In today’s world of company staffing, a sizable cultural gap exists between the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who dominate management, and the up-and-coming Gen Yers and Millenials who dominate the way things are done. While Boomers have been able to adapt to the many game-changing technologies over the course of their careers, social media’s impact on the way we do business has left much of the graying workforce scratching their heads.

Nowhere is this generational gap more pronounced than in IT where new flexible technologies are challenging traditional ways. While the older generation tends to be suspicious of the cloud, the younger generation views client server, massive implementation and on-premise to be as antiquated as catalytic converters.

There’s no doubt who’ll win the argument – those with time on their side. But, in the meantime, CIOs have to deal with a very real ideological struggle between the pre- and post-cloud computing generations. The question is: how to compete with younger companies, attract younger customers, and benefit from flexible technologies while retaining the expertise of more experienced workforce? How can Boomers, Xers, Yers and Millenials work side by side?

While there may be no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, we have found that success in bridging this generational gap largely hinges on three things. First, in implementing change, it is important to sell all parties involved on the benefits of adopting the new technologies. Make sure that they understand how it will not only serve the organization, but make their individual jobs easier as well.

Second, try not to pit one group against another. Don’t tell them that what they’re doing currently is wrong. Rather, get both sides to rally around the win-win aspects of the proposal. Third, take things one step at a time. You don’t need to remake the entire organization at
once – in fact, we recommend that you don’t. Rather, focus on those pain points are affecting all parties, and incrementally embrace new technologiesto address them in ways that yield tangible, measurable results that will please everyone involved.