Reconciling Generations in the Construction Industry
- Monday, 22 August 2016
Baby Boomers are known to be a hard working generation, the majority of which is now in retirement or in the process of retiring. And, although Generation X is filling in the gaps, there are still working culture behaviors that have yet to reconcile with Millennials' desire to solve problems with technology. Yet Millennials are still too young to have the experience their predecessors have. Which begs the question on how to reconcile generation gaps involving technology and experience? Here are a few tips to point you in the right direction.
Tradition and experience
There are mainly two groups of people: Baby Boomers with a remarkable amount of experience and wisdom, and newer generations (young Generation Xers and Millennials) who are tech savvy and can save great costs with newly minted digital tools. As Baby Boomers retire, the construction industry is facing a shift. Although considered an industry for older people, younger generations have accelerated the industry's growth thanks to the implementation of digital tools. Merrill Stewart, founder of Stewart Perry Company, writes in a blog post how Millennials and Baby Boomers can combine their areas of expertise to transform the construction industry, as he has seen for himself in the past couple of years.
Technology
As previously mentioned, many regard the Construction Industry as a traditional more conservative world. However, technology has come to revolutionize this industry with the use of technology. We are not only talking about technological improvements to solid construction tools, or innovative materials that can cut costs and time to build a property, but we are of course also talking about digital collaboration tools. BuildBinder is a construction information management system that leverages cloud based technology to enable and improve upon corporate and collaborative communications. Now, construction project managers can add slack to their project in lieu of time consuming meetings or decision making processes; investors can have a greater return on their money, and team members feel more empowered.
Build a working culture that can take the best of both worlds
Technology and experience are not contradictory, in fact, they compliment each other. Take the best of both worlds, create a diverse team of young and older generations, and let them teach each other what they know best. Encourage team members to keep an open mind, and reward outcomes from this type of collaboration.