Hints for ‘age-reversed management’ required of younger supervisors overseeing middle-aged and senior subordinates in their forties to sixties
Looking to the day when supervisors will be younger and subordinates will be older

※This article is a machine translation.

In our previous report, entitled “What is the sluggish type that accounts for approximately 40 percent of all middle-aged and senior workers,” we explained a cluster analysis based on the five behavioral traits of 2,300 middle-aged and senior workers in their forties to sixties and explained that we could divide these types into five human resource types: the high-performance type, balanced type, sluggish type, don’t-rock-the-boat and be-satisfied-with-one’s-lot type, and inactive type. We cannot ignore the impact, among the five human resource types, that the performance of sluggish-type workers, who account for the bulk of all workers (approximately 40 percent), has on the overall management of a company. Therefore, we would like to consider potential ways to promote progress for sluggish-type workers over the next three issues (including this issue) with the results of our analysis serving as the starting point. In the first issue, we will focus on supervisors. (See below for an outline of our survey.)

In this “Project to Explore Breakthroughs from the Middle”, the definition of “middle” and “senior” is as follows: [Middle: 40-54 years old] [Senior: 55-69 years old]

It is not difficult to imagine that the management actions of superiors have an impact on the actions of middle-aged and senior workers in their 40s to 60s. So, what kind of management by superiors leads to the promotion of the actions of their subordinates? Let's also take a look at what kind of management characteristics inhibit the actions of their subordinates.

1. Towards management that recognizes and delegates
2. For subordinates in their 50s, regular opportunities for conversation
3. It is important to first convey your own opinions to subordinates in their 60s
4. The age of the boss shifts from older to younger at 53.5 years old
5. The key to younger managers is basic management that “does not focus on reversing the age gap
6. Summary: Don't let it become a “problem of the individual boss” - as a company, improve support for younger bosses

1. Towards management that recognizes and delegates

We will consider the management actions of superiors that influence the advancement of middle-aged and senior workers in their 40s, 50s and 60s, dividing them into three groups: “40s”, “50s” and “60s”.

Figure 1: Management actions of superiors that influence advancement

Interestingly, of the 27 items in total, the only one that was common to the management actions of superiors that encouraged the advancement of their subordinates in their 40s, 50s and 60s was “respect for and delegation of discretion regarding work methods”. In other words, rather than micromanaging the way work is carried out and the progress of work in detail, the key to management that encourages middle-aged and senior workers to make breakthroughs is to be able to “recognize and delegate” the way their subordinates work. In addition, no other effective management actions were identified for subordinates in their 40s other than this “approving and delegating management”. These results suggest that, in the case of people in their 40s, the characteristics of the work they are in charge of and their own awareness of the work they are doing are greatly influenced by factors “other than” their direct supervisor (factors other than the supervisor will be dealt with in future reports)

2. For subordinates in their 50s, regular opportunities for conversation

Next, the management actions of superiors that encourage the breakthrough behavior of subordinates in their 50s were found to be “assigning responsible work”, “regular conversations”, “equal involvement”, and “respecting and giving discretion regarding work methods”. From these results, we can say that it is important for management to give subordinates responsible work, leave the method up to them, and check on their progress in regular daily conversations in the same way as with other members.

On the other hand, the management behaviors that were cited as hindering the progress of employees in their 50s were “evaluation based on personal preferences” and “internal coordination by superiors”. What is interesting here is “internal coordination by superiors”. In particular, in the case of employees in their 50s who have worked their way up through the ranks from new graduates, there are not a few cases where “internal coordination” is cited as a strength. When a manager makes internal adjustments with the best of intentions in front of a subordinate in their 50s who is a “company expert”, there is a risk that the subordinate will get the impression that their strengths are not being recognized. This suggests that it is necessary to devise ways to assign work that makes the most of the person's strengths, such as entrusting internal coordination work to subordinates who are skilled in internal networking.

3. It is important to first convey your own opinions to subordinates in their 60s

Finally, we found that the management actions of supervisors that encourage their subordinates in their 60s to take action are “self-disclosure by the supervisor”, “observation of work performance”, and “respect for and delegation of discretion regarding work methods”. Generally speaking, the importance of 'active listening' is often pointed out as a management principle, but this survey suggests the importance of 'active communication', such as the manager expressing their own thoughts and opinions to their 60-something subordinates. In particular, for 60-something subordinates whose age gap with their younger manager is widening, there are probably many who find it difficult to understand what their younger manager is thinking. In this case, it would be good for the manager to consciously express their opinions and get into the habit of communicating them.

On the other hand, the management behaviors that hindered the progress of their 60-something subordinates were “discriminatory consideration” and “strict comments on issues”. The result is that management behaviors that excessively consider age and position have a negative impact. Furthermore, it seems that we need to carefully consider how to communicate issues, being conscious of how they are received.

4. The age of the boss shifts from older to younger at 53.5 years old

So far, we have looked at the management behavior of bosses that affects the actions of middle-aged and senior workers in their 40s to 60s. As a result, we found that the management behavior of bosses mainly affects subordinates who are 50 years old and over, and that the impact on subordinates in their 40s is limited. So, who are these “bosses” we're talking about?

According to our research, the age of the boss shifts from older to younger than their subordinates at 53.5 years old. In other words, the majority of bosses with subordinates in their 50s and 60s are “younger bosses” based on the survey results we've looked at so far.

Figure 2: Age of managers (compared to their subordinates)

5. The key to younger managers is basic management that “does not focus on reversing the age gap

When we compared the extent to which the management behaviors that encourage the progress of subordinates, as seen so far, were being put into practice, we found that younger managers were less able to put these behaviors into practice than their older counterparts. Among these, the items with the biggest gaps of more than 10 points were “assigning work with responsibility” and “regular conversations” for those in their 50s, and “self-disclosure by the boss” for those in their 60s.

Figure 3: Comparison of older and younger bosses

These results clearly show that younger bosses tend to be less comfortable with management behaviors that encourage middle-aged and senior workers in their 40s to 60s to make progress, such as “assigning them responsible work”, “providing opportunities for regular conversations” and “self-disclosure”.

It may sound a little paradoxical, but the key to strengthening management skills that reverse the age gap is to “not be aware of the age gap”. The results of the survey also show that it is easy for younger managers to backfire when they are too considerate of their older subordinates or treat them specially. It is important to set goals that focus on the strengths and individuality that the older subordinates have cultivated through their extensive careers to date, and to give them discretionary authority, while observing their work performance regularly from a close distance and not being afraid to give them some hard-to-hear feedback from time to time. The key to age-reversed management is being able to apply these basic management principles to subordinates of any age, regardless of their seniority.

Summary: Don't let it become a “problem of the individual boss” - as a company, improve support for younger bosses

In organizations like Japanese companies, where a seniority-based system is deeply ingrained in the organizational culture, it is not as easy as it sounds to immediately strengthen and put into practice “reverse age management” just because you understand the current situation of “junior superiors”. Rather than just focusing on the “efforts of individual superiors”, companies are also required to provide support systems, such as offering learning opportunities for junior superiors to train them in putting into practice reverse age management based on relationship building.

In this article, we have looked at age-reversed management for managers with middle-aged and senior workers in their 40s to 60s as their subordinates. Next time, we will look at “career support”. Please look forward to it.

Survey Overview

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Source: Persol Research and Consulting, Inc. and Ishiyama Laboratory, Hosei University, “Middle-aged and Senior Workers' Actual State of Advancement Survey”