What are these individuals actually experiencing?

• Neurobiological changes that are normal with age, resulting in impaired attention, diminished processing speed and deficits in working memory
  
  
• Failures of trusted strategies: multitasking and reliance on short-term memory
  
  
• Decline of visual and auditory systems
  
  
• Difficulty encoding and retrieving names, words and numbers
  
  
• Decline in spatial skills, including those required to navigate and follow directions
  
  
• Trouble absorbing new facts, skills, systems and procedures
  
  
• Anxiety related to making corporate presentations and speaking before audiences
  
  
• Impaired mental flexibility, resulting in less “out of the box” thinking
  
  
• A decline in self-esteem and self-confidence
  
  
• A midlife sleep deficit that negatively impacts attention and memory

Why is intervention important?

• Long-term, trusted employees form the backbone of a corporation, a reservoir of experience, talent and intellectual capital.
  
  
• For aging workers to remain on board, their cognitive needs must be addressed.
  
  
• Cognitive failures result in multiple errors, often “viral” in nature, and a heavy cost burden to the corporation.
  
  
• In a technology-driven environment, the ability to capitalize on training and education is increasingly important.
  
  
• Dismissals that result from a failure to perform may lead to filings of age-related discrimination lawsuits.

As a manager, what do I need to do differently?

• Help create an environment where older workers acknowledge changes in their cognitive conditions, so that they can develop effective management strategies.
  
  
• Inform employees about the multiple health and wellness issues that influence memory and attention.
  
  
• Develop programming that is geared to this demographic; do not assume that one size fits all. What’s fast and fun for twenty-somethings is often overwhelming for those in midlife.
  
  
• Acknowledge that this group came of age with technology; midlifers are not fearful of it, but may require extra training time.

Training Techniques

A significant part of the curriculum for Managing the Midlife Mind involves an examination of the requirements of training this group. In her presentations, Ms. Ramin provides multiple examples of how and where these problems surface, the scientific basis for each, and materials and illustrations that managers can put to work immediately.

• Think hands-on: For aging workers, hands-on training is far superior to watching or listening.
  
  
• Build in repetition: For improvement in performance, repetition is key; several times immediately after learning, then daily “refresher” practices. Older adults may take longer to learn a skill, but they are more accurate once they have "got it."
  
  
• Design for the group you’re training: Consider age-related changes in vision and psychomotor ability.
  
  
• Provide an overview: Why is this new learning important? How does it mesh with existing knowledge? Help the trainee understand why individual subtasks must be performed, and how they are related.
  
  
• Put information in context: Middle-aged people absorb new knowledge best when it can be linked to existing knowledge. Build on the existing skill base, stress practical applications.
  
  
• Watch for shame: Understand that midlife individuals often shy away from retraining or continuing education out of concern that their forgetfulness and waning abilities will embarrass them. Elevated anxiety negatively impacts working memory, and the ability to encode new information.
  
  
• Consider the target market: Offer technology training sessions geared to midlifers (but open to all). For these sessions, try using trainers who
  are themselves in midlife.
  
  
• Encourage self-monitoring practices: One big difference between younger and older people is that younger people unconsciously rehearse procedural steps, while older trainees do not, due to a deficit of working memory.
  
  
• Discourage multitasking: Discuss increased levels of distractibility and the need for conscious rehearsal of intentions.
  
  
• Watch for “back on the job” failure: New learning may not translate easily to real life contexts; what works in the training session may not be adopted in the office unless specific feedback and encouragement are offered.
  
  
• Go easy on interactivity and multimedia: Think twice before using multimedia training programs for this demographic; choose a training environment that allows the individual to focus, with as few distractions as possible.