The Power of 4 Generations Working Together

Like all workplaces, nonprofits are now filled with up to four generations of workers as boomers work along with millennials and people in Generations X and Z.

Each generation approaches work and careers differently, which leads to struggles at some organizations. But at the best-run nonprofits, leaders are ensuring that differences in work styles and life experience enhance an organization’s ability to meet its mission.

In this episode of Nonprofits Now: Leading Today, host Stacy Palmer talks with two leaders who excel in working with people in different life stages.

Alexandra Bernadotte is founder and CEO of Beyond 12, an organization that works to ensure students from marginalized backgrounds graduate from college, and Elsa Morales-Roth, executive director of the Emilio Nares Foundation, which helps the families of children with cancer.

Among the suggestions from Bernadotte, who is a Gen Xer, and Morales-Roth, who is a millennial:

• Embrace what people of every age bring to the organization. Bernadotte makes a point of reminding people that intergenerational teams are “powerful because they’re not homogeneous.” What’s more, she says, intergenerational teams “don’t just get the work done, they build something that lasts.”
• Highlight achievements of staff members from each generation. Morales-Roth starts every team meeting by deliberately making sure that an employee from each generation gets a shout-out for their accomplishments and contributions. 
• Put the mission and values first. One way Bernadotte puts this into action: Each year, Bernadotte creates case studies based on difficult or divisive issues the nonprofit had to confront. Staff members from across the organization form teams to discuss what they would have done with the same set of facts. Doing so helps people of different ages and backgrounds learn how others think — and figure out how to make decisions that best reflect the organization’s values.
• Give fresh thought to performance measures. Morales-Roth is instituting 360-degree reviews.

Connect with Bernadotte and Morales-Roth on LinkedIn.

Watch a video version of this interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSmFf8L5bOc&t=1s

Further resources:

• “Gen Z Is Open to Nonprofit Careers — But on Their Own Terms” by Ben Gose
• “(Opinion) Boomer Leaders Should Learn to Share Their Power — Like I Did” by Raymond A. Jetson
• "What Young Nonprofit Workers Want" by Jim Rendon
• “How Millennials Lead” by Heather Joslyn
• “(Tool Kit) How to Manage Several Generations at a Nonprofit” by Chronicle staff
• “Leadership at the Crossroads” by George Anders

Nonprofits Now: Leading Today is hosted by Stacy Palmer. It’s produced by Emily Haynes at the Chronicle of Philanthropy and from Reasonable Volume, Mary Dooe is the producer, Mark Bush is our engineer, and Rachel Swaby and Elise Hu are executive producers. Additional support comes from Margie Fleming Glennon, Andrew Simon, Nick Adams, Krista Niles, Amaya Beltran, and Kyle Johnson.

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