Different Generation, different Communication
Different Generation, different Communication
Every era has its own way of communicating - whether it is smoke signals, postal pigeons, letters or email. As the communication evolves, so does the way people interact in terms of their writing style, word choices and addressing one another. Culture and heritage of course also play a role in this evolution.
With the rise of social networks, youtube, chat, text messaging etc - we see a new trend and thus a new "language" appear which raises the question - "how should you communicate?" I have noticed recently that there is a decided generation conflict as the users that are active on computers and the above types of media are those up to about 40 years of age versus the 50 year and above. Two different groups with totally different ways of interacting and different values they have been brought up with.
Younger people are used to send each other brief, curt messages, often with their own terms and jargon based around what is used on text messaging or chat. The older generations on the other hand, adhere to a much lengthier form of communication and address - using titles, deciding on first name or last name basis (which is also dependent on culture/country). Do you say "Hi" for instance or should you say "Dear so-and-so" or do you use just the name, do you address someone as an equal even if there is a distinct discrepancy in hierarchy or seniority.
Whilst I have noticed this discrepancy in styles and form for some time - it was brought to my attention again this week when I introduced a twenty-something at the start of his career to a high-ranking executive in a Fortune 100 company. The young man, enthusiastically following up on my introduction, sent the executive an email that made me cringe. He clearly chose the wrong form of communication but probably didn't even think twice about it.
The interesting aspect of this phenomenon is that the elder generation can continue with its ways of interaction, which does not cause a problem with the younger generation. The other way round, however, often is a major issue - which only emphasizes to me that the better option is to initially stick to the more polite (old-fashioned) forms of communication. Or do you think that if you choose to participate in this new world - and take part in email traffic, chat and text messages - you should be capable of dealing with these new forms of communicating as well? That it creates a level playing field?
One thing is for sure, and you should bear this in mind, for now and for some time to come, it is in the majority of cases the older generation that will be granting the major business contracts to the younger. So you may want to rethink the way you communicate...
