Management Techniques for Overcoming the Technological Gaps on Your Team
May 14th, 2012
With the rapid rise of technology in most industries occurring at light speed, there is often an inter-generational skills gap found between seasoned workers and new college grads. The ways in which people work have also changed, leaving some older workers scratching their heads in wonderment as a new breed of employee boldly comes in with new ideas and knowledge. The good news is that there are ways to manage teams so that these gaps do not become problematic, but rather complimentary to work productivity.
Bridging the Technology Gap in Teams
A good team will be able to take into consideration all the skills and knowledge of every employee. From old-school approaches to project management, to fresh problem-solving abilities of new team members, the best approach is to encourage information transfers. Giving team members opportunities to brainstorm and work together in team sessions on equal ground can produce above average results.
Oftentimes, a good management technique is to lean on a standard of team building – mentoring. By pairing multi-generational workers to work on complex projects, one can facilitate the sharing of information in a respectful environment. All generations have valuable information and skills to share with one another, therefore a corporate culture that promotes respect and learning should be embraced at all times.
On the job learning can also provide opportunities for team members to give an in-service on a specific type of technology, whether an existing way of handling tasks or a new advancement. All team members learn the same information at once, making it easy to work together on upcoming projects using a company approved set of tasks or procedures. It’s management’s job to make sure this happens on a frequent basis so that all benefit from this collaborate learning.
Introducing New Team Technology
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that any manager will face is when a completely new technology is introduced to the entire team. Many times, specific generations of employees will react in very different ways. While some may become threatened by new technology, others embrace it and start utilizing it right away.
A good course of action is to identify team members who are able to teach others how to use new products and devices. Introduce new technology to these folks first, then ask them to work with a few select team members on an individual basis to teach them as well.
By honoring the unique nature of the multi-generational teams your organization has, you will be better able to manage the process of adding new and improved technology to the workplace.
For more tips on how to harness the power of technology at your company, and to hire people capable of learning technology quickly, be sure to review some of our relevant posts here:
How to Attract and Retain Generation Y’ers
Reasons New Employees Don’t Survive – How You Can Set Them Up for Success









