***Older Workers Still Have Value

Perhaps it’s my age but I find the best part of American Idol are the qualifying rounds to see who gets to go to Hollywood. Out of the tens of thousands of hopefuls only a few hundred are chosen as “good enough” to advance to the next round. It amazes me how many of the contestants, even with a lack of talent in the singing department, feel that they deserve a shot just because they’ve worked hard. Now as much as I may work hard at becoming the best basketball player I can be, my height is going to prevent me from getting a shot at the “big-league.” I don’t ceaselessly whine that I deserve a shot at the NBA just because I’ve worked hard. I’ve just come to accept that there are some things that a guy five and half feet tall won’t ever do. Tone deafness cannot be replaced with hard work. I don’t care how much a person works. Reality says that there are some things some people are not meant to do. I’ve given up hope of sharing a bench with Steve Nash or Kevin Garnett. It just isn’t going to happen. But perhaps we as Baby Boomers have overindulged our little ones into making them believe that they are entitled to anything just because they’ve worked a little for it. With that being said, there are some older workers in the workforce today who just don’t understand that just because they’ve been with a company for a long time, doesn’t guarantee them a shot at a management position. In fact, in some cases, the amount of time you have been with a company may actually preclude you from getting a shot at running a department. Old ideas aren’t likely to move an organization forward in an economy and marketplace that are making light-speed changes daily. However, there are times when a senior person in the organization should take the reigns and drive the buggy. There are sometimes when a new and younger perspective is exactly what is needed as well. I recently addressed a group of workers who are in an ever-changing and largely inter-generational environment. There are some people in their mid-twenties who have been with the organization just a few years and now find themselves steering the ship of a department having become managers and supervisors. That has created difficult situations with many Baby Boomers who are just a few years away from retirement. Resentment is an underlying theme for some of the older workers - having to take direction from a kid less than half their age. For many older workers in today’s economy, many have become complacent just trying to make it to retirement with all of the perks and benefits that come from working a seeming lifetime with the same organization. It’s a shame when many younger workers view this type of employee as “the working dead.” I admit that as a kid, a strong work-ethic was drilled into me. This didn’t come from my parents, although it could have. This came from my employers – my managers and supervisors. There was a high expectation of quality from my bosses regardless of the fact that I was a teenager. And there wasn’t a lot of hands-on supervision in many of my summer jobs. It was either I come forward and ask for help or figure it out on my own. I spent a lot of time figuring. In many of my jobs, the work was solitary. I worked alone and for the most part unsupervised. We had no Internet to surf if we had a question. We had no MSN to ask all of our friends at once. There was no union nor was there any positive feedback on a job well done. A job well done was the expectation of employment. Almost everything I ever learned on my summer jobs was learned on the job and mostly by trial and error. Every trial stretched us a little out of our comfort zones. Every error made us wiser. What I learned is that you will never be given more than you can handle and you can handle all that you’re given. As many managers get set to retire, new people are needed to replace them. The ideal choice would normally be the worker who him or herself has experienced the ups and downs of the organization over a lifetime but still has an open mind and a willingness to stretch themselves to a new position. There are a lot of organizations who don’t necessarily want diplomas to lead their organizational units but instead want life-wisdom. Knowledge you get in school – wisdom you get on the job. Mentoring through management is a wonderful experience for older workers. Although the official term would be management, the chance to communicate a lifetime of knowledge through mentoring the members of a department should be grasped with both hands by any older worker. The experience would allow older workers to stretch themselves a little and to impart values and work-ethic onto the new generation of workers. And while the older workers are mentoring younger workers, the younger workers will likely be schooling their new managers in the use of technology. It’s a great experiential trade-off. But not every older worker is cut out for opportunities like this. It requires an admission from older workers that they haven’t learned it all yet but are still willing to read the books, attend the training sessions (which most companies would gladly provide) and do the work necessary to guide others to being the best they can be. It’s hard work. But it’s rewarding work too.nnAttitude Adjustment: The young workers of today are willing to stretch themselves. They want instant gratification right now. That’s not such a bad thing. They’re willing to do whatever is necessary to advance themselves as fast as they can. Older workers should taste the determination of these younger workers and stretch themselves too. If, as an older worker, you don’t want to risk stretching yourself right before retirement, perhaps you should ask yourself if you’re doing something meaningful or just taking up space? There’s a big difference between being selfish and selfless. Every older worker has got something of value that others could learn from. The question is: Are you, as an older worker willing to share it or are you just hoping to get out alive?