Got Stylo?

You’d have to be perpetually 13 years old or a linguistics expert to keep up with the lingo of each generation. If you’re a Baby Boomer, for example, you might say someone’s got “style.” If you’re a Millennial, though, you might say someone’s got “stylo.”

(Right now every Baby Boomer without a 13 year old in the house is thinking, “Huh?”)

Some of you may not know where “stylo” came from or have even heard it before, but you can bet that some of the workers at your company do. And you can bet that, in turn, those same workers probably don’t know where “rad” or “far out” came from.

In today’s multi-generational workforce, which has Baby Boomers, Gen–Xers and Millennials all working hand in hand, communication between the generations can be an issue—not that people are using slang in the workplace—but each generation has its own culture and language. 

To close the communication gap between the generations, communications courses that address the views, opinions and communication “stylos” of each generation and how they should respect each other in the workplace might be useful. Team–building activities and mentoring programs that help encourage workers of different generations to work together more harmoniously might be useful, as well.

“Right on…Like, totally…Fo’ shizzle.”