What has been the best team you have worked for? Read 4 benefits on working with a diverse age group.
Want to embrace age diversity in teams?
A previous role of mine was a founding team member of a brand new events, performing arts and restaurant facility. Wow! did I have a ball and wow! was I part of a great team.
I understand that my role as Marketing Manager was based on my many networks and the way that I walked in and out of the interview room (but that’s another story). Initially the core team was all females of the following ages; 50, 40, 30 and 25. Outside of our core team, we had our director who was 60 plus and an incredibly kind and generous couple who were volunteer advocates and advisors, closer to 70 years.
Perspectives, skills and experience.
When we hit the ground running with this team, it was evident that our varying age groups brought the strength of perspectives and skills. There was only one team member who had previous theatre experience so naturally she became our technical mentor. My role as mentor was how to connect with our community. The remainder of our team member’s skills were in events, marketing, hospitality and customer service.
Experiences for context and market research
Our manager would often ask in a loud office from her room, “Who has heard of this 70’s band”?. I being the 25 year old would reply “never heard of them”. The 50 year old would break into some song lyrics of that band and the 40 year old would chime in too. Our manager would get on the phone to our 70 year old advocates and ask “Do you think this band would be supported by our community”, “Should we take a risk and bring them here”?
Accessibility to Technology
The next week I would yell out of my office, girls, “Who has heard of this up and coming band”? The 50 year old would think quietly, whereas the 30 year old would say “I did hear their new release the other and I was hooked”, “I will bring up a youtube clip now but I say, lock them in”.
Life long friendships
I still love staying in contact with this team to reflect on our productivity as well as keeping in the know of their continued business success. So next time you are recruiting a team, could a diversity in age work for you too?
Was recruiting the age diversity in this team deliberate? Well no, but it certainly provided a great example about how working with multiple generations can be beneficial to business. We each brought a different view, experience and attribute to the team. The dynamics of this team worked.
4 benefits of working with diverse age groups.
- The strength of perspectives, skills and experience.
- Utilising the diverse experiences for context and market research
- Accessibility to technology
- Life long friendships