And Now, Awkwardness Training

In Atlanta, colleagues from different teams in the office meet for lunch once a month for “get to know you” sessions. At a firm in Chicago, a professor who specializes in “soft skills training” is giving a presentation to a group of workers. And in San Francisco, the leader of a small company has purposely configured the office space to intermingle Gen-Z and baby-boomer employees.

All over the world, leaders are undertaking efforts like these to reduce the tension and awkwardness between colleagues who are returning to the office full-time. And the need couldn’t be more obvious, given the circumstances. Many boomers, for example, acknowledge that they have never had a conversation with a Gen-Z colleague, and vice versa, with both groups saying they find interacting with each other to be awkward. Even more telling, according to Korn Ferry’s Workforce 2025 report, nearly half of Gen Z workers say communication and teamwork training is an issue with older colleagues. But only 27% of baby boomers think there’s a problem. “That’s quite a perception pickle for leaders,” says Emily Gianunzio, a research analyst with the Korn Ferry Institute who co-authors a career advice column for Gen-Z talent.

The awkwardness between generations is well-documented, from different styles and modes of communication to less in-person interaction to outright ageism. But this problematic combination—older workers staying in jobs longer, while younger workers need to acquire leadership skills for the future—is forcing firms to take action. Indeed, in a development that would have been unheard of just a few years ago, a field of experts is emerging to teach people of different generations soft skills, and even how to interact with each other. “Leaders are looking to create specific environments and situations where different generations of workers can build trust with each other,” says Karrin Randle, a senior principal in the Culture, Change, and Communications practice at Korn Ferry.

Korn Ferry senior client partner Roger Philby takes it one step further, saying firms can reframe the awkwardness between generations as a value exchange instead of a communications gap—thereby turning it into an advantage. “When leaders stop trying to ‘fix’ the awkwardness and instead fuel it with curiosity, it can move the entire workforce from soft-skills scarcity to mutual upgrading,” he says. For instance, he suggests firms implement “skill swap” sessions or incentivize cross-generational collaboration. Other frequently mentioned strategies for helping colleagues feel comfortable with each other include establishing reverse- and forward-mentoring programs, rotating team-meeting leaders, and creating intergenerational project teams.

By 2033, nearly a third of people over 70 will continue to work, even as Generation Alpha (born from 2010 to the present) enters the workforce. Between this and the rise of AI, experts say, encouraging workers from different generations to relate to each other will only get harder. Or, as Gianunzio puts it, “It’s going to take a lot more than a college course or some bonding sessions to build better relationships between generations.”

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