Embrace Our Differences
We Are Who We Are
There have been many instances where I’ve had to overcome the struggles of working with others from different cross-cultural backgrounds, but one that stands out the most to me is collaborating with people from different generations. I am currently working at a restaurant and my manager has asked me to take over running the company’s Instagram. He is about 45 years old and doesn’t quite understand what to post, and what not to post. Over the past few weeks I’ve been running by pictures to post, but he always wants to make changes that my coworkers and I do not agree with. He came to us in the first place because he was unhappy with the low amount of interaction we had been getting, and all growing up in the era of Instagram, we feel as if our opinions should have been listened to more than they are. This difference in generations has definitely created a hardship when trying to complete the original goal intended: to get more Instagram followers and interaction.
When operating a diverse workforce, it is important to create common goals in order to be united over a shared objective. This ultimately stresses the idea of teamwork and inspires employees to value their own and others’ contributions to the team. In this case, I feel it is important to remember why we were asked to help with the IG in the first place, and recall that the methods being used priorly were ultimately not working.
Although my coworkers and I share these feelings, it is also highly important to confront these unconscious biases that we hold towards our manager due to the fact he is not in our “young & techy” age group. Being able to recognize times when these instinctive responses inhibit effective collaboration is very important in order for it to be stopped. My coworkers and I need to be more aware that my manager also has the same intentions, and although the way he wants to accomplish that may be different, we must realize we are all on the same team. This can include acknowledging each and every employee’s viewpoints on issues and valuing each one equally, not just ours over his. Another important factor to consider when working in a diverse workforce is to move away from prohibitive language. People don’t respond well to rigid control, and when the information being given is regarding employee’s personal beliefs it is important to steer clear from that prohibitive vocabulary.
Lastly, it is important to build a workforce that uses differences to drive success. When collaborating with people from multiple different backgrounds, you are going to experience a wide range of differing workstyles and philosophies. Being able to use this diversity to your advantage can bring about employee creativity, improve company efficiency, and getting closer to your customers and clients.
