Enhance team cohesion by adapting communication strategies, building trust and encouraging mentorship among diverse age groups
“This generation of young cops doesn’t know how to talk to people.”
Everyone says it about the Zs. I have heard and read countless comments regarding an “inability” to communicate from departmental trainers, police recruiters, oral board assessors and officers across the nation in online communities.
As a “millennial” or Gen Y quickly approaching 40, I have been considering how we, as veteran police peers, trainers and supervisors, may adapt our approach to get our juniors up to speed.
I recalled my field training generation and how it was frequently socialized to build in social contacts, bar checks and other types of interactions to force these face-to-face dialogues. While these are valid tools, understanding the dynamics and motivators of our varied workforce is key to creating ideal communication and collaboration.
Communicating between generations is not a new challenge
It’s not just people saying Gen Z can’t communicate. The Gen Xers said it about Millennials. The Boomers said it about the Xers and so on.
Generational differences emerge as trends based on the environments they grew up in — with varied societal and technological landscapes. As long as the world keeps changing, generations will keep changing as well.
Generational communication dynamics are increasingly relevant in all work industries. “The workplace is now more age-diverse than ever before with five generations—Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z—working side-by-side” (1).
Rather than cross our arms or roll our eyes (physically or in emojis), we ought to seek intel to develop constructive efforts and strategies to enhance team cohesion and job performance.
Dynamics of the youngest generation of cops: The Gen Zs
When we consider job performance for police work specifically, there is perhaps no clearer place to look than academy and field training periods. The newest/youngest batch of recruit and student officers are categorized as being deficient in having in-person or face-to-face communications. In fact, data says “65% of Generation Z prefer to communicate online more often than in person” (3).
However, does this mean “they can’t talk to people?” Looking deeper, we find that this is an oversimplification. While some stereotype the Zs as having limited “people skills,” they are categorized by psychologists as being communicative, open and collaborative. Due to their roots in technology-based interactions, they are “the first generation to truly exist without knowledge of what it’s like to grow up without digital technology” (2).
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