The five behavioral traits that are common among middle-aged and senior workers who are making progress

※This article is a machine translation.

In our previous report, entitled “Is it true that older men don’t work? Using data to ascertain the actual conditions of progress for middle-aged and senior workers,” we noted that middle-aged and senior workers making progress account for 20 percent of all middle-aged and senior workers. What are the characteristics and behavioral traits common to middle-aged and senior workers making progress?

1. What are the five behavioral characteristics common to middle-aged and senior workers who are making progress?
2. What is the relationship between the five behavioral characteristics that encourage progress and job performance?
3. (Summary) The important behavioral characteristics are “making use of what you have learned” and “getting on well with younger people”

1. What are the five behavioral characteristics common to middle-aged and senior workers who are making progress?

We first conducted an interview survey of a total of about 30 employees and their superiors and executives at a major Japanese manufacturing company that participated in the “Project to Explore Breakthroughs by Middle-aged Workers” (jointly with the Ishiyama Laboratory at Hosei Graduate School) as a research partner, and identified the behavioral characteristics common to middle-aged and senior workers who are making breakthroughs. We designed a hypothesis based on the interview survey, and then verified the hypothesis through a questionnaire survey (*1) of 2,300 people.

As a result of conducting the survey based on this series of procedures, we were able to identify five behavioral characteristics that middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress in their careers exhibit.

Figure 1: Five behavioral characteristics that promote rapid progress

Let's take a look at the five behavioral characteristics in more detail.

1. “Giving meaning to work”

Middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress have the behavioral characteristic of giving meaning to the work they are involved in based on their “internal career”, rather than their “external career”. Giving meaning to work based on an external career means having an attitude that sees work in terms of easily visible criteria such as “work that is advantageous for getting ahead and promotion”. On the other hand, internal career-based meaning-making refers to an attitude of viewing work based on its significance to society and its value to oneself, such as “Is this work something that allows me to demonstrate my expertise?” or “How does this work help to solve social or organizational issues? If you are a new or junior employee, your superiors and colleagues will probably give you opportunities to think about the meaning of the work you are in charge of. However, once you become a middle-aged and senior worker, you will no longer receive such support. It is important to be able to actively give meaning to your work yourself, and sometimes to re-evaluate the meaning of your work in response to changes in the external environment.

2. “Give it a try first”

Middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress have the behavioral characteristic of “not being afraid of failure and actively taking on new challenges”. As their careers progress, they become more proficient at their work, and they can more or less foresee how they might fail in the future. This sense of deja vu about failure can become a hindrance, making it difficult to take the first step out of fear of failure. Also, while passing on skills is an important role for middle-aged and senior workers, if the idea of “passing on to the younger generation” becomes too prominent, it could become an excuse for not taking action, so caution is needed.

3. “Putting learning to use”

Middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress have the characteristic of being able to “reflect on the lessons learned from past experience, sublimate them into their own ideas, and turn them into their own know-how so that they can be applied to different situations”. The key points here are “reflecting on experience” and “turning it into your own theory”. No matter how much experience you have, if you don't have the ability to reflect on it, you won't be able to make use of it in new situations. Also, as change continues to accelerate, it is not often that you will encounter a situation that is exactly the same as one you have experienced in the past. It is also important to be able to talk about the lessons you have learned from your experiences in your own words (self-theorization) so that you can apply them to other situations. To do this, it is effective to actively create opportunities to share your experiences and career with people who are different from your usual circle of acquaintances, for example by participating in study groups outside the company.

4. “Interact with people on your own”

Middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress are proactive in communicating with a diverse range of people outside the company and in other departments, and they have the behavioral characteristics of actively trying to draw out and accept arguments and opinions that differ from their own. In particular, if you have been in the same organization for a long time, you may find yourself limiting the scope of your own actions, or you may tend to adopt a passive stance and wait for others to make contact with you. This attitude can also be passed on to subordinates and juniors, and there is a risk that communication, which is essential for workplace productivity, will be impeded. The key point of this behavioral characteristic is not to proactively plan workplace drinking parties or events, but to “increase opportunities for work-related interaction”. If you can't think of any expertise or strengths you can offer to others, it's also effective to start by communicating your work-related issues to others, and to seek answers and increase opportunities for interaction regardless of age.

5. “Getting on with younger people”

The most important thing for middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress is to achieve their work objectives, and they are characterized by not being concerned about the age difference with work partners who are not involved in that. According to our survey (*1), the age of the boss reverses from older to younger at 53.5 years old. In other words, from the mid-50s, the majority of people will be working under a younger boss, and not being able to accept the points raised by a younger boss or being unable to work well because of the age difference can be a brake on advancement. We know that younger bosses also have to be considerate and careful about the age difference. It is important to actively demonstrate followership so that you can be a good listener and advisor, rather than waiting for contact from your younger boss in a passive manner.

2. What is the relationship between the five behavioral characteristics that encourage progress and job performance?

In order to verify whether the five behavioral characteristics mentioned above have an impact on job performance (i.e. a state of improving job performance, a state of making progress), we conducted multiple regression analysis with job performance as the outcome variable. The results are shown in Figure 2. As a result, it was confirmed that all five behavioral characteristics had a statistically significant impact on job performance. Of these, in particular, “making use of learning” and “getting along well with younger people” showed a strong impact, and it was clear that they were important behavioral characteristics.

Figure 2: The relationship between the five behavioral characteristics that promote breakthroughs and job performance

Summary: The important behavioral characteristics are “making use of what you have learned” and “getting on well with younger people”

In this report, we have been communicating the “five behavioral characteristics practiced by middle-aged and senior workers who are making rapid progress” based on the results of a quantitative survey of 2,300 middle-aged and senior workers conducted in collaboration with the Ishiyama Nobutaka Laboratory at Hosei University. The five behavioral characteristics that encourage progress - “making work meaningful”, “giving things a try”, “making use of learning”, “getting involved with others” and “getting along well with younger people” - were all found to have a statistically significant impact on job performance. In particular, “making use of learning” and “getting along well with younger people” were found to be important behavioral characteristics.

So, how many people actually have these behavioral characteristics? And what are the characteristics of middle-aged and senior workers who are struggling to make progress and are unable to perform as they would like? In the next report, we will conduct cluster analysis based on the five behavioral characteristics we have discussed here, and we will take a closer look at the personalities of middle-aged and senior workers, who have been divided into five types. Please look forward to it.

(*1) The survey overview is as follows.

Survey Overview

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Example of source citation: Persol Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. / Ishiyama Laboratory, Hosei University “Middle-aged and Senior Workers' Advancement Survey”