NEW YORK — Participants in CUNA's America's Credit Union Conference and Expo gained insight into what has shaped the different generations and how to deal with conflicting generational issues in the workplace.

Meagan Johnson, author and Johnson Training Group partner, started the "Zap the Gap" thought leader session with an exercise that asked the audience to make a list of characteristics of a particularly aggravating Gen Yer they know. As attendees rattled off a list of characteristics such as rude, lazy and irresponsible, Johnson displayed her own list containing the same characteristics. She then revealed that her list was from a 1968 Time magazine article describing the baby boom generation.

"My point is we're really describing a youthful generation and the definition of youthful is inexperienced and new," Johnson said.