How to lead Gen Z in today’s evolving workplace
After the interview, you gave a job applicant an “A” and hired her.
Since then, she’s been late two days out of five, leaves early most afternoons and her coworkers say she’s abrasive. You thought — you think — she’d be a great employee, but now you’re at the end of your rope. Read the new book “The Future Begins with Z” by Tim Elmore and see how things could B.
In his travels and through many contacts he’s made, Growing Leaders CEO Elmore says he’s noticed that younger workers are struggling in the workplace, and employers are struggling with them. The cause, he suggests, seems to be that Generation Z is unique: they have strong ideas about how work is done, they’re not afraid to speak up and they’re quite perfectly willing to quit a job for their “mental health.”
Employing and accommodating them, he says, will mean big changes in business, now and in the future, which will usher in new mindsets for employers intent on utilizing Gen Z’s work attitudes and thought processes. For example, as internet natives who’ve always lived in a 24/7 world and who thrive on instant media as news, Gen Z has enjoyed a much wider exposure to information than have their older coworkers. That alone makes them great assets.
However, though it makes Gen Z open to innovation and shaking up the status quo, exposure is not the same as experience.
To make a recalcitrant Gen Z into the kind of employee you need, Elmore says that listening is essential. Coach them and give them mentors. Recognize that they’ve endured unique pressures and events that you may never understand, but don’t buy into the myths about them. Learn to appreciate the best of what they’ll bring to the workplace. Know what they want from the job. Learn to speak their language and make them want to stay.
And strive to improve your own style of leadership.
The result, says Elmore, is worth it.
The next sound you hear may be a round of groans. And that’s okay but understand this: the old way of working isn’t working anymore, Gen Z isn’t going anywhere, and they may be your next competitor, according to Elmore.
Gen Z, he says, love being entrepreneurs.
That’s just one of the things you’ll learn inside “The Future Begins with Z,” a book that’s useful right from the beginning, as Elmore starts with double-sided empathy and zero blame-laying. He continues by making his methods easy to understand and to launch, helping to set a tone of careful near reconciliation for both ends of the table. Bonus: quick chapter takeaways that you can refer to often, so stock up on your sticky flags.
Supervisors, business owners and CEOs will find plenty of useful nuggets inside “The Future Begins with Z” and Gen Z workers will want to read it to understand their next employer’s POV. With this book, learning how to succeed in the new workplace, no matter what your position, could be as easy as A-B-C.
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