Surface Ripples

Experience Counts!

I recently read an article on LinkedIn written by a young owner of a company, describing how he had hired an “older person” and they had been a success.

Two things struck me here:

• His delight that things had worked out so well.  Why should they not have?  Older people generally have more maturity, experience and have seen more problems and their solutions.
• The fact that there may be a perception that only “young” workers can be successful. 

Let’s go back to that word “maturity”. This consists of “experience” and having “seen it all before” (or a lot of it).  Young people these days, however well-educated, often lack the “streets” to handle many problems.  They’ve been indoctrinated with political correctness, virtue signalling and other concepts considered by left-leaning teachers as “important” in today’s society.  What they haven’t been taught are skills such as how to deal with an angry customer, how to solve a problem with their colleagues, how to analyse a situation and find what caused it, how to have a “difficult conversation”. 

Many of these skills require a certain mindset.  When confronted by an angry customer, stating “I’m offended” may stop them in their tracks but it won’t solve the problem.  Why do we need customer service training these days?  Because too many new young recruits lack these skills and the emotional intelligence to handle angry people.  They’re too used to walking away.

One of the key skills we should ask new recruits to demonstrate is that of critical thinking – the ability to look at things from different angles and not to just accept them if they conform with the echo chamber of their minds. 

Older people will have developed these skills over time. They can be a calming and guiding influence on younger, less experienced workers. 

They don’t always expect higher salaries because of their age. 

They won’t always require more “sick leave”. 

They’re not after the boss’ job. 

They’re likely to learn faster and be productive in a shorter time. 

With all the humour surrounding the “Boomer”, “Generation X”, “Millennial”, “Zoomer” and now “Alpha” generations, there’s clearly some understanding of how older workers differ. Why not use that to our advantage?

Being surprised that an “older worker” may actually do well is like being surprised that a driver with 10 years’ experience can drive better than one who passed their test the day before. 

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Career, Leadership, Productivity, Social, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 09:42