Generations: Moving Through Time

I can rattle off and identify with the milestones of the baby boomer generation with relative ease. President Kennedy’s assassination? I was a 14-year-old high school freshman. The “Summer of Love” in 1967? I was 18 but, living in Idaho, barely knew it occurred. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy? I was in my first year of college. The Vietnam War, the first “television war,” prompted me to enlist in the military and do my part. Most boomers can relate where they were when these events happened.

The baby boom stretched over 19 years, from 1946 through 1964. My generation came of age with the likes of the Mickey Mouse Club and Leave it to Beaver. We are deeply rooted in the American experience, thanks to TV shows, advertising, politics, and race relations. Seventy-seven million strong, this generation has guided marketing and political decisions for six decades.

It should be noted that the first large cohorts of PAs and NPs—those who trained in the 1970s (you know who you are!)—are those that are about to retire. As the boomers start to hit retirement age, what of the other generations and their importance in understanding the medical workforce?

Generational gaps among colleagues present unique relationship challenges. While professional behaviors such as reliability, respect for others, and adherence to confidentiality are expected across generations, perceptions of issues such as feedback, work ethic, flexibility, and use of technology vary considerably. Although physician/PA/NP teams are bound, to some extent, by a legal collaborative relationship, the style (and details) of the relationship varies greatly, based on the generation of each individual.

Let me share why I think this “generations” idea holds some truth. Years ago, I was teamed with a new graduate of a family medicine residency at a community health center. She was an idealistic, self-sufficient woman in her late 20s, who had always planned to work in rural underserved settings. Once she got there, however, she found that it was a burden on her personal and family life.

While she had been trained in a busy family medicine residency, she had never worked with a PA. As one of her new responsibilities, she was told that she would be supervising a senior PA in his mid-40s who had a strong following of patients. I’ve rarely had issues with my supervising physicians, but this was doomed from the start. This doc seemed to have a real problem with the “teamwork” concept and felt compelled to see every patient before they left and/or review all medical charts for “errors.” When pharmaceutical reps came in, she would allow them to speak only to her. She also answered all the patient phone calls and reviewed all lab work.

Attempts by myself and the office manager to encourage her to allow the rest of us to be part of the team were unsuccessful. As one might imagine, within a few short months, the doc asked to be relieved of her duties as supervising physician and took a job in an urban clinic. As with all professional relationships, I am sure there were issues on both sides. She was replaced by another physician, 10 years my senior, who became one of my favorite supervisers because of her ability to create a team atmosphere in which the patients benefited from the relationship.

Currently, there are four different generations in the workforce: Traditionalists/Veterans (born between 1922 and 1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980), and Millennials/Generation Yers (1981-2000). While there is danger in generalizing, sociologists, such as Zemke, Raines, and Filipczak in Generations at Work,¹ have identified key characteristics associated with each group.

For example, Traditionalists/Veterans were impacted by their childhood experience of the Great Depression and their subsequent roles during World War II. They are thought of as hardworking, cautious, and financially conservative. Baby Boomers typically grew up in nuclear families and were encouraged to be creative and to rewrite the rules. Boomers tend to see work as defining themselves and others.

Generation X is defined by the breakdown of the nuclear family. Many of this generation grew up in divorced families or families in which both parents worked. As a result, they place major importance on spending time with their own families and seek a work/life balance. For Generation Y/Millennial workers, work-life balance is also important, but they have high expectations for themselves, including early achievements, scheduled lives, and rewards and recognition for hard work.

How the generations differ in their perspectives may come to the forefront in the workplace. Veterans like structure, discipline, and consistency; they may feel flexibility is destructive to the work environment. Boomers like structure but also feel it should be possible to negotiate for what they need. Gen Xers want both flexibility and understanding regarding their need to spend time with their families and pursue their own interests. Gen Yers may make assumptions about flexibility that is not really there—and then be unhappy with restrictions.

Technology can still become a flash point in the clinical workplace. Some Veterans would still like it to “go away,” but most see it as a “necessary evil.” Boomers see it as a useful tool—but also sometimes an interruption. Generation X grew up with technology and is adept in its use. Generation Y may quickly become the technology leaders in the clinic—but need to be inclusive and patient with others who are slower to catch on.

Facilitating growth and development in the presence of a generationally diverse workforce is difficult. Sherman makes excellent recommendations for nursing leaders who want to “enable the workforce to thrive and to meet tomorrow’s health care challenges.”² These recommendations should, in my opinion, also be used by NPs, PAs, and physicians:

• Seek to understand each generational cohort and accommodate generational differences in attitudes, values, and behaviors

• Develop generationally sensitive styles to effectively coach and motivate all members of the health care team

• Develop the ability to flex a communication style to accommodate generational differences

• Promote the resolution of generational conflict so as to build effective work teams

• Capitalize on generational differences, using the differences to enhance the work of the entire team.²

I would love to hear your thoughts. Are there differences in generational team members or are we just “stuck in time”? E-mail me at [email protected].

I can rattle off and identify with the milestones of the baby boomer generation with relative ease. President Kennedy’s assassination? I was a 14-year-old high school freshman. The “Summer of Love” in 1967? I was 18 but, living in Idaho, barely knew it occurred. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy? I was in my first year of college. The Vietnam War, the first “television war,” prompted me to enlist in the military and do my part. Most boomers can relate where they were when these events happened.

The baby boom stretched over 19 years, from 1946 through 1964. My generation came of age with the likes of the Mickey Mouse Club and Leave it to Beaver. We are deeply rooted in the American experience, thanks to TV shows, advertising, politics, and race relations. Seventy-seven million strong, this generation has guided marketing and political decisions for six decades.

It should be noted that the first large cohorts of PAs and NPs—those who trained in the 1970s (you know who you are!)—are those that are about to retire. As the boomers start to hit retirement age, what of the other generations and their importance in understanding the medical workforce?

Generational gaps among colleagues present unique relationship challenges. While professional behaviors such as reliability, respect for others, and adherence to confidentiality are expected across generations, perceptions of issues such as feedback, work ethic, flexibility, and use of technology vary considerably. Although physician/PA/NP teams are bound, to some extent, by a legal collaborative relationship, the style (and details) of the relationship varies greatly, based on the generation of each individual.

Let me share why I think this “generations” idea holds some truth. Years ago, I was teamed with a new graduate of a family medicine residency at a community health center. She was an idealistic, self-sufficient woman in her late 20s, who had always planned to work in rural underserved settings. Once she got there, however, she found that it was a burden on her personal and family life.

While she had been trained in a busy family medicine residency, she had never worked with a PA. As one of her new responsibilities, she was told that she would be supervising a senior PA in his mid-40s who had a strong following of patients. I’ve rarely had issues with my supervising physicians, but this was doomed from the start. This doc seemed to have a real problem with the “teamwork” concept and felt compelled to see every patient before they left and/or review all medical charts for “errors.” When pharmaceutical reps came in, she would allow them to speak only to her. She also answered all the patient phone calls and reviewed all lab work.

Attempts by myself and the office manager to encourage her to allow the rest of us to be part of the team were unsuccessful. As one might imagine, within a few short months, the doc asked to be relieved of her duties as supervising physician and took a job in an urban clinic. As with all professional relationships, I am sure there were issues on both sides. She was replaced by another physician, 10 years my senior, who became one of my favorite supervisers because of her ability to create a team atmosphere in which the patients benefited from the relationship.

Currently, there are four different generations in the workforce: Traditionalists/Veterans (born between 1922 and 1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980), and Millennials/Generation Yers (1981-2000). While there is danger in generalizing, sociologists, such as Zemke, Raines, and Filipczak in Generations at Work,¹ have identified key characteristics associated with each group.

For example, Traditionalists/Veterans were impacted by their childhood experience of the Great Depression and their subsequent roles during World War II. They are thought of as hardworking, cautious, and financially conservative. Baby Boomers typically grew up in nuclear families and were encouraged to be creative and to rewrite the rules. Boomers tend to see work as defining themselves and others.

Generation X is defined by the breakdown of the nuclear family. Many of this generation grew up in divorced families or families in which both parents worked. As a result, they place major importance on spending time with their own families and seek a work/life balance. For Generation Y/Millennial workers, work-life balance is also important, but they have high expectations for themselves, including early achievements, scheduled lives, and rewards and recognition for hard work.

How the generations differ in their perspectives may come to the forefront in the workplace. Veterans like structure, discipline, and consistency; they may feel flexibility is destructive to the work environment. Boomers like structure but also feel it should be possible to negotiate for what they need. Gen Xers want both flexibility and understanding regarding their need to spend time with their families and pursue their own interests. Gen Yers may make assumptions about flexibility that is not really there—and then be unhappy with restrictions.

Technology can still become a flash point in the clinical workplace. Some Veterans would still like it to “go away,” but most see it as a “necessary evil.” Boomers see it as a useful tool—but also sometimes an interruption. Generation X grew up with technology and is adept in its use. Generation Y may quickly become the technology leaders in the clinic—but need to be inclusive and patient with others who are slower to catch on.

Facilitating growth and development in the presence of a generationally diverse workforce is difficult. Sherman makes excellent recommendations for nursing leaders who want to “enable the workforce to thrive and to meet tomorrow’s health care challenges.”² These recommendations should, in my opinion, also be used by NPs, PAs, and physicians:

• Seek to understand each generational cohort and accommodate generational differences in attitudes, values, and behaviors

• Develop generationally sensitive styles to effectively coach and motivate all members of the health care team

• Develop the ability to flex a communication style to accommodate generational differences

• Promote the resolution of generational conflict so as to build effective work teams

• Capitalize on generational differences, using the differences to enhance the work of the entire team.²

I would love to hear your thoughts. Are there differences in generational team members or are we just “stuck in time”? E-mail me at [email protected].

I can rattle off and identify with the milestones of the baby boomer generation with relative ease. President Kennedy’s assassination? I was a 14-year-old high school freshman. The “Summer of Love” in 1967? I was 18 but, living in Idaho, barely knew it occurred. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy? I was in my first year of college. The Vietnam War, the first “television war,” prompted me to enlist in the military and do my part. Most boomers can relate where they were when these events happened.

The baby boom stretched over 19 years, from 1946 through 1964. My generation came of age with the likes of the Mickey Mouse Club and Leave it to Beaver. We are deeply rooted in the American experience, thanks to TV shows, advertising, politics, and race relations. Seventy-seven million strong, this generation has guided marketing and political decisions for six decades.

It should be noted that the first large cohorts of PAs and NPs—those who trained in the 1970s (you know who you are!)—are those that are about to retire. As the boomers start to hit retirement age, what of the other generations and their importance in understanding the medical workforce?

Generational gaps among colleagues present unique relationship challenges. While professional behaviors such as reliability, respect for others, and adherence to confidentiality are expected across generations, perceptions of issues such as feedback, work ethic, flexibility, and use of technology vary considerably. Although physician/PA/NP teams are bound, to some extent, by a legal collaborative relationship, the style (and details) of the relationship varies greatly, based on the generation of each individual.

Let me share why I think this “generations” idea holds some truth. Years ago, I was teamed with a new graduate of a family medicine residency at a community health center. She was an idealistic, self-sufficient woman in her late 20s, who had always planned to work in rural underserved settings. Once she got there, however, she found that it was a burden on her personal and family life.

While she had been trained in a busy family medicine residency, she had never worked with a PA. As one of her new responsibilities, she was told that she would be supervising a senior PA in his mid-40s who had a strong following of patients. I’ve rarely had issues with my supervising physicians, but this was doomed from the start. This doc seemed to have a real problem with the “teamwork” concept and felt compelled to see every patient before they left and/or review all medical charts for “errors.” When pharmaceutical reps came in, she would allow them to speak only to her. She also answered all the patient phone calls and reviewed all lab work.

Attempts by myself and the office manager to encourage her to allow the rest of us to be part of the team were unsuccessful. As one might imagine, within a few short months, the doc asked to be relieved of her duties as supervising physician and took a job in an urban clinic. As with all professional relationships, I am sure there were issues on both sides. She was replaced by another physician, 10 years my senior, who became one of my favorite supervisers because of her ability to create a team atmosphere in which the patients benefited from the relationship.

Currently, there are four different generations in the workforce: Traditionalists/Veterans (born between 1922 and 1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980), and Millennials/Generation Yers (1981-2000). While there is danger in generalizing, sociologists, such as Zemke, Raines, and Filipczak in Generations at Work,¹ have identified key characteristics associated with each group.

For example, Traditionalists/Veterans were impacted by their childhood experience of the Great Depression and their subsequent roles during World War II. They are thought of as hardworking, cautious, and financially conservative. Baby Boomers typically grew up in nuclear families and were encouraged to be creative and to rewrite the rules. Boomers tend to see work as defining themselves and others.

Generation X is defined by the breakdown of the nuclear family. Many of this generation grew up in divorced families or families in which both parents worked. As a result, they place major importance on spending time with their own families and seek a work/life balance. For Generation Y/Millennial workers, work-life balance is also important, but they have high expectations for themselves, including early achievements, scheduled lives, and rewards and recognition for hard work.

How the generations differ in their perspectives may come to the forefront in the workplace. Veterans like structure, discipline, and consistency; they may feel flexibility is destructive to the work environment. Boomers like structure but also feel it should be possible to negotiate for what they need. Gen Xers want both flexibility and understanding regarding their need to spend time with their families and pursue their own interests. Gen Yers may make assumptions about flexibility that is not really there—and then be unhappy with restrictions.

Technology can still become a flash point in the clinical workplace. Some Veterans would still like it to “go away,” but most see it as a “necessary evil.” Boomers see it as a useful tool—but also sometimes an interruption. Generation X grew up with technology and is adept in its use. Generation Y may quickly become the technology leaders in the clinic—but need to be inclusive and patient with others who are slower to catch on.

Facilitating growth and development in the presence of a generationally diverse workforce is difficult. Sherman makes excellent recommendations for nursing leaders who want to “enable the workforce to thrive and to meet tomorrow’s health care challenges.”² These recommendations should, in my opinion, also be used by NPs, PAs, and physicians:

• Seek to understand each generational cohort and accommodate generational differences in attitudes, values, and behaviors

• Develop generationally sensitive styles to effectively coach and motivate all members of the health care team

• Develop the ability to flex a communication style to accommodate generational differences

• Promote the resolution of generational conflict so as to build effective work teams

• Capitalize on generational differences, using the differences to enhance the work of the entire team.²

I would love to hear your thoughts. Are there differences in generational team members or are we just “stuck in time”? E-mail me at [email protected].