The pitfalls of giving feedback across generations

RECENT research has focused on the benefits of real-time feedback: see the problem, correct the problem. That probably works if you’re the boss passing feedback on to your subordinate. But if you’re younger and less experienced, going right up to your colleagues to tell them how they could improve is likely to put them on the defensive and make you a bunch of enemies. It could even stunt your career.

Generational diversity in the workplace has increased significantly over the past decades, as people are living longer and retiring later. Today’s organisations may employ people from four generations at one go – a situation unheard of a few decades ago.

I became interested in age diversity at work 25 years ago in my first management role. I had hired a former pharmacist who was my mother’s age.