Transcript: How to navigate an intergenerational workforce?

00:00:34.940
Syd Hair: Greetings. Hi Cortney.

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Cortney Campbell: Good afternoon. How are you today?

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Syd Hair: I am good. It’s good to be here with you. I’m excited for today.

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Cortney Campbell: I am as well.

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Syd Hair: Yeah, this would be great. So I have your introduction. We’ll probably get started a few minutes after one. Lysette. Good to see you thank you for being on here and doing your moderation stuff and for doing the flyers for us. Appreciate that.

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Lysette Villegas: Course.

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Syd Hair: And yeah, I’ll just kind of jump off, and I’ll come back on a little after one, and we’ll introduce you, Cortney, and get started unless you have any questions.

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Cortney Campbell: Thank you, Syd, I guess. May I please practice sharing my screen so that I’m able to show my slides? Okay, great.

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Lysette Villegas: Yes, let me double-check that you have. There we go. You should be good to go.

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Cortney Campbell: Okay. Great

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Lysette Villegas: I can see it on my end. So.

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Cortney Campbell: Oh, good!

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Lysette Villegas: Yeah.

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Cortney Campbell: To be sure, I know how to share a portion of the screen. Lysette, does that look proper? Are you just able to see the slide?

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Lysette Villegas: Yes, I can see this slide. Just the slide.

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Cortney Campbell: Okay, okay, perfect. Thank you.

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Lysette Villegas: Yeah, for sure.

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Syd Hair: Was that when she said that I tried pulling up, and I didn’t see it on my end. Could you try it one more time, Cortney, just make sure that I’m getting it here.

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Cortney Campbell: Absolutely.

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Syd Hair: Alright. There we go! Yep, I just you were too quick, and taking it so I’ve got it.

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Cortney Campbell: Wonderful. Thank you.

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Syd Hair: Good afternoon, Emily!

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Hi! There! Syd! How are you?

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Syd Hair: Doing well today. It’s a beautiful, not too hot day here, so all is well.

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Yes, very good. I’m glad I am, as you can see in a closet. But yeah, I’m in McCall, and it’s been gorgeous up here right now. Good to see you, Cortney and Lysette, too. And have you.

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Syd Hair: Coming to you live from your vacation. It sounds like. Then, if you’re in the closet.

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Yeah, a little bit like that to the the kitten. Might jump up here in a minute and join us, too. But that’s awesome.

00:08:51.230
Syd Hair: So I told Cortney that we’ll get started, maybe just a couple of minutes after one. Give everyone a chance to get their notice that it’s time, and then I’ll do the introduction and go from there.

00:09:02.180
Emily Wakild (she/her): That sounds good. And did you want to? Or maybe listen, or I’m happy to do it. Say a little bit about the Tribal Advisory Board in the in the series, and that we’ll record it.

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Syd Hair: Yeah, I would love you to Emily. If you’ll do that, then I’ll introduce her.

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Okay, I’ll go ahead and start it off here in a minute or two with that, and then I’ll turn it over to you.

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Lysette Villegas: And we’re already recording. So we’re all set.

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Okay, great. Thank you so much. So do you know, if Jessica’s going to be joining us too?

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Syd Hair: She is not. She is in training or something somewhere. She told me where she was, but I forgot, so she will not be here today because she has a sketchy connection.

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Emily Wakild (she/her): Okay, that sounds good. Thanks. Great! Well, welcome, everybody. Thank you.

00:09:57.030
Emily Wakild (she/her): Those of you who are joining us. This is our 4th Lunch and Learn between the Fort Hall, Shoshone, Bannock Tribes, and Boise State University, and this Lunch and Learn series is being put together by the Tribal Advisory Board, which I’m so honored to be able to serve on with Syd Hair and six other members of both Boise State and the Fort Hall communities. We’re really grateful for the support of Lysette Villegas from the School of the Environment at Boise State, who has put the flyers together and the Zoom links, and is in charge of recording these talks so that people who aren’t able to join us in person can listen to them in the future, and those will be available on the school of the Environment, website at a future time, or by request to either sit or I if you would like to see them.

But as many of you may already know, Boise, State and Fort Hall entered into a memorandum of understanding in November of 2019. Is that right? No. 2021 Sorry all the years blend together. And through this memorandum of understanding we are working to find ways of making Boise State’s programs more available to the Fort Hall communities and also provide opportunities for Boise State students, faculty staff and and researchers to engage with the tribes in meaningful and reciprocal ways. I’m a professor at Boise, State and Associate director of the School of the Environment and work closely with the Andrus Center. And so I’ve worked closely with Syd Hair and other members on the Shoshone Bannock side to put together this series to inform people about the exciting programs that are happening at Boise State and share our knowledge in this way.

So I’ll go ahead and introduce Syd. The idea is these Lunch and Learns will be sort of 40, 45 min of information, and then a question and answer session at the end. And again they’ll be recorded so you can share them with people who weren’t able to join us. But I’ll go ahead and turn it over to Syd. Thanks so much again for being here.

00:12:18.480
Syd Hair: Thanks, Emily, appreciate that. So I work under the executive office for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. I’ve been here for about six years and I administer the grant for the administration for Native Americans, and so and then I also serve on the Tribal Advisory Board, and this will be our third year serving on this board. And it’s been exciting to see these things kind of come together. I’m really excited about today’s topic because I didn’t even consider this any type of issue in the workforce. Until two years ago I was sitting in a John Maxwell live to lead conference, and the guy did a whole presentation on multi-generational workforce, and during that time I realized that here at the tribes we have five generations of workers in our workforce. We have our youth program that’s kicking off right now and then. We have elders that are working for us. And then everything in between. So this impacts every aspect of what we do here. So I’m excited about that.

So I’m gonna go ahead and introduce Cortney. I will read her bio because I’m not good at memorizing these things. So Cortney Campbell is a lecturer in the department of management at Boise State. Prior to her career in academia, she was an entrepreneur who employed a large and incredibly diverse workforce nationwide in peak years she employed as many as 500 independent contractors for shorter work, periods faced with incredibly short training windows. She soon realized that navigating the energy intergenerational workforce was a top priority for building high performance teams. She is currently a PhD student in educational leadership. In addition to her experience navigating generational differences in the field, she has the pleasure of teaching a wide variety of demographics, groups, and skill sets. In addition to Boise State students, she works with students from the College of Southern Idaho and Idaho’s Workforce Development program. She has worked with companies, large and small, including Cliff Bar, Chobani, commercial tire plant therapy and government agencies, such as Headgate, Idaho’s Water Leadership Academy. So thank you so much. Cortney for joining us for a lunch and learn like, I said, we’re really excited about this topic, and for our tribal employees we will have this available probably within a week on the internal website. So if you want to share it with your coworkers, that will be available. So, Cortney, it’s all yours. Thank you.

00:14:39.830
Cortney Campbell: Syd. Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here today, and I hope that I don’t sound too stuffy. I came down with my 1st round of Covid ever a couple of days ago. So I’m really enjoying that. But I’m so thrilled and honored to be here. Can everybody see my screen? It should just be the slides. Fabulous. Okay. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the roadmap of what I had prepared for today. I wanted to just touch on this. Why is this topic so important to me? Tell you a little bit and give you a little plug for the program that I work in.

Now we’ll talk about understanding the generations, and we’ll go through generations. And what’s important to them. We’ll touch on some of the challenges in the intergenerational workforce and then we’ll look at some strategies for navigating the intergenerational workforce. And then at the end, I’m hoping we can have an open discussion and share with one another things that we are doing in our organizations that are working.

So, as Syd mentioned, previous to academia, I spent 25 years in product marketing and traveling sales. So I go to events like the Philadelphia Flower Show, and set up 12 or 14 booths and work for a couple of weeks, and I would literally hire people off of Craigslist, train them up in 2 days and force them into teams. So there wasn’t a lot of time for them to get to know one another, and I found that I was employing multiple generations who all had different ways of learning and processing. I tried for a while to separate them, so I would put different generations together in forming those teams that were very similar. I noticed that I wasn’t getting as much customer interaction. So I really strive for putting teams together who had a wide variety of experiences who came from different generations. And so I did that in the nation’s major cities, with very narrow training windows. I’d employ high school students who are off for the summer and people over the age of 76 years of age, senior citizens who were just wanting to pick up some extra work, and again, all types of backgrounds and experiences.

When I went back to school and decided that I wanted to teach, my 1st teaching experience was in Community college, and for anybody who’s taught in community, college, or taken community college classes, the best thing and the worst thing about community college, the community. You have everybody from different age groups, different experiences. And while it brings incredible diversity to the class navigating that can really be a challenge.

So different worldviews, different cultural lenses, different life and work experiences. So I thought I really would like to make my focus in education, trying to figure out how we can bring people who have a different set of experiences, different ways that they view the world together as well.

So then, I was blessed and honored a couple of years ago to join the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University. And the program that I specifically teach in is the resort and hospitality management program. So this is a new program to Boise State. It just started in the last couple of years.

Because the third largest industry in Idaho is hospitality and management, and there’s huge growth over the last years, and it’s only projected to continue. So. Our work is to develop professional and a career-driven workforce, not just people who are coming to hospitality who do it as a summer job. It. We’re hoping to have a direct impact. And I’m starting to see that already on Idaho’s resort and tourism industry and strengthening industry partnerships with the university.

00:18:23.210
Cortney Campbell: So there’s two ways. Students can be involved in our program and it’s completely online. We offer both a bachelor of business administration with an emphasis in resort and hospitality management, and also a new bachelor of applied science online program. Students can also just complete a 7-class certificate program. And one of the big focuses in our program is

We know that everyone is short-staffed. We know that everyone is missing workers in the workplace. And it’s how can we leverage the strengths of the communities that we currently have in our organization.

So some of the student benefits that. I work on with my team are practical industry experience. So working with Idaho tourism, industry to source bespoke and unique internships, it’s personalized. We provide student support. And then it’s flexible. Again, the courses are fully online. So classes start year-round, industry connections, project-based internships. If you know someone in hospitality who’s interested in this, but doesn’t want to leave their current employer. We can also do the internship designed within their current employer to just give them additional skills. And we are part of the Idaho Launch Grant for up to $5,000.

So why does this matter? Because I’ve learned that the quickest way to move forward any group, project, workforce, or learning is to try to bridge the intergenerational gap as quickly as possible and utilize the strengths of each specific generation. So as we look to kind of understand those generations. we have our baby boomers, and everybody has a little bit different. Take on the years that they are. But it’s usually around 1946, 1954. Then we have Generation X, which is 1965 to 1980. Our millennials are Gen. Y. 1981 to 1996, Gen. Z. 1, 97 to 2012, and then Generation Alpha, we won’t really touch on, because they’re really not quite yet in the workforce. So let’s look at each one a bit in particular.

00:20:36.070
Cortney Campbell: So when we think about our baby boomers, some key characteristics that define them. Terms of work are, they have a very strong work ethic. They’re loyal to their employers and they typically have experience in traditional corporate structures in terms of what they value at work. It’s job security, hard work, and a sense of duty. They often place a high importance on personal and professional accomplishments in terms of work preferences. We often see that they enjoy face-to-face communication. They enjoy structured environments and clear hierarchies within the work. the historical and cultural events that have shaped this generation while it’s post World War 2 economic boom civil rights movement and the rise of television and mass media. When we look at their work, attitudes and behaviors, baby boomers often display a high level of commitment to their jobs, a preference for stability and long-term employment, and a tendency to respect authority and organizational rules

Now moving on to Generation X. Their key characteristics are independence, they enjoy adaptability, they have an entrepreneurial spirit. they ha! Having grown up in a time of significant social and economic changes. They say that that is why their entrepreneurial experience peaked, they make great entrepreneurs and organizations as well. They value work-life, balance, flexibility, and the opportunity for personal growth, often prioritizing family and personal well-being for their professional achievements. Terms of their work preferences. They like autonomy. they like opportunities for professional development and a more informal and flexible work environment. Now, of course, this isn’t everyone but just generalizations. The historical and cultural events that shape them are shaped by things such as the end of the Cold War, the rise of personal computing, and the Internet and significant economic recessions during their formative years. In terms of work, attitudes and behaviors, they tend to be pragmatic and results-oriented. They’re often skeptical of authority and large institutions, and they value efficiency and very direct communication in the world coming right after them.

We, of course, have our millennials or Gen Y. Their key characteristics are that they are tech-savvy. Pretty much highly educated and value-driven. having grown up in the digital age with an immense amount of information available to them. And in that digital age, the widespread access to information and technology really affects their values at work. They value diversity, diversity, and inclusion. They have a sense of social responsibility. They look for meaningful work. often seeking out opportunities that align with their personal values and passions. Maybe so over monetary considerations. They prefer collaborative work environments and flexibility in terms of work hours and the locations where they get to work and opportunities for continuous learning and development are also important to this. the historical and cultural events that shape them. They were shaped by events such as the rise of the Internet and social media. the 911 attacks, and the Great Recession which influenced their perspectives on security and stability. When we look at their work, attitudes and behaviors. They tend to be team-oriented and open to change. They value feedback and recognition. They often seek a very healthy work-life balance that’s incredibly important to them, prioritizing their personal fulfillment alongside their professional success.

And then, generation Z, the last generation we’ll look at. They have what we call digital nativity. They grew up with literally a device in their hand. As such they have a very global perspective and an entrepreneurial mindset having grown up with smartphones, social media, and instant access to any information they’d like in the workplace. They value authenticity, transparency, and social justice. and they often advocate for causes they believe in, and they seek to make a positive impact on the world. in terms of their work preferences. They want flexible work arrangements. They want a strong emphasis on work-life balance and opportunities for innovation and creativity within their roles. This generation often likes to know and see the direct impacts the organizations that they work for have on the community and the world. Historical and cultural events that shape this group include events such as the proliferation of social media, climate change, awareness. COVID-19 pandemic and movements like MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Their work, attitudes and behaviors tend to be highly adaptable, very tech-savvy. They often seek quick advancement and continuous learning opportunities, and they value diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and they expect there is an absolute expectation from their employers to be socially responsible and ethical.

00:25:55.950
Cortney Campbell: So what challenges come about from this? As a result. So communication styles, because of the wide variety of the different generations, can often be a challenge. whereas a generation. Z employee might want a quick zoom or even a text. They’re working with a baby boomer. They will not value that as much as something face-to-face. Technological adaptation, of course, is a major challenge. When we look at Gen. Y. And Gen. Z. It’s very easy for them to pick up new technologies.

Work, expectation and values: It seems that each generation, while there are similarities between what they bring to the workplace, they’re all looking for something just a little bit different.

And then management and leadership changes. How do they view changes in the organization? Is it with great zeal, or do they prefer that the same work every day? So now, what can we do now? We’re going to look at five ways that we can navigate hopefully, leverage our intergenerational workplaces.

So the first tip that we’re learning is to foster open communication. Encourage an environment where open and respectful communication is promoted. Implement, regular feedback mechanisms and intergenerational dialogue. I think it’s incredibly helpful if you have a workforce that is intergenerational. to have a discussion about that and what each unique generation brings to that team and to use communication tools and platforms that cater to diverse preferences. So if you are a group that often has in-person meetings. you could shift some of those to online platforms. you could vary it so that you’re meeting different preferences for the different people that you work collaborate.

The second item that we can look at is leveraging strengths of each generation. We can identify and utilize the unique strengths and experiences that each generation brings. If we rely on those generations to have different talks with our workforce. For example, if new technology is rolling out, it might be a great idea to pair some of your Gen. Y. And Gen. Z. With your baby boomers, or your Gen. X. To look at those technologies and walk through them together, whereas if you have something more tactile, you might find that older generations have more diversity and something to share in those conversations so promoting those cross, generational mentoring and collaboration huge because it will give your workforce a sense that everyone has something to learn. Everyone has something to teach. and then creating spaces and opportunities for knowledge, sharing, and skill transfer.

The third item that we can look at is fighting, training and development. And we see with workforce is that this is a constant need requirement and something that is keeping our workforce engaged and often with companies longer is offering training programs that are tailored to different generational needs, preferences and encouraging continuous learning and skill development. allowing our employees to develop personalized development plans. If you are mentoring people in your group or organization, try to think back about the last time that you sat down with them and help them to develop a career map and ask them, what skills would you like to build on. And what can I do to help you achieve that? What personal interest do you have, and what steps are you taking to learn more about that? And are there resources that I could provide to you?

Fourth is creating an inclusive culture, so developing policies and practices that really support diversity and inclusion. So really, looking at the different types of events that you have planned. What generations do they most appeal to? Are there certain generations in your organization that you’re not currently having events for, and if so, what events might be of interest to them might be great to sit down with these folks and brainstorm a list of opportunities of things they would like to do. and then, very important is just celebrating generational diversity and creating opportunities for intergenerational interaction. promoting team building activities, encourage collaboration and understanding. Looking back at moments in history and asking people, what do you remember about that? What can you share with us about that experience?

00:30:56.200
Cortney Campbell: I apologize that that went much quicker than I thought, but now I was hoping that we could have some discussion about what we’re doing in our organizations. And and what is working? Who would like to start us off?

Oh, as you have information in the chat. The description was spot on Gen. X, a 100%. Oh, that makes me happy. I’m a Gen X-er, too. Okay? So I would greatly appreciate anybody that would just be willing to jump in and talk with us about your intergenerational organization. What your experiences is with that and what you find that’s working.

00:31:47.230
Syd Hair: Everyone is so shy and honor if if you had anything to comment, because where you work with some of the vocational rehab you get to kind of work with all of those people. I’m wondering if you’ve seen anything in your role when you were with vocational rehab, Otter.

00:32:07.130
White Otter Goggles: So what was the question? Again.

00:32:08.570
Syd Hair: Oh, I’m just wondering, like in in your role, when you were with a vocational rehab like with the whole multi-generational thing. If you notice any of those differences, communication styles, and how each of them had their own kind of personas.

00:32:21.850
White Otter Goggles: Of absolutely we go from a big generational change to individuals who grew up with the Internet versus the individuals who did not grow up with the Internet, work performance is totally different. But there were also strengths in both work performances. Some were more technical hand-eye movement with computers. Others were more physical in the labor market, more understanding of the ruler versus submitting emails and documentation. So each one had its own different differences. But when it comes to the employment portion and dealing with those, you gotta focus on the strengths, not the, you know, not the barriers, but their strengths and qualities. And you know. also, with the educated investment individuals searching those jobs, and inform choice is very big that we all use informed choice of multiple departments dealing with human services. especially within education. You know the the people that put these people in classes gotta be in the best interest of those individuals doing the classes, because not only are they paying an arm and a leg to attend these classes, but to have, like a student, rep, guide them in the right path. So I mean, nobody likes to pay for a class that they don’t use in employment.

00:33:52.480
Cortney Campbell: But that is fantastic feedback. Thank you so much. Would you mind sharing with me? Since you were kind enough to share that, what do you do when intergenerational conflict presents itself in your organization? What are some go-to strategies you could share with us? Please.

00:34:08.420
White Otter Goggles: Number one. First thing is, listen. Understanding. Even if you don’t see their side of the bridge on a topic or a discussion or an issue. Let them know that you will do your best to find the insight on the other side of the bridge, of the argument or situation. So when it’s kinda like being a mediator. So when you got a mediate in between those separate entities of an old way of doing things versus. It’s easier to do it this way. More efficient, more modern. You know. Adaptation to both understandings has to be present, I mean, without them understanding and without them having the feeling that I’m actually this guy’s actually listening. You know, I can actually get my point across, not to somebody one year, not the other year. I’m taking notes. Yeah. you know, nobody’s engaged when the individuals doing this. It’s when you’re listening without writing notes. you know. And you’re actually making that eye contact, that body motion that I’m engaged listening to you. I’m not just saying here’s lay back. Tell me more. Tell me more. So it’s all about how you approach the situation of the subject matter. And if it’s something that you don’t know, or you’re less informed, just let the individuals know I will research this. I don’t know what you’re talking about, but let me. And then we can re-address this issue.

00:35:35.420
Cortney Campbell: I appreciate that so much. Thank you. That’s going to be hard to follow. That’s something that they could add to that in terms of how they navigate their intergenerational work.

00:35:46.600
Cortney Campbell: Please. Oh, Krissy.

00:35:49.460
Krissy Hamilton (she/her): Something that I ran across really recently was hiring and the way resumes, look between generations. So we had a really young resume group, and you know their job experience was about 3 years at every job. and the older folks on the call on the hiring committee, the Gen. X, the older Gen. X. Specifically felt like that was a negative. They were like, it just feels like people aren’t staying with their companies like this, you know, is this really normal? And I told them I was like, you know, as somebody from I’m an elder millennial like, I know, for our generation. We were told that you should stay at a job for about 3 years, and then look for something new because that’s how you work your way up. and, you know, get paid more, that if you stay in the same job you’re probably not going to get. You know that upward mobility that you’re looking for, so to move on, and so like a 3 year, whenever I see 3 years. That’s what I see is somebody who’s like trying to build their resume. And you know, learn more and grow more, whereas some of the folks on the call what they saw was disloyalty and just like kind of flakiness. And so I thought that was like a really interesting thing that I’ve run into recently is just the you know, understanding what that that resume can look like to different generations, whereas I’ve also had resumes where people worked their entire career at one thing. And now they’re looking for something different, as, like a quote-unquote retirement job. So yeah, that’s that’s my.

00:37:28.560
Cortney Campbell: That is fascinating. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing it. How important! It was right that you had a heterogeneous team reviewing those resumes, or some of those incredibly quality applicants might have slipped through just because of that intergenerational misunderstanding. So thank you for sharing that. Willing to go next. Please.

00:37:51.320
Jessica James: I think so, can you guys see me? Okay?

00:37:53.350
Cortney Campbell: Thank you, Jessica. Yes, great.

00:37:55.370
Jessica James: Okay, I’m the education program manager for the social. Manage five. Thank you for presenting. I appreciate all of the knowledge that was shared workshop. So right now, we’re undergoing our summer opportunities program. So we employ youth ages 14 to 24 within the workforce to our labor workforce here at the tribe, and we are doing our training to orientate our youth on how to be a good worker. A good employee stays employed within the workforce and given a low-cost sales training, working with our community colleges to get them trained and get the work ethic going. There’s a lot of scenarios, situational stuff that they play out they’re gonna be utilizing micro on a curriculum this year. So they’re gonna learn a lot different things. But I’ve noticed that the attention spans and you get shorter and shorter every year. Seems like and I noticed the sensitivity in you know, asking them, do something is. It’s the approach you have to be different with them versus, you know if you’re talking to somebody of the same age. On. Yeah, I just noticed that. But there’s those differences. But we, you know, we’re we’re trying as a tread. So I’m definitely gonna try to share this presentation with them very much. 

00:39:40.66
Cortney Campbell: Jessica. Thank you so much. That is wonderful feedback. That reminds me. I just read a study the other day about how even our brains process information differently. So when you look at Gen. X. And baby boomers read books we’d start at the first page and read all the way down into the next page. Those generations were raised with a digital screen that had all of the information there. At once. Their brains were taught to seek out the most important information on the screen. So even the way that they process a read is very different. So fascinating. Thank you. Who else would like to share, please?

00:40:20.760
Syd Hair: I’ll say something real quick, too.

00:40:22.240
Cortney Campbell: Thanks, Syd.

00:40:22.950
Syd Hair: Thought it was interesting. About a month or so ago we were talking about making some training videos and someone made the points like you need to make it like, be 30 seconds long, you know. And we’re in my generation. It’s like, you make the training videos. And it’s everything is in there, and it’s like, No, you’re working with a TikTok generation. You got them for 30 seconds. And you know, commercials, we don’t even watch commercials anymore. That used to be what? Two minutes long. And so learning that and to not come in with biases right? Well, it’s like, well, they’re gonna watch this one-hour-long video. But it’s like trying to like, listen to them and really watching our biases when it comes to that. And so don’t plan on making 2 h long videos, because, your younger generations aren’t gonna watch them.

00:41:08.140
Cortney Campbell: That’s a great point, Syd. Thank you. Who else has something to share? Well, Joe, I see you down here. Oh, Joe, can you tell us more about that?

00:41:17.600
Joe Bu Morrisroe (City of Boise): Yeah, hopefully, everybody can hear me.

00:41:19.730
Cortney Campbell: Yes.

00:41:20.35
Joe Bu Morrisroe (City of Boise): Yeah. So after coming out of the pandemic the city, we were mostly online.

00:41:27.480
Kelly C. Wright: All remote, definitely.

00:41:32.110
Joe Bu Morrisroe (City of Boise): It was that really odd time, where everybody was just kind of tuning in. And so as soon as we started reopening for our citizens. We needed folks to be in the office, but we quickly found out that we have a lot of people who have long tenures at the city, and so the need to bring back in-person meetings came about, and so, after working back and forth, we finally settled on Wednesdays. Everybody, if you’re in the office, come to the in-person meeting. But then we realize, like, if you’re sick, you know. attend the meeting virtually. So. It’s this balance, and we’re still working on it because we acknowledge that the attention of in-person is vastly different than attending virtually.

00:42:16.700
Cortney Campbell: Excellent, excellent, great feedback, Joe. Thank you. Does anybody else have something they’d like to share? Well, Syd Emily, I apologize. I think I talked a bit faster than I had intended.

00:42:34.110
Ramona Medicine Horse: Cortney. I have something to say. I’m Ramona Medicine Horse, and I’m the project director for the vocation and rehabilitation program. and we have 5 staff at the time working with us, and Otter was one of them. And we do kind of have the spread out of all generations in our program and you know, and I’m face to face meet kind of person, and Zooms are kind of hard for me, because I don’t feel like I can interrupt, or that happens. interject any of my ideas. But what we do, as far as our and international and communication skills is, we all sit at the table together and talk and share our ideas. that all that notion into one workforce, so that we all are on the same page as far as technology goes, as how we deliver services, and everything’s all together, and I’m the one that’s always saying, Otter, I need help help me with this, you know. So it’s my computer is not working. My printer is not working, or something’s wrong. Or but so yeah, I mean, it’s it’s come a long way, and but we, I think, our department in mind. The employees we have really are good, and we work together, and we complement one another. And I think that’s what’s really important is the complement complying and and working together as one unit. And that makes a whole big difference.

00:44:16.300
Cortney Campbell: Ramona, that is wonderful. Let me ask you at these meetings. Is there food? Are there snacks? But there’s.

00:44:24.010
Ramona Medicine Horse: And the money.

00:44:24.810
Cortney Campbell: That empty.

00:44:25.520
Ramona Medicine Horse: Then.

00:44:25.970
Cortney Campbell: Yes, it did.

00:44:26.560
Ramona Medicine Horse: On who has the money for the day it brings in snacks.

00:44:29.749
Cortney Campbell: Very good. I just noticed whatever generation everybody likes to seem to get together and have a meeting. If there are snacks, so that seems to run through all generations.

00:44:39.980
Ramona Medicine Horse: Depends on how generous someone’s feeling.

00:44:43.210
Cortney Campbell: Very good, very good. Who else is willing to share? I see some in the chat. Molly. Could. Would you mind telling us more about what you put in the chat?

00:44:57.340
Molly Hansen: Yeah, sure thing. Yeah. So I’m Gen. Z. And of course, like all my peers are, too. And as we’ve all kind of graduated and gone into the workforce in the past few years, like just noticing how different work can feel when you have like. I’ve worked in places where I’ve had kind of a mix of people who are about my age and teams where there are people who are mostly my generation. I’ve known people who went and worked for like banks where they were like the only person under the age of 30, and just kind of seeing those differences, and how people feel like they can connect with their peers. And how communication happens is totally different. I was typing up a comment to respond to Syd, even just like email and chat communications like, I know people where their youth play, where their culture at work is very young, and they’ll use like slack and email and stuff kind of like discord, like people using like abbreviations and no punctuation. And like responding really quickly, like, just. I feel like there’s a there’s a totally different way that we communicate online, we’ve grown up with. and that often doesn’t translate to work communication because it’s so casual. So just stuff like that, I think, is very different.

00:46:16.100
Cortney Campbell: Absolutely someday, archaeologists might look back and think that we spoke different languages in between our generations. I can see that. Yes, yes, and texting with the work team becoming the new normal. Absolutely. Absolutely. Jocelyn, that’s great. That’s a great point, is, are there different things that you’re doing in your organization to bridge the gap that you’d be willing to share?

00:46:47.609
Jocelyn Cullers: No.

00:46:48.930
Cortney Campbell: No.

00:46:53.440
Jocelyn Cullers: I don’t know how much it comes. Well. I think people come to me in our office. We’re very small. I’m I’m elder Gen. X. I was born in 78 but I also do like a lot of current stuff. It’s just everything seems like. So automated. Now. I’m not a mechanic, but it feels like a comparison to cars. Now, like everything is digital like you get a code that tells you what’s wrong, whereas a car in the past, you know, it’s much more mechanical. And someone has to actually go searching. I feel like that kind of applies to technology. And so when you mention like printers, I’m like, okay. But who’s actually like printing? I mean, I know people still print. But I had a student once who we. This was several years ago. We had a typewriter, and we have these ancient cards that had to be typed. And then I had to ask him to do something else, and it’s like, Oh, go use the typewriter. Oh, it was, for he would use it for mailing labels, and he said, you mean the label maker? Oh. but yeah. So if you just kind of compare the way cars are now, they’re all still cars, but like tech. I don’t know if that’s a good way to say it like a mechanical digital versus. Oh, everything just OP updates automatically, and all you have to do is, install it, and there you are. If that makes sense.

00:48:18.180
Cortney Campbell: It absolutely makes sense. And it’s funny, too, as we look at the different generations, their view on a cell phone cell phones in the workplace. And it took me a long time to realize that one of the reasons why Gen. Z is on their phone so much is that’s how they were told to find things. You didn’t. Didn’t ask an elder about how to do something. You googled it so. Yes, definitely. Well, Syd Emily, I’m sorry I ran short here, but that’s about all I have prepared.

00:48:50.730
Syd Hair: Cortney. There is a question in the box.

00:48:52.780
Cortney Campbell: Oh yes!

00:48:53.580
Syd Hair: Where did Kelly ask: What happens when you are in between two age brackets?

00:48:59.530
Cortney Campbell: Well, you probably are very highly influenced by both. It just would depend on which you more lean towards in terms of the the things that influenced you and the things that made a difference with you. You know. One of the things that they say was very big with my generation was the Enron scandals and some of the things that went on there, whereas the baby boomers could be seen a lot more as company people. You stay with the same company, you retire after 30 years you get a gold watch. My generation was heavily affected by that of maybe we ought not put all our eggs into one basket because of some of the things we saw in the news. So maybe just reflect on your styles of work, preferences, and things that have happened in your life that made the biggest impact, and that would probably lean you to one side or the other.

00:49:53.490
Syd Hair: Gordon. You brought up a good point about incentives, right? Because I think it’s important to know, like, if you’re on the incentive or reward kind of program and one of my employees likes to message me and said, You know we’re after the gold watch, and you brought that up and you know, with our with our older generation. Maybe they don’t wanna a gift card or something. Maybe they want a day off, but maybe are the younger generation. They want the gift card to Starbucks. So I think it’s important to realize, and I really appreciate what Ramona said when she sits down with her team. And they have these critical conversations. And it’s important to know that all five generations communicate differently because they were impacted differently by different events that happened, you know, and talk to them about those events. Well, what happened when you know the Columbia shuttle, you know. Where were you when 9/11 happened? So have those things. Those conversations. And Kelly put it in the the chat box. The older generation prefers maturity. So like that maturity. And I think that’s what happens. A lot is when you’re either caught in the middle or you’re the older generation, and you tend to judge the younger generation. Well, they just don’t care. They don’t have a work ethic. They don’t show up on time, they, you know. And so we get into that habit of judging them, instead of like Otter said, embracing what they bring to the table and learning to work together. The other thing I noticed was the two-week notice thing. My generation was like you. You have to give a two-week notice, and we took in a couple of kids one time. and he was like, I’m tired of my job. So like, you know, I’m going to quit. I say, well, you got to turn in your two-week notice. He’s like what? Why, like, it was completely foreign. And it’s just like, well, because that’s just what you do. And so it’s interesting that even kind of like our work. I won’t even say ethics, because it’s our own, probably ethics, but those are changing as well. And it’s really hard, especially being in the older generation to not judge the younger generation, and then the younger generation to not judge us because we’re like dinosaurs, are so stuck in our ways.

So this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I do want to throw it out there. If anyone has any other questions you can put them in the chat box, and we can get to them. But I do want to throw out there that we have access for all of our employees to get LinkedIn learning licenses. And there are a lot of things on there about this topic on Linkedin learning. So if you’re a tribal employee and would like a LinkedIn learning account reach out to me for that. I also want to bring up the project management course. Mark was one of our previous Lunch and Learn and they are getting ready to start that new, that new segment that’s being opened up for those that project management course, and that we had talked about a couple of lunch and learns ago, and then you had mentioned Cortney, the Idaho Launch platform. I kind of tested that out with a Harvard Business School. They had a Harvard Business School essential management one, and it was excellent.

And so that Idaho Launch program pays 80 percent of tuition or whatever the certification cost is, and you would pay 20% of the cost. And so if you’re interested in any of those Idaho launch platforms that are know more about that reach out to me. It was an excellent course, and it’s a great way, if you’re like in the older generation, it’s like I’m too old to go back and learn and go to school or anything. That’s kind of what I thought when I took that online course, I thought, I am over my head, but I got through it, and it was really great. So thank you for bringing up the Idaho Launch program.

Thank you so much for being here today, Cortney, and we will have this available out there. But if you have any questions you can reach out to me, Emily, or Cortney, so if anyone has any other comments, go ahead and unmute yourself. 

00:53:49.770
Emily Wakild (she/her): I wanted to say a couple of other things to Syd and emphasize and echo it. What you mentioned about both the project management program, and then the Idaho launch, and maybe give Cortney an opportunity to say a little bit more about the resort management program. She touched on it a little in her initial presentation. But I do think that there is a really neat opportunity for some cross-training in terms of the work that the tribe does both at the casino and with other events and processes, to think about the resort in hospitality management, and I know the College of Business has been thinking about how to make a program like this available to people that wouldn’t necessarily relocate to Boise. And so if anybody has questions for Cortney about that, that would be a wonderful use of our time as well. And then I also wanted to mention that because of the hard work of Jessica James, who you heard from before, and Syd and other folks on the Tribal Advisory Board, we do have a reduced tuition. almost free tuition. I forget the exact pieces of it available to all enrolled members of Shoshone Bannock to enroll in Boise State full-time in Boise, and we are working on select housing. So if there are people, including yourselves or generations that live in your household that are thinking about coming to to school full time at Boise State. We are working to make sure that we’re able to support that and to support their educational journey in that way.

But we’ve also talked about programs that would be like, bring your grandma to school with you, or bring your kids to school with you. And you know, maybe a student comes and does an undergraduate degree. A bachelor’s in environmental science, but they bring Grandma along. Who can get that certificate in management and maybe a cousin or someone else to go through the process together. So I’ll stop there and see if other folks have any other questions or comments for Cortney, too.

00:56:11.040
Cortney Campbell: Anybody. Well, I would very much like to! Love to to work with the tribes in terms of hospitality staff, and with the casinos. The 7-class program is completely online. Or you can do the bachelor’s online, or you could do the bachelor’s of applied science online. And if you do, the 5,000 Idaho Launch, and I think sometimes people get confused because there’s so much about Idaho Launch for the graduating seniors. So, for seniors who graduated high school last year, there’s a completely different launch for them, and that’s for them to go on to college, which is wonderful.

But the Idaho Launch Division I’m talking about is for any adult in the State of Idaho, and the only thing that you have to do is you have to complete the program, and you have to be willing to stay in the State of Idaho for two years, and we find that most of our students are already employed at places where they want to stay. They want to stay, and they want to grow in that position. So while we do get some students who have never worked in hospitality, or some of them already working in resorts or working in casinos.

But one thing we find is since the pandemic. And since with labor shrinking that oftentimes, companies do not have the resources to be able to provide the workforce the types of additional learning opportunities that they’d like. So our program ends up, costing a student after the 5,000 launch to get the certificate costs around. I think $1,100. But we are such a small program currently that we have access to a lot of items, state scholarships. So there are a lot of hospitality scholarships that just never get claimed. So a lot of our students are being able to come through the program with zero out-of-pocket cost. And it’s it’s very tailored work with the students.

I would love to ideally. I would love to visit the tribes and get students up and going on the canvas platform and help them get started with that. But yes, that’s our resort and hospitality management program, and I also have. If you’d like to connect with me or get more information, there’s a QR. Code. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn. Tell you more about our program. If you have interest or have somewhere, you’d like to send me.

00:58:47.570
Syd Hair: Alright. Thank you, Cortney. I think I think it would be fun. I do have a quick question about that one program you were talking about. I don’t know if you said like a 7-week, or whatever it was, but like with Mark’s online platform, they were able to give us a discount for our workforce. Do you know, if you’re able to do that at this time for that online program?

00:59:07.920
Cortney Campbell: I know that I can certainly find out, and I would love to find that out. And it’s so. It’s seven classes. Each class is seven weeks. Some students take a couple of classes at once, some take three, and some just take one but you can usually visit or finish that certificate within a year or year and a half. But I will find that out. Any workforce discounts. Okay, great.

00:59:30.600
Syd Hair: Great. If anyone is interested in learning more about that reach out to me, and as soon as I hear back from Cortney, if they can offer any type of additional discount cause. I know that with the scholarship, or the discounted rate that Emily was talking about some of the online platforms. It doesn’t apply to. So if there’s 1 that you’re interested in reach out to Jessica or myself, and and we can dig more into it. But the the project management one that’s getting ready. they give us a 50 off cost. So I think it ends up. Being total is $700, $350 each semester. So if you want more information about that project management, once again reach out to me. But thank you.

01:00:11.640
Cortney Campbell: Thank you so much. Everyone. I so enjoyed my time with you, and I hope you all have an incredibly wonderful rest of your week.

01:00:18.760
Syd Hair: Thanks, Cortney.

01:00:19.660
Emily Wakild (she/her): Thanks so much, Cortney, and if anybody else has a suggestion on a topic for a future Lunch and Learn, we have a few more scheduled in August. We’ll flip, and this is Tony Bannock will present on tribal sovereignty. Galen Edmo, I believe, is going to be presenting so Boise State folks can learn about that. And then Jen Schneider will be presenting on artificial intelligence in September, and especially the role of AI in the workforce and in the classroom. So look for more information about those. We also have conflict management. On the agenda for the fall, and I believe also a talk on Fort Hall and Shoshone Bannock tribal history. I forget exactly the topic of it, but I think the November one is more information about the tribes in particular. So if there’s something else that would serve your interests and your needs, please let us know, and we’ll try and work that into the schedule. Right? But wonderful afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.