Rafa Grande has been working at Exolum for 38 years. “My goodness! Time has just flown by!” he exclaims. This veteran highlights the benefits of different generations working together: “It arouses creativity and fosters innovation. And it’s more satisfying and productive.”
Erick Kuhn, who has been working in the aviation industry for 37 years, eleven of them at the Panama facilities and four at Exolum, also took some time to reflect upon the value of generational diversity. “Working with young people is a challenge, rather stimulating yet strenuous,” he says. And he’s decisive when he says, “I don’t think my 37 years of experience would mean anything if I didn’t pass it on to the next generation.”
This ‘silver’ generation talent has had to adapt to change. Besides resilience, our seniors offer incredible experience in their areas of specialization, are very much committed to the company and are good team managers. Added to this is the stability they provide given the lower turnover rates among that age group, their emotional wellbeing and human knowledge.
Rafa Grande thinks veterans transmit know-how “in a simple and natural way”. Erick Kuhn, on the other hand, emphasizes that “seniors contribute the capacity to prevent based on experience and knowledge of our industry”. He also adds the value of “thinking with a cool head in view of critical situations and those requiring tolerance”.
The road to diversity is a two-way one: they also learn from young people, who offer their teams a fresh look at things. Rafa Grande believes “they are quite anxious to learn, are flexible, up-to-date on the latest technologies and are thankful when people trust in them”. “Motivating and supporting our young people is our greatest reward,” says Erick.
This generational balance makes it possible to take advantage of “the push, agility and generosity of our young people all while benefitting from the moderation, experience and capacity to think demonstrated by seniors,” points out Rafa.
For both, the greatest rewards is fostering work as a diverse, multidisciplinary team. And if there’s one senior secret to achieving that balance, Erick says it’s: “Knowing how to verify things, but especially knowing how to delegate. And never seeing yourself as infallible or a know-it-all”.