News Release
July 10, 2008

Mixing generations in workplace subject at UW nonprofit institute

Having 18-30 year olds mix with 50-70 year olds to create a dynamic work place involves breaking down barriers and stereotypes, said the keynote speaker for this year’s Snowy Range Nonprofit Institute (SRNI) at the University of Wyoming.

Daniel Condon, founder and principal consultant of the Boulder, Colo.-based, Innovation Matters, said the media paints stereotypes of those demographics with a broad brush, but, “Both come to the table with specific skill sets and very tangible strengths I think neither group would recognize at first glance,” he said.

Condon kicks off the SRNI Aug. 3-5 that will address issues of workers from multi-generations working side by side and bolstering skills for volunteer staff and board members of Wyoming nonprofits. "Rural Nonprofit Leadership: Connecting the Generations" is the theme. It will be at the University of Wyoming Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center in Laramie.

For more information about the institute, including a blog and registration information, see www.srni.org.

Along with change comes emerging and exciting opportunity, said Condon. “I’ll spend some time during the keynote focusing on the implications of Boomer-related turnover in the non-profit sector,” Condon said. “Over the next decade, nonprofit organizations need to attract more than 640,000 new senior managers to the sector due to the executive turnover that will be taking place.”

By 2016, the sector will need 80,000 new senior managers each year.  “There are organizations addressing this challenge, including the Bridgespan Group, which has done quite a bit of research into this impending reality,” he said. “They suggest investing in leadership capacity, refining management rewards to retain and attract top talent, expanding recruiting horizons and fostering individual career mobility.”

 Additionally, philanthropic groups, including American Express’s philanthropic arm, have started initiating nonprofit leadership academies to develop emerging nonprofit leaders to take on senior positions in the sector. 

“The more proactive nonprofit organizations choose to be in meeting this challenge (using the recommendations stated above), the better positioned they will be when it reaches a critical point,” he noted.

For those Boomers interested in continuing to work or considering retiring there are other implications.  The MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures New Face of Work Survey found half of Americans ages 50-70 want jobs that contribute to the greater good and many plan on working well past retirement ages.

Condon said survey results show Boomers and pre-Boomers:

• Want to do work that helps others, now and in retirement.

• Want careers that are about people, purpose and community.

• Have divergent attitudes about post-retirement work based on gender and race.

• Don't think it will be very easy to find second careers doing good work and strongly support public policy changes to remove obstacles.

Condon said he plans a dynamic presentation rather than being a speaker at a podium spewing information to the audience. “Think of it as one part professional development, one part community building and one part possibility creation,” he said. “Think of it as a co-creative process that brings together a virtual "all-star" team of non-profit professionals and change agents.”

He wants to build a community of nonprofit leaders and folks in the room who can draw upon each other. “I’ll raise some interesting questions,” Condon said. “I do not come to the table believing I have it all figured out or I am the full authority on the matter. I think everyone who comes has something to offer.”

Qwest is the institute-level sponsor of SRNI. The institute is a project of the community development education initiative team of the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service.

###

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/news.asp

###