What do you think about working under the direction of someone younger than you? Will you find it awkward when you have to work for someone who actually sees you as a senior?

At some cases, there is a condition where a younger employee is more skillful and able to perform better than the older ones. As leadership should rely on actual capabilities instead of mere tenure, younger talents share equal opportunity of being promoted to be the next team leader by the higher-ups. Creative and innovative young leaders are highly sought for, as fiercer business competition requires company to put agile leader on the front line.

If you happen to be an older employee with younger manager on top the leadership ladder, you should adapt yourself to work under someone who is much younger than you. If you need some help to adjust yourself, check out the following tips:

Stay respectful

Being an employee who is considered as senior might not be easy, moreover when even your boss pays too much respect to you. In this case, you should not act superior and underestimate their leadership. It is important to let him know that you respect him and you want to be treated the same as the other employees.

See also: 5 Tips for Managing Employees who are Older than You

Share your knowledge

Being a senior employee means that you have wider experiences than others. Here, you should take the initiative to share your knowledge and experiences to help your young leader improve the teamwork productivity. You should not hesitate to deliver your thoughts and share your ideas in order to bring betterment for the team. However, you should do it the right way as you should not cross the line and impose your ideas on others.

Be flexible

There are some habits of nowadays generation that are totally different from the older ones. Among the differences is how they value communication. The older generation believes that communication through media is not effective, informal and impolite. They believe that the best way to communicate should be face to face, as both parties can read both spoken and unspoken message through the tone and body language. On the other hand, Millennials believe that communication through electronic media such as chatting and making phone call is cheaper and faster. As younger leader tends to adopt the modern way of communication than the old one, you need to be flexible and open minded to accept it.

Act young

There are various benefits you can gain when you can make friend with younger people. Being the older employee does not mean that you should be old-fashioned people too. To keep up with younger talents in the company, you need to be young at heart. Having light yet meaningful conversation with younger coworkers and boss outside working hours can help you keep updated with the latest information. Additionally, making good friend with the youth who has high creativity and innovation like your boss will make you inspired to keep learning.

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