Institution news
Debates about demographic and technological changes have been held in Rotterdam and Maastricht, considering the role and qualities of older and younger generations in engineering, the advantages and challenges of engineers of different generations working together and the impact of technology.
The third Discussion Café, focusing on mentoring, takes place in Breda, Netherlands, 22 June. All are welcome: you can participate in person or via an online survey.
The overall theme of generations in the workplace was chosen because it affects the engineering industry as a whole. Discussion Café events are also open to other engineering institutions in the Benelux Region including the IET and IMarEST.
The opinion of the second Discussion Café was that the younger workers are keen to learn, but don’t necessarily know what they need to know – or what they don’t know.
The experience of the older workers can, and should, be shared with the young. The grey-green partnership is vital: a win–win for both sides with the older workers bringing experience and the younger workers bringing energy and enthusiasm to the partnership.
The key debate was about the ‘knowledge gradient’. Similar to the laws of thermodynamics, information flows from areas of high knowledge to low knowledge. The difference from the physical world is that knowledge is a soft commodity and high and low knowledge is subjective and depends on each person’s perception of themselves
In the exchange of knowledge, both the giver and the receiver need to position themselves so that the knowledge gradient flows from one to the other. This implies that the receiver needs to recognise the need for knowledge and the giver needs to be recognised as a genuine and useful source of knowledge.
Regarding technology, both young and old recognised that human workers in the future need to bring creativity and human emotions to the workplace. The energy and enthusiasm of the young combined with their rich feed of varied media input can be very beneficial if it is harnessed and guided with the experience of the old. Effective mentoring of the young can ensure efficient use of their energy and talent.
The third Discussion Café will be held on 22 June in Breda, Netherlands. Following the outcomes of the first two events, this debate will focus on mentoring and how it can benefit the giver and the receiver.
Read the full reports of the first and second Discussion Cafés.
Book your place for the next Discussion Café or have your say on mentoring in the online survey.
The second Discussion Café highlighted the importance of mentoring, and therefore this will be the topic of the Third Discussion Café:
Tuesday 20 June, at 18:30,
The Apollo Hotel
Breda City Centre
The Netherlands.