Attend any conference on leadership and it is obvious that today’s business leaders mirror the multi-generational mix of today’s workforce. This diversity presents new challenges for the workplace and for leadership because what motivates employee engagement, their workforce behaviors, and the tools and practices they use to interact and collaborate with, varies with each demographic.download

Those of us who have been around longer have seen this significant shift take place. People are living longer and they are working longer. Where once organizations had three – at the most four – generations in the workplace, our future workplace may encompass as many as five generations at the same time.

In the same workplace, we now often have people who don’t understand how to use the latest social and collaborative tools and technology, working side-by-side with people who don’t understand how it was ever possible to work without such tools and technology.

More significantly, from a leadership perspective, are the differences in work habits and career expectations between the generations. Setting aside the usual topics of HR (talent recruitment, employee development, workplace engagement, etc.), on a more fundamental level the question is, “Do employees understand how to collaborate through different work styles? Do employees understand customer work styles, needs, and interaction across generations?”

Seeking the answers to these questions is no mere academic exercise. One of the major pressures on businesses today is the demand for greater agility in terms of business models, product lines, global connectivity, and partnerships. Increasingly well-connected and technology-savvy customers require a well-connected and technologically-savvy workforce. The ability of employees and teams to connect, collaborate, and communicate across an organization is crucial to that organization’s ability to learn and respond to changing needs.

This is especially evident when companies need to reshape or redefine organizational units, processes, or teams. During a corporate relocation, we see how the expectations and experiences of different generations can fundamentally change how an employee relocation unfolds. Having, and applying the correct tools to a corporate relocation is just a small part of helping employees onboard smoothly; you also need to understand how to apply relocation program elements correctly to match the expectations and behaviors of the employees involved. When you need to do this repeatedly, or in scale, you need a well-designed employee relocation program to do so.

Workplace relocation projects are not simply about mentoring younger people and providing more options for older people. The experiences, knowledge, and cultural familiarity of each generation affect the perceptions they will bring into – and carry from – the relocation experience. The relocation process is also the perfect opportunity for a company to introduce new employees to how things work in their new environments.

What we’re talking about here is being prepared, both on an individual employee level as well as an organizational process level, to be able to smoothly integrate a future workforce – as opposed to just transporting employees. To do so, means organizations must transition employees on the same plane of communication and collaboration, right from the first institutional interaction.

Guiding a multi-generational workforce goes beyond HR departments and expands to leadership. Forward-thinking leaders will ensure that the basic elements of a productive cross-generational workforce are built into every aspect of the fabric of the workplace, including the relocation program, to allow the organization to be the agile, connected, competitive business of the future.