A word of caution

Before we go too much further, let me state the obvious:  People are unique.  Regardless of what generation someone fits in, they have grown up in a unique cultural context and have their own personalities and quirks.

When we speak of generational trends, we are painting with a VERY broad brush.  It is true that cultural and technological trends change over time, and it is vital that managers understand how these changes affect them and their people, but we have to resist the urge to apply generational stereotypes to individuals.

What the research shows will help us form broad strategic plans for people and culture in our workplaces but it will not tell you how to lead Sara in accounting or Ahmed in operations.  This is not a substitute for getting to know your people personally.

No throwing people into boxes simply because of when they were born.  Deal?

Good.  Let’s dive in.

Millennials at work

According to the Pew Research Centre, the largest generation within the workplace today is the Millennial group, having overtaken Gen X back in 2016.

• They’re less loyal to brands and companies and are more willing to work elsewhere at any given point in time.
• They’re more educated, yet less wealthy.
• They’re far more diverse, with much greater representation of minorities in their midst.
• They’re more gender-equal, with women graduating college more often and earning higher incomes than ever before (though there’s still ground to cover here).
• They’re less attached to traditional institutions like marriage or religion.
• They’re more concerned about climate change and the environment (or at least they think they are)

Millennials are perhaps the most talked about and researched generation on record.

As you may recall, early findings seemed to paint a dismal picture, as stereotypes of entitlement and self-centredness arose.  As it turns out, many of those early traits have more to do with adolescence and one’s psychological stage of development than they do with your generational category.

As Millennials have grown up, they have proven to be ambitious in their careers and more fiscally responsible than their parents in many ways, saving earlier for retirement than both Gen X and Boomers.

Rather than being self-centred, they display higher levels of empathy than other generations and are more likely to view the world through someone else’s eyes.  According to Gallup’s research, they are highly attuned to the needs of others.

I could be biased, but Millennials turned out to be pretty ok.

This evolving picture is an important reminder that generational characteristics are not fixed and can change over time.

Gen Z at Work

By now, of course, many Millennials have become managers and business owners themselves, and the generation they’re trying to figure out is Gen Z.

Socially and politically, Gen Z bears a striking resemblance to their Millennial older siblings.  Many of the cultural trends have simply become more pronounced.

• The title of most diverse and educated generation has already shifted to Gen Z.
• Concerns over climate change continue to deepen.
• The exodus from organized religion and traditional institutions continues to pick up steam.
• The entire cohort has shifted further left in their political views, with the vast majority voting against Trump in the 2020 election.
• They are anti-racist, support gender-neutral pronouns, and believe that same-sex marriage is either good for society or simply a non-issue.

Interestingly, while they mirror Millennials on many issues, they have adopted many characteristics from Gen X as well.  According to a study from XYZ University, a generations research and consulting firm, Gen Z models the skepticism and individuality that is a hallmark of their parent’s generations.

While we haven’t had the chance to observe them for very long (most are still under 18), some of the trends being discovered are causing employers concern.

A call-out culture

Social psychologist and professor, Jonathan Haidt, points out that Gen Z may be one of the most sensitive generations alive today.

Gen Zers have shown an increased vigilance against offensive, discriminatory, and divisive viewpoints and have emphasized the importance of safe spaces that would provide shelter from these perspectives.  Not a bad trend, on the whole.

On the downside, this has reduced their willingness and ability to engage in healthy debate and constructive conflict.

The polarising “call-out culture” that Haidt has noticed on many post-secondary campuses discourages freethinking and harshly punishes anyone who expresses a viewpoint that doesn’t align with the current zeitgeist.

Haidt is concerned that this new reality, in which ideas are dangerous and individuals gain prestige by shaming others for their intolerance, is damaging to the values of open dialogue and debate that needs to be present in higher learning.

Like many professors on campus, this is causing some managers to walk on eggshells around this generation.

So, how exactly do these trends and characteristics affect workplace concerns like job choices, motivation, turnover, and management practices?

The short answer is, it’s complex.  As a manager, you ultimately still need to learn how to lead and work with your people, and your people may not fit the generational mold very well.

Your first step?  Listen to your team.  As you go through this series, take this information and run it by them.  Tell them what you’re learning and get their perspective.  They’ll refine and sharpen the picture for you.  The dialogue you have with them will turn the general into the particular.  You’ll be a better manager for it, and your people will be impressed that you took the time to try and understand them better.

There are five key shifts that are occurring in the mindsets and behaviours of the younger generations at work.  As I pour over the research from Deloitte, Gallup, Pew, Barna, XYZ University, and many others, these are the areas that stand out as having a significant impact on how we lead people today vs. 10, 20, or 80 years ago.

Call them idealistic, but the next-gen wants to do work that matters.  There has to be a purpose beyond a paycheque.  This search for meaning includes both a sense of personal significance (what does it mean for their life?) as well as a broader external significance (how does it impact others?). 

They are keenly aware of the societal issues that exist in our world, and they are looking to align themselves with organizations that are as “woke” as they are. 

This requires leaders to get crystal clear on their sense of organizational identity – who they are, what they stand for, and why the world needs them. 

2. Growth over promotion

Of the top five reasons why people choose an employer, the one that sets Millennials and Gen Z apart is having opportunities to learn and grow. 

As they establish themselves in their career, they feel the pressure to succeed and are looking for ways to give themselves an edge.  They know that they are unlikely to stay at any one place for more than a handful of years (certainly not until retirement), so they are constantly asking, “How is this place going to set me up successfully for what’s next?” 

They are certainly not opposed to receiving promotions, but they have to serve the broader purpose of growth and opening doors for the future.  To engage this generation, managers will need to look beyond the corporate ladder and find new ways to invest in the personal and professional growth of their teams.

3. Coaches over bosses

One thing is definitively over at this point: the age of old-school managers.  Anything that smacks of authoritarian or paternalistic leadership will be rejected out of hand.

They don’t want a manager who acts like a parent, giving them treats when they’re good and sending them to time-out when they don’t listen.

Because they are generally more jaded towards positions of authority, you will not gain influence in their life simply because you have a managerial title.

Today, managers need more than a sign on their door and the right bag of carrots and sticks.  They are more than someone who will hire you, fire you, and tell you what to do, all while maintaining a cool, professional distance.

Today, the greatest managers know their people personally and partner with them in their pursuit of self-discovery and personal mastery.

4. Partners over employees

Hand in hand with their redefined understanding of management is a redefinition of their own role.  Regardless of where on the org chart they enter, Millennials and Gen Z won’t see themselves as being at the bottom of some proverbial ladder.

They could have applied and gotten a job at any one of a hundred organizations, but they chose yours.  They are able to research and search out potential employers in a way that previous generations never could.  They are consumers of the workplace.  In short, they have the luxury of choice, which has caused the power equilibrium to shift.

They now expect to work collaboratively with leadership to accomplish shared goals.  They expect to not only be informed of strategic decisions but to be given a voice in those decisions as well.

They have something to contribute, and a wise manager will tap into this.

5. Integration over balance

To state a need for work/life balance is to say that these two entities are somehow at odds with one another, opposite ends of some cosmic scale that must be equally distributed.  Get the balance wrong and you can feel as though you are robbing either your employer or your family of what is theirs by right.

This dichotomy rarely works out for the best, though, for either employer or employee.

As a culmination of the other trends, Millennials and Gen Z expect to find meaning and significance in their work, not only outside of it.  They expect to grow both professionally and personally as a result of their career.  They want to partner with an organization to accomplish something of worth, not simply to work towards someone else’s goals in exchange for money.

What they are audacious enough to ask for is a career that adds value to their life and gives them the opportunity to exercise their unique strengths to do their best work.

This is bigger than Next-Gen

Some would look at these generational shifts and call this the idealism and entitlement of youth, but they would be wrong.

The shifts we are experiencing are not only generational but cultural.  What Millennials and Gen Z expect out of work is what everyone wants out of work today.  The worldview and perspective of every generation in the workforce has shifted over the last 40 years.  Our management practices just haven’t always kept up.

Learning to engage the younger generations at work is a strategy that will engage every generation more effectively.

Learning how to lead Millennials and Gen Z is about learning how to lead humans.

The end goal of this series is not to help you create workplaces that cater to one subgroup’s preferences at the expense of the others, but rather to embrace a philosophy of management that helps everyone thrive.

More on the way

We’re just beginning here, so if you want to dig deeper into these five shifts, stick around.

The rest of the series is focused on zooming in on each area and providing practical insight as to how managers and leaders can create more engaging workplaces for both the young and the old(er).

Head on over to part two in this series where we tackle the first shift: Meaning over Money.

Let’s keep moving forward together.

Dan