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This is a good question, and people usually face this. I have personal experience dealing with such situation. In the beginning I used to hesitate ask senior people of solving urgent problems, stay late to resolve an issue which I realized is not correct. Slowly I built up trust with them by communicating their roles and expectations from them within the team and company's business objective; and set role for individuals within the project team. I communicate objectives, goals straight-forward and set roles for individuals clearly during project kick-off meetings. Now also I have people above my age as my direct reports and they do not have problems reporting to me. It's important to make them feel that they are important part of the team, and you have high expectations from them being seniors...
in the context of professionalism, this (generation or age gap) will not be a problem anymore - when a younger Project Manager manages the projects with some of the older Project Managers, supervisors etc. It all boils in the qualification and epxerience of the younger person leading the Team towards the business objectives of the company or organization.