Exploring New Ways to Address Conflict Between Older and Younger Team Members

BY MARGIE HACKBARTH, EMPOYEE EXPERIENCE ADVISOR, MARSHFIELD CLINIC - SANFORD HEALTH

Conflicts between older and younger team members is an age-old problem that has been addressed in different ways over time, often raising awareness of preferences, tendencies and nuances of team members born in diverse generations like Gen Z, Gen Y (Millennials), Gen X, or Baby Boomers.  This approach may help us better understand, explore, appreciate, and even celebrate our similarities and differences.  

While the intentions are good, more damaging are the unintentional impacts of age-related stereotypes and implied age bias when we label team members by a generation. 

Why address age-related conflicts?

Today, older adult employees are living longer and retiring later than their colleagues before them, and this has led to the potential for more older-younger team conflict. It is important we find new approaches, because when two or a few people on a team are struggling with a conflict it is likely the entire team struggles. When not addressed properly, conflicts can lead to:

• Decreased trust and collaboration
• Communications breakdowns
• Poor morale and low engagement
• Reduced productivity and higher turnover
• Unfavorable impacts on patient experiences and the quality of care. 

What is the age bias connection?

Age bias or ageism is a systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people due to age, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and gender. While often unintentional, age bias can show up on workplace teams in various ways, sometimes in the form of microaggressions, subtle comments, mistaken assumptions or false beliefs. Examples include: 

Capability or competence assumptions:

• “You’re young, so this will be easy for you.”  
• “Let’s have someone older/younger handle this. I think they’ll relate better.”  
• “You’ve been here a long time, and this change might be too much for you.”

Commitment or flexibility assumptions:

• “The young ones don’t stay anywhere very long.” 
• “At your age, you’re probably just coasting into retirement.”
• “This generation expects everything instantly.”
• “I’m old enough to remember when people worked long hours without complaining.” 

Technology-related microaggressions: 

• “Since you’re older and don’t like technology, let’s bring someone else in for this project.” 
• “It’s pretty basic. Gen Z probably grew up with it. 

Sarcasm: 

• “Well, that’s very Gen Z of you.” 
• “Classic Boomer” or “Okay Boomer.” 
• Laughing off a concern as a generational issue. 

Without intending to, the above examples can marginalize employees by age or generation, impacting a sense of belonging on a team, perceived credibility, or opportunities for development. They may escalate to misunderstandings, positioning (digging in), personalization (making the disagreement personal), to a full conflict that leads to grievances, investigations, disengagement, retaliation, termination or another unfavorable impact. 

Can we shift from generational descriptions and identify our team members in other ways? 

As we consider ways to address conflict between older and younger team members, can we ask important questions to help reframe how we identify team members by generation or their birth year, and instead focus on skills and competencies? Or character strengths? Or shared experiences? 

These questions, reframing strategies, and conflict resolution tactics will be explored in an ASHHRA26 session workshop on Monday, May 18, at 1:50 p.m., Reframing and Addressing Conflicts Between Older and Younger Team Members, presented by Margie Hackbarth, Employee Experience Advisor with Marshfield Clinic – Sanford Health. Hackbarth will share some background on generational theory, offer reframing strategies, and suggest how to address active conflicts between older and younger employees. ♦

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Author bios:

Margie Hackbarth, MBA, CCM is an Employee Experience Advisor with Marshfield Clinic - Sanford Health. With nearly 40 years' experience in healthcare, she is a certified conflict manager and supports employee experience programs. She researched and developed a leadership development program, "Resolve: Applying Strengths to Manage Conflict" and is the author of "Amaging: Growing Old on Purpose."

Dr. Jean Gordon is an associate professor and online MHA Division director at the Medical University of South Carolina and is a family nurse practitioner and consultant on the business side of healthcare through human resource management for strategic management, leadership development, and training.

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