Overcoming assumptions: How to facilitate successful multi-generational collaboration

Solutions Circles, an initiative by Mississippi Free Press and the Mississippi Youth Media Project, unites a vibrant mix of community members to openly share, listen and tackle common pressing challenges. Facilitating these circles has taught us invaluable lessons on communicating across differences — especially across generational divides.

Take Hart, for example. Once a high school junior attending a Mississippi Scholastic Press Association conference, he found himself in my session, where I was there as editor of MFP and director of YMP to guide the aspiring young journalists through a Solutions Circle. He immediately warmed to the interactive dialogue among his peers and stayed for subsequent circles, naturally stepping up to help facilitate and encourage other students to speak up about the intentionally selected topics, such as reducing brain drain and preventing youth crime — topics that I knew would resonate in this setting as they had previously with my peers in the Youth Media Project.

Donna (middle) and Hart (right) facilitate a discussion. (Courtesy of YMP)

He didn’t ask for permission to lead; he just stayed and did it. I kept out of his way, welcoming him and listening to him and the students, noting that I’d like him to be a long-term colleague and thought partner.

These days, we both facilitate Solutions Circles and help attendees respect, hear and understand each other’s viewpoints. This is especially important when people of different ages collaborate to solve problems, as we tend to see the same common tropes and pitfalls that keep them from effectively communicating with each other.

For us, we knew one of our biggest hurdles to success would be challenging the assumptions, both spoken and unspoken, we held for others. And in the case of Hart and me, and those we represent, the generational assumptions we held would either stall our work or encourage it. Here’s what we’ve learned over the past three years of gathering multigenerational problem-solvers.

Lead by listening

The best advice we have for older generations who want to communicate and work effectively with younger generations is to “shut up and listen.” And by that, we mean true listening: express authentic curiosity and respect as you genuinely seek new and different perspectives. The “oh, this young person is smart” approach is condescending, doesn’t have to be verbally stated to be felt and can shut down communication immediately.

Conversations need to be marked by sincerity, give-and-take and deep-listening — on both sides. In our experience, however, it is primarily the older participant’s responsibility to model listening deeply and engaging in a genuine back-and-forth conversation, where both viewpoints are valued and healthy disagreement fosters shared ideas and solutions. When older generations lead with this approach, we communicate that we are open to a genuine exchange of ideas, not just trying to pat ourselves on the back for “working with young people.”

Older generations can set this tone by asking deep questions of younger colleagues, and avoiding at all costs declaring any surprise that younger folks are so smart and have such great ideas. Yikes.

It is also important for older colleagues to step back, perhaps after introducing a challenge or presenting information to stimulate discussion, and allow younger thinkers a chance to bounce ideas off each other, releasing the pressure of being watched, judged or of getting something “wrong” in front of a senior colleague.

Then the full team can reconvene and engage around the ideas together.

Embrace creative learning styles

Consider all learning and communication styles and plan to accommodate them in creative, sensory brainstorms. This is important for all generations. When done well, this gives younger colleagues the confidence to present their ideas, thoughts and concerns alongside more seasoned participants.

Solutions Circle participants (Courtesy of YMP)

We see this play out when the full Mississippi Free Press team collaborates with the teenagers of the Mississippi Youth Media Project to brainstorm story ideas and approaches to systemic issues. Everyone participates in the discussion, idea collection and presentation to the full group using various creative and visual tools. It is affirming and fun, and there is never an ounce of condescension in the room. These exercises help YMP students generate ideas for their reporting, published on their site at jxnpulse.com.

It is vital for older colleagues to teach each other that young people are our equals and valuable partners — particularly in keeping journalism relevant and vibrant for all generations. We must challenge our assumptions, such as the belief that young people only want to use TikTok, especially considering how many older adults also engage with the app, or that young people are not interested in serious news or conversations. Nothing can be further from the truth, as demonstrated by their active participation in our community Solutions Circles.

Often, it is hard to pry the talking sticks away from teenage circle participants to get other voices in, which is a good problem to have.

Hart’s key takeaway: Pair listening with action

Across age groups and generations, people experience a vast difference in being listened to versus being understood. Cross-generational communication, unfortunately, does not exist on a tabula rasa where both sides enter conversations believing that their opposite has a genuinely impactful message to share. Again, this is why challenging our assumptions is so important to intergenerational connection and problem-solving. Younger generations often feel that the opinions and voices from older people are outdated, while older generations believe young people do not have enough life experience for their ideas to be trusted. Neither, of course, is true.

While encouraging conversations on an equal basis can help to alleviate these biases, true cross-generational change, be it in the journalism community or on Capitol Hill, will not occur unless the listening is followed by action. That action demonstrates that people — especially young people — have been heard. It is not enough to prop up young people on a pedestal to showcase them as “the future” when their lived experiences and contributions to culture and society are shaping the world today. A shift in social capital and power must occur to ensure that young people continue speaking up — and that their voices are heard.

Donna’s key takeaway: Don’t shy away from building authentic relationships

To effectively engage with younger generations, ask and listen in a real way. Be interested. Follow up when you meet brilliant young minds and get them involved in meaningful brainstorms and building new approaches. Don’t expect them to agree with everything. Ask for their advice. Learn from them. Be yourself and don’t be self-conscious about being older or be intimidated by young people. Show them you believe in them, their ideas and their abilities while being willing to disagree respectfully. This is how we share power and invest our own social capital in the future; these engagements help them gain the confidence to offer new ideas, engage openly and critique other ideas.

Most importantly, build authentic relationships and learn from each other as Hart and I have done and will continue to do. There is nothing like multi-generational teamwork, which has been the secret sauce at the Mississippi Free Press and our previous newsroom, the Jackson Free Press, for the last 23 years.

Hart Jefferson is an honors sophomore at Jackson State University where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science and government. From Jackson, Miss., he is the co-lead of Mississippi Free Press and Youth Media Project Solutions Circles.

Donna Ladd, a native of Philadelphia, Miss., is the co-founder of the Mississippi Free Press, where she is also editor and CEO, and founded the Mississippi Youth Media Project and Mississippi Solutions Circles. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.