How to Collaborate Effectively with Gen Z

Below, Tim Elmore shares five key insights from his new book, The Future Begins with Z: Nine Strategies to Lead Generation Z as They Disrupt the Workplace.

Tim is the founder and CEO of Growing Leaders, a nonprofit dedicated to developing emerging leaders. As a speaker and coach, he has helped organizations from universities to Fortune 500 companies connect more effectively across generations.

What’s the big idea?

Many leaders are scratching their heads over Gen Z. The old playbook doesn’t work anymore—but figuring out how to engage and collaborate with this generation is what turns good leaders into great ones.

Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Tim himself—below, or in the Next Big Idea App.

1. Turn frustration with Gen Z into hope.

According to a survey by ResumeBuilder.com, three in four managers agree that today’s young employees, from Generation Z, are the toughest generation to lead. I believe Gen Z is frustrating to us because they seem so very different, and often unexplainable.

I think it’s because of a phenomenon I call The Peter Pan Paradox. Peter Pan could mysteriously fly into London and sprinkle Pixie dust everywhere to make magical things happen. On the other side of the coin, Peter Pan wanted to live in Neverland, where boys never have to grow up. Over the last decade, I’ve noticed something magical and tragic happening in culture.

The Age of Authority is decreasing. Gen Zers often come in with an authority that doesn’t require a title. They are intuitive about using AI. They see where culture is going. They know how to monetize social media, and they have visibility on future customers.

At the same time, the Age of Maturity is increasing. They often come in behaving unprofessionally. The pandemic delayed their growth. Their social and emotional skills are delayed in development. Employers are saying 26 is the new 18. Almost one in three employers fire them in the first month. So, how should leaders respond?

• We must listen more than we used to listen to young staff.
• We must coach more than we used to coach young staff.

Maya was hired right out of college—and immediately her team could tell she’d never had a full-time job before. She wore flip flops to work and often arrived at the office ten minutes late. Maya spent most team meetings quietly, glancing at her phone from time to time. Her manager spent extra time coaching her on the fundamentals, hoping she’d catch up.

Then, one day, the payoff happened. Maya burst into her manager’s office with a big smile on her face. She told him she’d been thinking about a problem their team had been discussing for months. Maya had an idea on how they could use AI to solve that problem. It ended up being an incredible solution. No one had known what was going on inside her head. You might say, Maya became her own version of Peter Pan.

2. Gen Z ROI is well worth it.

In 2018, Colin Webb graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, he served four terms as class council president and now serves his alma mater as a member of the MIT corporation, the school’s board of trustees. Upon graduation, he was offered a job by General Motors. Colin was asked to serve as a design, release, and development engineer for their Cruise autonomous vehicle program. He helped make smart cars. He quickly realized he was part of an old industry with a traditional style of getting things done. Obviously, he and his young teammates brought some new ideas, but when he bounced them off his supervisor, he was told to keep his head down and his nose to the grindstone. Soon after, however, Collin did something audacious. He emailed Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, and shared his ideas for improving the company. Mary replied and agreed that his ideas were good and that she’d take them to her executive team. They, too, agreed his ideas were good.

But when those ideas made their way down the organizational chart, they died on the vine. Again, Collin was told to keep his head down and nose to the grindstone. In fact, he was told it would take about eight years before he’d get the chance to lead anything. They might as well have told Collin to leave. Within a year, Collin had left the company, even though he is not a quitter. Since then, he has started three companies and sold one of them. He’s doing very well, working hard and living his dream—working with AI. Sadly, similar stories happen all the time. Too often, supervisors miss what Gen Zers bring to the team for three reasons:

• When we’re comfortable, we default to: That’s not the way we do it here.
• When we’re scared, we become more concerned with procedures than with progress.
• When we’re experienced, we assume they’re young and don’t know much.

In 2017, a woman walked into a New Hampshire thrift store looking for a picture frame she could restore. She found one for four dollars and thought, “Even if I can’t use it, the price is inexpensive.” She bought it. When she got home, her family examined it and said, “The frame is nice enough, but the painting inside looks like it’s from a famous artist. You should have it evaluated.” When the woman did, she discovered it was an N.C. Wyeth painting that later sold for $191,000. Not a bad trade-off.

In many ways, this is an analogy for Gen Z. We usually don’t spend a lot on them right away since all we can see is their frame. Later, we realize it’s what’s inside of them that’s so valuable. Let’s stop treating them like expendable commodities and begin treating them like currency worthy of investment. Let’s find a way to connect with and get curious about them. This may be key to thriving in the future.

3. Relationship and trust mean everything to Gen Z.

Many Gen Z team members enter their careers directly after college, without having had a full-time job before. Parents encouraged them to focus on academics, but we all know that the classroom rarely resembles the workroom. Four in five Gen Z job candidates go so far as to bring their parents with them to the interview.

At the same time, they also bring with them a new perspective on authority. Much like Generation X some 35 years ago, they are suspicious of corporate leaders, political leaders, educational leaders, and even religious leaders due to stories of corruption. This has fostered a significantly different view of authority than that held by seasoned business veterans.

OLDER GENERATIONS

1. Position gives you right to influence.
2. Older folks have wisdom.
3. Systems offer order to chaos.
4. We must listen to the man at the top.
5. The top dog wins the debate.
6. The leader is a gatekeeper.

YOUNGER GENERATIONS

1. Connection gives you right to influence.
2. Older folks may be irrelevant.
3. Systems must be disrupted or grow.
4. Top people should be listening to us.
5. The best idea wins the debate.
6. The leader is a guide.

Relationships and trust mean everything to most members of Generation Z. While research confirms they don’t trust most traditional institutions, they do trust people—even people from older generations—whom they get to know. So, here are the shifts we should make:

• Don’t think control, think connect.
• Don’t think inform, think interpret.
• Don’t think what, think why.
• Don’t think inputs, think outcomes.
• Don’t think tell, think ask.
• Don’t think manage, think mentor.

We don’t know much about the future, but we do know that Generation Z will be there. Let’s build bridges of relationship that can bear the weight of honest disclosure. Everyone will win.

4. How to hire Gen Z.

Thousands of companies are struggling with the diminishing number of job candidates. I describe what lies ahead in a metaphor I call A New Kind of Storm:

• We are facing a blizzard. Young people often won’t take traditional entry-level jobs as they did in the past.
• This blizzard is part of a new winter season. A smaller population, plus issues with addiction and incarceration, reduces the employment pool.
• This may be part of a larger new ice age. Within a decade, there will be more 65-year-olds than 16-year-olds in the U.S.

So, what can we do?

• Make your organization’s offering more attractive.
• Make their job the best first job to launch their career.
• Approach your role as a mentor, not a manager.

Gen Z seems to know it’s a buyer’s market when it comes to getting a job. Sally hosted an interview with a Gen Zer (we’ll call him Owen). In the interview, she asked Owen to describe a time when he faced a challenge and was proud of how he made it through. She was pleased with his response and, three days later, asked HR to extend an offer to Owen. His response? He said, “Are you kidding me? There’s no way I will work for that woman. She triggered my PTSD when she asked me to talk about a challenge of mine. It didn’t feel psychologically safe.”

We need a new approach to job interviews, especially with Gen Z candidates. For many, it’s a new experience, and employers can use this acronym to get acquainted:

P – Preferences. What do you wish to be true about the job?
E – Expectations. What are your assumptions about the work?
R – Requirements. Any demands or deal breakers?
K – Keys to their heart. Get to know them beyond their role as a worker.
S – Salary. Clarify, and possibly negotiate.

This is your chance to build a bridge. Don’t miss the opportunity to do so.

5. Not all Gen Z myths are true.

Many bosses (or people over 45) see Gen Z behave in certain ways, don’t understand it, and then stereotype them. During my research for this book, I shared some of these stereotypes with Gen Z focus groups. I will never forget meeting with one group and communicating that many leaders believe that Gen Zers don’t really want to work. After all, they leave right at 5 pm, and don’t stay a minute longer. They often leave a task halfway done and head out. It feels like they don’t like to be there. One 21-year-old, full-time team member replied, “Dr. Tim, do you know why I leave right at 5? I rush out because I need to get to another job. I don’t make enough to pay the bills at this first job. Then, I go take care of my mom, who has stage 4 cancer.” Suddenly, I realized this Gen Zer’s work ethic is just fine.

There is, however, one stereotype that’s not a myth. Millions of Gen Zers can be fragile, especially when receiving feedback. It seems that “hard” is the new “harsh.” Some have never had to hear firm feedback face-to-face with a boss. One of the most challenging situations leaders must face is hosting difficult conversations. Many supervisors avoid them.

I created another acronym for sitting down with and correcting a teammate:

A – Ask. Asking questions makes them feel valued.
L – Listen. Listening makes them feel heard. Gen Zers want to have a voice.
E – Empathize. Empathizing makes them feel understood.
G – Guide. This is when you can provide the necessary feedback.

The correction was communicated using a bridge, not a badge.

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