By Simon North, Forbes.com
Special to Online Career Tips
With baby boomers postponing retirement and working longer, more of us will find ourselves in multi-generational workplaces. This can be exciting as well as challenging. In an ideal world, three generations would work better together than separately. But this requires that everyone be open-minded. Boomers, in particular, close off possibilities by being judgmental and set in their ways. Here are some steps you can take to avoid being the office dinosaur.
1. Lean in. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, in her controversial book, Lean In: Women, Work, And The Will To Lead, notes that women sometimes hold themselves back by not actively participating. The same thing can happen with people 50 and older. Particularly if we’ve had a career break, there’s a tendency to diminish ourselves — not recognizing the value that we bring to what may be a changed workplace. Remember, there is a reason why you are working in this department and why you are a member of this team. Without constantly referring to your many years of experience, be an active participant, and show curiosity about new developments.
2. Link to younger colleagues. If we spend all our time in conversations with people of our own age and background, we simply reinforce our own viewpoints. You will learn more by communicating with younger co-workers. Understand their language and the things that are important to them. In the process, you become more accessible to them, and they will want to involve you more.
3. Invest time in people. Make the effort to spend more time understanding and learning about your colleagues. Get out of the office to do it over coffee or lunch. Ask questions and show an interest in what you hear. Observe the different attitudes, cultures, backgrounds and views on the elements of work that you’re all doing together. Chances are you will learn something new, gain insights and find fresh ideas in the conversation. You may even form slightly different and deeper relationships.
4. Experiment in your role. It can be easy to stop growing in our roles once we’ve been doing the same thing for many years, but it’s never too late to grow professionally. Look for new projects you can get involved in that offer opportunities to expand your skills. It’s a rare work environment that doesn’t have an additional space that needs to be filled.
5. Find something you’re passionate about. Look for ways to do more things you enjoy, both inside and outside of work. If you carve out time to get involved in activities which naturally inspire and excite you, chances are you will feel better all around.
6. Keep learning and growing. If there’s something at work that you want to learn more about, ask your colleagues. See what inspires them about what they’re doing. Ask them to show you how things work and to share some of the ways they’ve developed expertise in their field. Find courses or conferences to attend; webinars can also be a great resource for free learning.
7. Experiment with technology. Work with your children, grandchildren and younger colleagues to understand how new forms of technology work and to discover which ones are relevant and useful for you. Embrace them, explore them and find out how they can help you.
8. Emphasize your strengths. Carving out a clear role and responsibilities not only helps you build a reputation, but prevents you from being pushed into areas that don’t stimulate you. Get this wrong, and you can wind up working overtime and feeling overwhelmed with work-related stress. By subtly setting boundaries, you can be confident in what you are doing and achieve a more balanced lifestyle.
9. Assume responsibility. Take the initiative for a new project, or form a new team or department—ideally something you can work on with a much younger person. It does not have to be a big project; it can be small or even short-term. Having a work-related reason to spend time around younger people, whether or not you choose your team, will help you understand their perspective and broaden your own horizons.
10. Become a workplace legend. Every company has them. Your goal is to be remembered for your contribution. It might be your expertise, problem-solving skills, creativity or dependability. Maneuver yourself to do your best work.
This is a guest post by Simon North, founder of Position Ignition, creator of the Career Ignition Club and author of Moving into Retirement in the 21st Century. His other articles for FORBES include “How to Manage a Micromanager. He tweets @PosIgnition.”
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For retirement advice and tools, whatever your age or assets, visit The Forbes Retirement Guide.
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