As you become a manager in any industry, it’s inevitable that you’ll have to manage employees older than yourself. This is true for the vast majority of managers out there today. In many cases, people get promoted to a management position in their 30s or even in their 20s. The majority of their coworkers might be older than the manager in these instances! While managing an employee older than you requires a specific approach, it’s completely doable. In this article, we’re talking about managing older employees as a younger manager, along with some realities that go along with doing so.
What Makes Managing Older Employees As A Younger Manager Difficult?
Managing older employees as a younger manager is difficult in a few ways, and they’re not anyone’s fault. Here are a couple of reasons why we find it difficult to manage team members who are older than ourselves:
- It’s intimidating. We may not feel like we’re ‘supposed’ to be their boss.
- They might have more knowledge than us on a particular topic.
- There’s not much common ground outside of work.
- There are generation differences in mindset and approach to life.
- Older employees are used to working pre-technology and may not prefer to use tech as often as younger workers.
Luckily there’s a way to navigate through all of these differences and have a successful working relationship anyway.
Managing Older Employees As A Younger Manager: The Right Approach
Here are a few ways that younger managers can have a good working relationship with their older subordinates. The realities and techniques below involve maintaining a boss-employee relationship while respecting the older teammates’ experience and using these differences to their advantage:
- Their Experience Matters & Should Be Relied On
- Let Them Work How They Want To On The Things You Want Them To
- Communicate With Them In A Way They’re Comfortable With
- There’s Probably Something You Have In Common
- You Still Need To Be The Boss
Let’s explore these topics in a little more detail.
1. Their Experience Matters & Should Be Relied On
Let’s face the facts. Even the greatest, brightest most promising young managers lack one thing: experience.
This used to bother me a lot as a young Project Manager, which I now realize is a sign that I did have some maturing to do, after all.
This doesn’t mean that workers with more experience are better or smarter, they just have an advantage over you in the experience department.
Luckily, a team environment involves using all of the individual’s strengths for the greatest good of the team.
This means that young managers need to regularly rely on the experience of their older subordinates in the work place. It’s foolish to try and block out another person’s valuable experience. Your coworker’s experiences are and advantage for all.
2. Let Them Work How They Want To On The Things You Want Them To
Many older workers had already been on the job for years when technology came strolling in.
Where younger workers rely on software and apps, older workers are more used to working without them. Better put, they may use these things now, but their training and performance was orchestrated without modern technology for a fair portion of their careers.
Going back to the experience point above, your older coworkers got all of that valuable experience doing things a particular way.
While there’s always room for improvements and trying out new things, it works best for everyone when older coworkers do the majority of their work in the way they see fit. Again, not all of their work – just the bulk of it.
You’ll get the best results when you communicate WHAT you need done by your employees, but not so much so they do it. George Patton said it best:
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their result.
Gen. George S. Patton
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3. Communicate With Them In A Way They’re Comfortable With
Where younger workers rely on email, software and apps, older workers are more used to face-to-face conversations, phone calls and in-person meetings.
While younger workers have a dozen tabs open on the computer with texts and chats coming in, older workers often don’t use them at all.
If you’re managing older employees who aren’t used to check emails constantly, texting, etc., there’s an easy solution – don’t use them to communicate with that particular employee.
It’s anyones guess what they’d prefer, so it’s best to straight-up ask them. Maybe they’re fine with emails and texts, but in case prefer other means, it’s better to pursue them instead.
This doesn’t let older employees off the hook completely, though. All workers in present day must be able to work with phones, email, computers, etc. on a basic level at minimum.
4. There’s Probably Something You Have In Common
Younger managers will have a lot easier of a time navigating an age gap with their subordinate when they’ve got a few things in common.
Whether they be work-related or outside of work, having a few things in common at least gives conversations a place to start. Eventually you’ll have to talk business, but it won’t feel as much like you’re speaking to a total stranger otherwise. This goes for both the younger manager as well as the older employee – and vice versa!
If there ins’t much to talk about on a personal level, you can at least understand the core tenets of what this employee’s job entails. You’ll be able to discuss the difficulties and circumstances that come with their specific job. This is valuable to our performance as a manager and to your relationship with the employee.
5. You Still Need To Be The Boss
At the end of the day, you need to be able to be the boss. This doesn’t involve pulling power trips on older employees, nor does it involve confrontation.
Instead, it involves navigating the day-to-day experience of managing employees of any age:
- You must still set the expectations.
- You must communicate what needs to be done and by when.
- You need to give direction as well as feedback.
- You need to make sure everything runs smoothly and that disputes or disagreements are settled fairly and amicably.
This one goes for managing young and older employees alike – you must be the boss when all is said and done.
In Summary
Managing older employees as a younger manager will always come with a unique set of challenges. It’s important to understand that this applies to managing employees of any type – it’s just that the challenges change instead of disappear. When a young manager adopts the techniques and mindsets discussed in this article, they’ll have an easier time managing employees older than they are. Lastly, time moves fast…the only thing that stays the same is change. Thanks for reading!
