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basictraining
bring into the workplace with them.
Answers?
So, where do we go from here? Should all
the old codgers get up to date with the latest tools? Probably, at least to some degree.
Should management learn how to team the
generations so it can apply both kinds of
skills to solving operating problems?
Certainly. Should all generations get sensitized to the potential value—and peculiari-ties—of each? You bet!
We confess. There’s too much new to
totally keep up with; we need to learn to
accept input from the newer knowledge
base. We’ll never match the facility with
technology that the kids who’ve grown up
with it display.
Know what? It’s invigorating to be
around the kids, to watch what they can do,
and to mentor those who are open to input
from the walking archives of the profession.
And there’s much they can teach us in addition to how to leverage tools and analytics—like why the old serial processing
approach to systems and program development just doesn’t cut it in an era when we
no longer have the luxury of unlimited
time to implement change.
On the flip side, we know stuff—tricks,
techniques, history, relationships—that
they’ll never figure out on their own, at
least not quickly. We can teach them, as well
as learn from them. One of the greatest
things we can teach them is that not everything being promoted and written about is
for real or is likely to become a reality anytime soon. Another is that two years is not
a lifetime. Not to mention that Wikipedia is
the knowledge-base equivalent of the
National Enquirer. We can make a powerful
team, these several generations. For our
companies, for our customers, for our suppliers, and for our colleagues.
The critical success factors? Openness to
the idea, commitment to the possibilities,
and the patience to stumble occasionally on
the journey—on all sides. ;
Art van Bodegraven, practice leader at S4 Consulting, may be
reached at (614) 336-0346 or avan@columbus.rr.com. You
can read his blog at http://blogs.dcvelocity.com/
the_art_of_art/. Kenneth B. Ackerman, president of The
Ackerman Company, can be reached at (614) 488-3165 or
ken@warehousing-forum.com.
