Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | August 25, 2025 | wbjournal.com E N DI NG S O ON ! An udderly unforgettable experience for visitors of all ages ends September 28. EXPLORE.OSV.ORG Get your tickets online and save $3/ticket! Continued from previous page While Brissette and other Gen Z pro- fessionals tend to much prefer texting for correspondence, the same is not true for NAI Glickman's leading Baby Boomer partners. "If I'm not in the office, they will wait, essentially, to have conversations until I get into the office. ey don't like to just shoot me a text or a phone call as oen," she said. Additionally, Brissette experiences her generation as restless to succeed and reap the financial benefits of that success than previous generations. As opposed to sticking with a company for years, if not an entire career, she sees an itching for more rapid fulfillment, potentially throwing older generations off. is is one example of how the importance of workplace expectations, goals, and boundaries become so critical. Younger people have made clear boundaries around their working hours and are not as willing to work outside of those set in their contracts, another cultural shi that can throw off those who have been in the workforce longer, said Zolezzi-Wyndham. When not discussed clearly, these types of boundaries can be misinterpret- ed as a lack of commitment or laziness, but Zolezzi-Wyndham doesn't think that's the case at all. "It's not because they're not commit- ted. It's because they are approaching work with different values and different sets of expectations around what work should require for them," she said. Mutually-beneficial mentorship As impenetrable as these clashes in penchants and conventions may be, these Central Massachusetts leaders see a clear path forward through mentor- ship and intentional, purpose-driven communication. "Sometimes people feel like a mentor- ship needs to be this formal program, and that's not necessarily the case. In fact, I think when people hyperfocus on over formalizing a mentorship program, you can lose opportunities," said Mosher Berry. Instead, she suggests pairs meet up for coffee or have virtual coffee together. She goes further to support mentor- ship outside of the confines of individual companies. She encourages her clients to reach out to professionals in their field of interest to speak about what their career path has been like, things they wish they had known when starting their career, and what they've learned. "As long as you can nail down that busy professional, they're oen quite honored to be in those conversations," she said. People, no matter their generation, are eager to collaborate, said Brissette. She sees mentorship as a mutually bene- ficial two-way street. She has co-workers who she supports through her tech- nological skills while they share their institutional knowledge. In order to curate an environment where this kind of mentorship and mutual support is encouraged, the groundwork of expectations addressing cross-generational concerns needs to be laid, said Zolezzi-Wyndham. "e bottom line is that you need much better communication, and that communication has to be bi-direction- al; and it can't just be about leadership saying 'is is the way it's going to be,'" she said. She suggests leaders have conversa- tions about workplace boundaries and needs, and leaders need to come into these communications willing to make changes. Or else, she said, they're just breaching trust. "Do not have the conversation unless you are willing to adjust your systems. Because if you invite people to share what they need in the workplace or what they want their boundaries to be, but you're not willing to make any changes, then all you're doing is breaking trust and frustrating people," she said. Workplace differences themselves are not an inherent problem, said Goldsber- ry, but when these differences are put into a dynamic that doesn't encourage communication and honestly, it can prove a breeding ground for misunder- standings and tension. "Identify and focus on some common touch points. You may have a hobby that's the same hobby as another genera- tion, and that common touch point will help build the relationship," said Golds- berry. "Use that as vehicles to bridge that age gap and style gap, and in that you can build some shared experiences." "Each generation has a gi to bring to the workforce. Every generation has a perspective on the world that is valuable, but they're only going to share them with each other if there's trust," said Zolezzi-Wyndham. Lexi Brissette, vice president for commercial real estate at NAI Glickman Kovago & Jacobs in Worcester W

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