Last updated July 23, 2024
Here are 7 multi-generational training activities that can be used when teaching adults (such as employees) how to work alongside colleagues of different age ranges. Creating better understanding between all colleagues can make a more inclusive workplace.
Multi-Generational Training Activities
If you want to know more about what generational diversity is, make sure to read our previous post about how to manage generational diversity. In the meantime, here are the multigenerational training activities I promised you.
1. Generational Coffee Chats
Number of Participants: 4 or more people.
Time Needed: 15 minutes to 1 hour.
Items Needed: Nothing special is needed to run this activity.
How to Run the Activity: Put employees together into pairs, pairing people from different generations. To avoid directly asking anyone their age you can ask people which of the generations they are in (see the diagram below), i.e. Generation X, Y, Z, Baby Boomer, or the Silent Generation.
Using this information, you can then ensure that the pairs are comprised of people from two different generations or more.
I suggest providing tea and coffee for everyone (if practical) to make this a relaxing activity so that colleagues talk more naturally, i.e. in a more relaxed manner.
The pairs will spend 10 minutes talking with each other and they can discuss their work, hobbies or life experience. Anything they wish really although you might, as the training facilitator, wish to provide some cards with topics listed on them to guide them as needed.
You might want to also explain that whatever topic they do discuss, they should try and include focus on something they learned, i.e. if talking about travel, something they learned about themselves, for example.
After 10 minutes, change the pairings and run this 3 times.
2. Reverse Mentoring
Number of Participants: 2 or more.
Time Needed: Time depends on the mentoring that is taking place so can vary greatly.
Purpose: This is a wonderful way to create trust and respect between colleagues from different generations and age groups.
How to Run the Activity: You might first want to read our post about reverse mentoring here which explains in full what reverse mentoring is.
Just to explain quickly what reverse mentoring is – it is where much younger employees who would normally be considered much less experienced (at least in terms of the number of years worth of experience) mentor and train a much older colleague in something (as opposed to traditional mentoring where older colleagues more often do the mentoring).
Now place people into pairs but make sure that each pair includes people from two different generations (this activity though is most effective when you have a wide age gap, i.e. a Generation Z employee matched with a Baby Boomer or Generation X employee).
A new hire just out of university might, for example, have excellent computing skills and can teach social media planning and management to an older colleague. The older colleague might have 30 years of experience but might lack the modern IT skills that many younger employees have begun to grow up with.
A classic example is a senior programming manager who has 25 years of experience yet she doesn’t really understand much about Instagram and Pinterest marketing. Whereas a new hire who’d been at the company for one year is already highly experienced and skilled at using these two social media platforms for marketing.
As the training facilitator (or manager) map out what skills your younger employees have and plan to whom they can teach these skills.
The mentoring can take place as often as needed, be it once a week or as a monthly session. Do whatever is suitable.
In team meetings, you might also want the pairs to share their thoughts on the experience with the rest of the team to further promote team appreciation.
For the most part, reverse mentoring can work very well and build much greater respect cross-generationally at work.
3. Generational Storytelling
Number of Participants: 6 or more people.
Time Needed: 30 to 60 minutes.
Purpose: This is one of the simplest cross-generational training activities you can run and participants often find it quite interesting, thought-provoking, and enjoyable.
How to Run the Activity: For this activity bring together employees from various generations and age groups into a one-hour storytelling session.
If you are a large group you might want to split participants into 2 or 3 small groups, but do ensure that you equally divide up participants so that you spread out people from different generations into each team.
Now allocate 5 minutes for each person in the group to tell what they consider an interesting story about themself, be it connected to work or something they have achieved or love doing outside of work.
Ask the participants to try and tell a story that will provide the others listening with an insight into who they are and what shaped their way of thinking, i.e., shapes their perspective and character.
4. Generational Panel Discussions
Number of Participants: 10 or more.
Time Needed: 1 hour.
Purpose: Cross-generational panel discussions are great for facilitating the sharing of different perspectives from employees from different generations in the workplace.
How to Run the Activity: Organise a panel discussion for one hour, where employees from different age groups discuss things as a group. You can, for example, have 6 people on the panel and 14 audience members, if you were a team of twenty employees.
The audience should feel free to ask questions and add to the dialogue.
It is up to you what the panel will discuss but you could make it topical such as future trends in your industry or something that matters to the future of your business.
>> Cross-Generational Training Materials
5. Intergenerational Travel Stories
Number of Participants: Ideally 5 or more participants.
Time Needed: 1 hour (but 2 hours if needed).
Purpose: Whilst this might seem like a very basic concept for a multi-generations training activity for employees, it does actually work very well because so many of us love travel (be it domestically or abroad).
For this reason, sharing our travel experiences can be fun and enjoyable and in terms of different age groups and generations, some fascinating travel experiences can evolve and oftentimes from the older employees (and that are appreciated by younger employees).
Items Needed: Nothing special is needed.
How to Run the Activity: It can be worth letting the participants know in advance that they will be telling a story about a travel experience so that they have the chance to bring in photos (printed or digitally) and souvenirs or mementoes as needed.
You might also want to explain in advance that the story they choose should ideally include some cultural influence, i.e. something they learned that made the experience memorable and especially interesting.
For the activity itself, each participant will spend 5 minutes talking about their memorable trip.
Whilst this activity can also be great practice in terms of presentation skills, the talks can be quite casual, i.e. the talker can sit in the group rather than have to stand at the front of the classroom (unless they wish to present on a projector, etc).
The focus is on the content rather than presentation skills for this activity.
After each 5 minute talk, the other participants can ask questions about the trip and an open discussion can take place for 5 minutes more.
If you have a lot of participants, you can divide the class into two or more groups, but if doing so, make sure to divide people such that different generations are represented in each group.
To end the activity, you as the training facilitator might want to just highlight some of the main takeaways from the stories, i.e. the common themes that emerged.
Encourage participants to continue exploring and chatting about these travel experiences in the future.
6. Generational Appreciation Wall
Number of Participants: Unlimited.
Time Needed: Ongoing.
Purpose: This exercise helps to promote mutual appreciation and recognition.
How to Run the Activity: This is a cross-generational variation of the ‘Appreciation Wall’ concept and rather than a classroom activity, this is more of an ongoing exercise.
For the Generational Appreciation wall, you set up a wall (i.e., a large board on a wall where colleagues can post photos, pictures, text, and cut-outs such as newspaper clippings).
The board can be used to post things about yourself, i.e. something interesting you have been involved with/or achieved in the past, or something positive that you want to say about a colleague.
As a manager though you would ask everyone to contribute to the board and to do so in a way that whatever they add to the board, adds something positive in nature and has some generational context.
Some examples:
- You are now in your seventies and still working in the office but as a youngster in your twenties, you sailed across the Atlantic as part of a sailing race (so you put a new clipping on the board about it).
- You are just out of college as an 18-year-old and recently joined the company but in college, you were involved with arts and are quite talented in painting (even though your job is in marketing) so you post a couple of photos of your art with a description about the art underneath them.
- It might be that you are an employee who in your spare time works for a local cats and dogs homeless shelter and so you post photos of you at the shelter, highlighting the work you do there, in addition to working in your daytime job.
The generational wall is designed to give colleagues a chance to appreciate each other more and to showcase their skills, hobbies and interests.
Try to position the board in a high-traffic area so that colleagues use the board as an ongoing exercise.
7. Company History Session
Number of Participants: No minimum.
Time Needed: 1 hour
Purpose: This is a great multi-generational activity for sharing a little more information about the company’s culture and history and, in particular, more about those people still in the company who play a part in this history.
How to Run the Activity: Organise either a talk about the company or a tour of the office with long-term employees sharing the history and significant milestones and changes that the company has experienced.
What role did these long-term employees play and how, for example, has technology changed in that time?
End the guided tour with a questions and answer session so that participants can dig deeper into the company’s history. Consider creating a timeline display in a common area that visually represents the company’s evolution.
Cross-Generational Teaching Materials
The benefit of teaching employees about cross-generational and multi-generational solutions, issues and factors in the workplace, is that you help employees see the benefits that different generations can provide them.
For younger employees, the many years of experience and subject matter expertise of much older employees is something worth learning from.
Many school, college, and university leavers who get their first job in the workplace on the other hand, very often have great social media and technological understanding – simply because they have grown up with these technologies.
Owner at Symonds Research Training Materials
Valeria has a PhD in Sociology, has 25 years+ working in education, has taught at the University of Bath &Cardiff Metropolitan University, & Hankuk University (Korea) & worked as a researcher for Exeter University, & has many years of industry experience including with Cardiff University in management roles. She now creates training course materials courseware.