When building a team one must remember that there are different ways to lead and there are different individuals that respond differently to those leadership techniques. Now then, what do you do when you are the team leader or you are mentoring a team that is trying to build itself up, and then you realize that there are generational gaps amongst the team members? In other words you have X'ers and Baby Boomers, all mixed together with different skill levels, different attitudes, and definitely a different way of doing things?
It is widely known that the X'ers like to get compliments all the time, and that you can pepper their self-esteem by making them feel good this way. If you over complement a baby boomer, you look fake, and your praise looks false, there can be nothing worse than patronizing a baby boomer in this way. Perhaps, you can begin to see the problems.
So whereas, the X'ers like to get certificates of participation, and be constantly told they are doing a great job, this will upset the baby boomers on the team because they know the reality.
And they don't understand why you are telling someone they are doing a good job, when they really aren't doing anything more than the minimum expected.If you tell the baby boomers that you're just trying to get the X'ers into the proper mental attitude so they continue to perform, that only makes the baby boomers angrier. To them there is a difference between the appearance of being sincere and actually being sincere. Giving false praise to anyone including themselves does not sit well, so you're going to have to be careful how you proceed. Please consider all this.
Mentoring and Team Building Through Generational Gaps