"Young at Heart" must overcome their techno fears in Business

Wayne using Digital Technology

Baby Boomers Fears New Digital Technology

 Click there for Wayne Heyworth interview  3 mins long

I interviewed my husband Wayne recently about his experiences with learning and using new digital technology. Wayne is now a Director at Textiles Alive Printers NZ and is in charge of the production in the factory. When Wayne started his career he maintained  mechanical printing equipment and now the equipment is all changed to digital.

I thought his position, as a older working person,  is symptomatic of many older people who have worked through this era of rapid change. Most have tried to embrace the changes and deal with the difficulties they have encounted.

What I hadn’t realised until I did this interview was how uncomfortable he felt with this new digital era. Wayne said he feels he needs to work harder to grasp the digital technology than the younger people. That it was important to keep with the changes. I was impressed with his honesty.

That evening we had some friends over for drinks and the discussion came around to this issue. I was amazed to hear from this group of Baby Boomers  how they felt fearful and out of their depth every day around computers. How they struggled to learn these new skills. They realise that they need to learn new skills to keep up just the same as anyone else. The difference is , they find  younger people more easily embrace  the challenge.

Just because this age group feel this way does not mean they are not capable of learning new skills. They might just require more time and patience. Speed of taking up knowledge is not everything in business. This demographic come with an increase in job knowledge and skills they have aquired over time. They need to be recognized for these.

Everyone, at every age, thinks and learns differently. Every generation has its own areas of proficiency and problems. It is a case of being aware and adjusting your approach accordingly. Treat all with due respect.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience, but you must stop, and look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do“  Eleanor Roosevelt