone and become engrossed, but that stereotype does not define that group. There are work values that group possesses that make them the perfect group to drive quality improvement
When we categorize people, we limit them. Debunking stereotypes breaks down those limitations.
What were the most surprising insights offered by the nurses you interviewed?
Even though there are age differences with these nurses, the work values that support engagement with their institution to improve processes and care is the same.
Leaders can focus on those strengths to drive improvement. It’s all about creating the structure for nurses to thrive in, so that they want to engage in the institution’s work.
What are some characteristics of the “supportive culture” that should exist in the workplace?
Characteristics of altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue create a productive environment where people don’t just do their work – they engage with others to support the organization’s values.
Organizational citizenship behaviors can be cultivated in all generations. To do that though, leaders need to understand that different groups respond to different approaches.
How can leaders support their team members in widening their perspectives and thinking outside the box?
Leaders can work to create environments that unlock agency in their colleagues. Adopting the theory for unlocking agency across the organization will create the infrastructure needed to drive improvement – including operations and processes – and create engagement.
When individuals perceive that they have the power to drive changes that lead to improvement, and they have the support of their leadership, it bolsters their courage to think outside the box and come up with creative and innovative ways to solve problems.
Altmiller will be sharing more details and strategies for engaging multi-generational teams at 2 pm Tuesday.
