The Ins & Outs of Managing Gen Z

Your 20s are the time in your life when you really start growing up. They’re the pivotal years when being an adult becomes very real, very fast. At 24, I was lucky enough to land my first management position. My own managers had seen something special in me and decided to take a chance. Now, 11 years later, I find myself doing the same.

After managing a number of different generations, personalities and job titles, there’s no denying that Gen Z is different. But any good leader knows that differences have their upsides. Diversity of thought is essential to innovating and avoiding blind spots of the past.

With a new-found perspective, you’ll find that working with Gen Z is not a hindrance but an opportunity. Once you learn who Gen Z is and what they want out of work, it’s easy to play to their strengths and build a high performing team.

Who is Gen Z?

The Collins Dictionary defines Generation Z as "members of the generation of people born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s who are seen as confident users of new technology."

They’re a growing part of the global workforce that will eventually catch up to the Millennial population over the next decade or so.

While there is some debate on where Millennials end and where Gen Z begins, I tend to agree that the difference between these two generations is their relationship with the internet.

As a Millennial in my mid-30s, I can clearly remember our family’s first computer. I was 13 when we got it and saw it more as a purveyor of Pac-Man than access to the world. There was no internet connection – even dial-up internet was a few years away for us.

Meanwhile, most of my employees in their 20s have never known a world without the internet. To them, technology is an extension of the physical world; they blend together in one experience.

Gen Z and the internet dilemma

Raised on the internet, it’s no surprise that Gen Z is more tech savvy than many of their predecessors. They come in with knowledge on the latest apps, analytics and social media platforms, and are often happy to mentor their colleagues on these technologies.

This can be a huge perk, an essential step in staying ahead of the curve and remaining competitive in your industry.

But proximity to the internet has also introduced some friction between generations, especially with the pandemic having flipped a switch in academic and corporate settings where professional skills were once taught in-person.

This creates some incongruity in the workplace where Boomers, Gen Xers and even Millennials are used to certain communication styles that Gen Z just can’t replicate.

In the generations preceding Gen Z, it’s been common to approach digital communication with some skepticism. I did a bachelor's degree in PR, and was taught the importance of communication through body language, tone and delivery. Through the changing workplace of scheduled online meetings and a generation that finds talking to a screen normal, it’s become increasingly difficult to use my communication skills effectively.

So I made the effort. Making ad hoc calls to my team, without a scheduled agenda and regardless of reporting line, has allowed me to get to know them and, most importantly, they’ve gotten to know me. These casual calls with my team, and my team’s team, have taught me a great deal about Gen Z and what they want out of work – a critical first step in learning how to manage them.

Characteristics of a Gen Z professional

As a department leader, it’s my responsibility to build a highly effective team that drives business outcomes. In growing a team that regularly welcomes diverse personalities and talents, I’ve become keenly aware of what Gen Z brings to the table.

Gen Z’s unique mix of drive, curiosity and an appetite for fairness and equality makes them a pleasure to work with, once you understand them.

Here’s a few things to remember when managing your Gen Z team:

Gen Z wants control of their destiny

Each generation has its version of dreamers and the Gen Z dreamers are driven. They are dreamers who become doers. More so than their Millennial predecessors, Gen Zers don’t mind getting started without a road map or blueprint to success.

Their innate feeling of curiosity fuels innovative thinking and empowers them to move forward without much guidance or know-how. It’s important for leaders not to squash this, but instead enhance it by giving more authority and ownership to their outcomes.  

Gen Z doesn’t want to do work that they feel is meaningless; they love a good passion project. They’ve also grown up in a world where climate change, social inequality, and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are widely acknowledged as major global challenges. As a result, many Gen Z professionals have a strong sense of social responsibility and want to make a positive impact in the world.

Find out what makes them tick and try to play to those strengths whenever possible. Point the outgoing people-person towards prospecting, or see if your creative problem-solver might thrive in product development. The Gen Zer on your team who loves seeking out information could be best suited to a research role, while the methodical, process-driven new hire would rise to the challenge of risk analysis.

Regardless of what their interests are, the things Gen Zers care about play a big role in everything they do. Gen Z’s best outcomes arise when they get to mix passion with a paycheck.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world, but not for Gen Z

We have all heard the saying “attitude over skill.” In years past, I was used to hiring more independent and autonomous workers, your getting-down-to-business types. Now I have a new dimension to consider when hiring: whether new hires will be friends with the team.  

Gen Z will forge partnerships whether you intend it or not. They’re resourceful and will seek out advice and insight from their peers whenever possible.

I learned this by accident when I assigned my team a series of solo projects and realized that they were holding regular meetings together, sharing their feedback and helping each other with decisions. I was grateful it happened by accident and having seen it work so well, I wouldn’t dare break it.

The reality is that Gen Z isn’t willing to climb on others’ backs to reach the top. They want to get there together, so make sure you’re cultivating a team environment that supports this.

Pressure makes diamonds, but it also bursts pipes

Challenging your team to be more creative, set higher goals and aspire to great things is key to maintaining their growth trajectory.

But it’s a balance.

I’m not talking pressure like the old days: long hours, wondering if you’re being noticed, thinking you’ll lose opportunities if you’re not in the right place at the right time. This path to success just isn’t sustainable for Gen Z.

For Gen Z, it’s less about politics and more about output. When you encourage them to incrementally step up their quality of work to a higher and higher level, you might just find that you’ve inspired a masterpiece.

Gen Z wants to make a difference. Giving them more responsibility and higher benchmarks to hit gives them purpose and a tangible path to success.

But remember, whatever path you put them on must be reasonable. Gen Z is the generation that values work-life balance the most. They are quick to identify unhealthy behaviors or relationships as “toxic,” and the “toxic workplace” is no exception.

To them, a toxic workplace is one where they aren’t treated with respect – whether that’s respect for their time, their results or the value of their labor.  

Coaching Gen Z to greatness

In an increasingly digital world where hybrid and remote work have become the new norm, it’s harder and harder to utilize hands-on mentorship as a means of upskilling.

Here’s what I suggest for coaching and motivating your Gen Z team:

1. Rethink your training program

When you report to work in person, it’s usually easy to spot the movers and shakers, the ones who seem to have the respect of everyone, or at least a rapport with them.

Nowadays, observing professional discussions across the office or between your superiors is much less common from behind the laptop screen. The teaching of communication skills and office dynamics should be more explicit.

If you notice that networking, communication and soft skills aren’t quite up to snuff among your Gen Z hires, add these to your training program. Much of Gen Z has navigated higher ed and the professional environment almost entirely online. As a result, prioritizing tasks, troubleshooting systems, time management and business writing may not come naturally to them.

Training on these essential skills might look different for each new hire or cohort. Designing a soft skills training should start with an assessment. Start this assessment by asking your Gen Z employees to set their own goals and spot their own areas for improvement, rather than doing it for them.

2. Motivate with meaning

If you’re used to managing Gen Z’s predecessors, you might be used to monetary bonuses, physical plaques and awards, overtime offers or other traditional motivators. But Gen Z is seeking more than just money, they’re seeking out meaning.

To motivate with meaning, make sure your Gen Z cohort gets plenty of facetime with their peers and managers. Gen Zers want connection and not to feel like a number.

They are also eager to learn and make an impact. Giving them the opportunity to work through problems, share recent successes or even personal anecdotes with their peers will bring meaning to the workplace and keep them invested in the team.

Organize regular team check-ins and don’t skip the small talk. Sometimes the buzz of catching up with their peers is just what they need to get a project or deal back on track.

3. Constant education

I’ve already mentioned Gen Z’s innate curiosity, which makes them ravenous learners. Professional development is of utmost interest to Gen Z. They want the tools for success, especially if you’re funding it!

In my experience, the cost benefit analysis checks out. Setting aside budget for professional development or coursework will pay for itself when your team comes back stronger and more set up for success.

4. Career planning

More so than their Millennial counterparts, Gen Z is eager to know what’s next. Millennials will take 12 months before they slyly enter my office, without notice or preparation, asking for my advice on how to move up. With Gen Z, I’m finding it’s as early as 3 months along, and sometimes even on day one they are asking what’s next?!

While you may not be ready to make them your next director, these early discussions are an opportunity to chart out their path at the company.

Most of the time, they don’t know what they want, they just want purpose and meaning. It’s your job to hear them out on their interests at the company and show them how they can get there while matching the business objectives. Help them invest in their careers and make them responsible for the outcome. Once they reach their end goal, it’s much more rewarding knowing they had a big hand in it.