Leadership strategies of supervisors: Developing high-performing teams from an intergenerational workforce

Kouzes and Posner's (2007) 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership and Gardenswartz and Rowe's (1998) 5 Ways to Foster Appreciation of Differences were used in this qualitative case study to fill a gap in the literature regarding (a) leadership strategies used by supervisors to develop high-performing teams from their intergenerational workforce and (b) ways in which these leaders recognized and benefited from the age diversity of their workforce. An exploratory study utilizing interviews with twelve supervisors yielded the following conclusions: Exemplary leadership. Supervisors reported practicing many behaviors consistent with four of the exemplary leadership behaviors as described by Kouzes and Posner (2007) including: (a) modeling the way, (b) challenging the process, (c) enabling others to act and (d) encouraging the heart. Fostering appreciation of differences. Although the supervisors of high-performing teams reported they benefited from the age diversity of their intergenerational teams and the impact of generational differences within their high-performing teams, only limited evidence emerged regarding supervisors recognizing and fostering appreciation of differences among their intergenerational teams. These strategies as described by Gardenswartz and Rowe (1998) included (a) valuing differences, (b) acknowledging differences, (c) modeling differences, (d) rewarding differences, and (e) learning appreciation of differences with their intergenerational workforce. In addition. (a) supervisors provided limited evidence regarding inspiring a shared vision (Kouzes & Posner, 2007) as a behavior exhibited by team leaders; (b) supervisors were generally unaware of the leadership behaviors practiced by their fellow supervisors; and (c) leadership strategies specifically related to the intergenerational workforce were reported less frequently, and with less clarity, by supervisors than the general leadership practices engaged in with high-performing teams.;Recommendations for future research include investigating: (a) other teams within the organization and in other organizations; (b) other supervisors of high-performing teams within the organization, as well as supervisors in other organizations; (c) upper level supervisors of the supervisors, (d) intergenerational workforce dynamics within the organization; and (e) supervisors of non-high-performing intergenerational teams within the organization. Recommendations for practices are also provided.