How do you plan corporate team building events with 4 different generations who have such diverse workstyles, lifestyles, and core values? More importantly, how do you end up with an actual team at the end of the event?

Generationally speaking…

…The first challenge is learning who you’re working with, why they think the way they do, and how they work. And among members of different generations their personalities and workstyles will be as unique as snowflakes.

Baby Boomers, GenXers, Millennials, and GenZs. Of the 4 generations currently working in corporate America, GenXers and Millennials dominate numerically and technologically.

GenXers are sandwiched between Millennials and Baby Boomers and sometimes that can be an uncomfortable place to be.  They’re one up on Baby Boomers in that they were the first generation to use personal computers. But they’re not the technological whizkids that Millennials have proven to be.

Millennials are often branded as disloyal job-hopping gold diggers. But since both their  school debts and cost of living are higher than their parents endured, this perception may be unfair. Besides, money is rarely their only motive for moving on.

Ironically, despite their bickering and feuding on social media, GenZ workers and Millennials have one thing in common—and to these guys it’s huge! Both groups long for work they deem worthy of their time and their passions. That is to say, they want their 40+ hours each week to mean something far  beyond the boardroom.

They yearn for their lives and their life’s work to have a lasting impact on the world. So their seemingly ravenous and even frantic job hunting may really be a desperate search for personal fulfillment. This is the kind of zeal upon which a dynamic team can be built

Equally ironic is the fact that Baby Boomers are the parents and grandparents of the other 3 groups. And throughout these child rearing years, Baby Boomers amassed a wealth of professional experience from which their companies continue to benefit today. This, too, can lay the foundation for building a strong team.

Old-school they may be, and yes, the way they gained these experiences may have been analog-based. But the truth is that the wisdom, knowledge, and maturity they procured are priceless! And this is why their digitally-inclined children-cum-colleagues should open their minds and learn all they can while they can.

Corporate team building events that work

Need a mind-opening opportunity to bring your team members together?

Nothing unites different people and diminishes those differences like well planned corporate team building events.

These activities can help break the ice between workers on various rungs of the corporate ladder. And once the ice is broken, it’s usually easier for people to recognize and accept the things they have in common instead of focusing on their disparities.

Commonality builds trust

Apart from working for the same company, staff members may discover that they have similar skill sets, educational backgrounds, hobbies, and passions. Those are the elements that build trust, and trust is the cornerstone of team building.

Corporate team building events that make room for colleagues to just be ordinary people for a few hours, are the sparks that kindle friendship, collaboration, creativity and innovation. And if that old competitive bug bites, it usually inspires a fresh new team bonding fervor instead of the old dog-eat-dog fever to win.

The pandemic threatened to rip a lot of businesses apart, but Baby Boomers,

GenXers, Millennials, and GenZs are finding their way back to the office. So this is a golden opportunity to conduct a series of corporate team building events that will reboot the corporate culture and restore the spirit of unity and productivity.