Our working environment has changed. Have you adapted your leadership style accordingly?
Today, leadership hinges on the ability to influence people to see a vision for the future and empower them to achieve common goals and purpose. This is the new power of competence. But it is a hugely challenging task when we have dispersed and multigenerational workforces who lack mutual understanding. Looking at the behaviours and expectations of Gen X versus Gen Z you are witness to a completely different breed.
Coleen and Pippa discussed this leadership challenge and welcomed everyone to :
Ask yourself – have you adapted your leadership style to accommodate the priorities and needs of Gen Z? Do you even know what they are?
Expert Simon Casebourne shares his insight from twenty years spent working with senior leadership in education:
1. This is the generation that has no understanding of life before the internet. This gives them a wealth of information but greater controls, and ultimately more limited life experience.
What it means: They are less equipped with soft skills needed in the workplace.
2. They operate in non hierarchical structures. Teachers use language like ‘working with’ or ‘partnering’, but teaching or telling. They inhabit a world of feedback loops and improvements.
What it means: This change in culture has led to an expectation of regular contact with senior leaders, kind feedback and support.
3. They care about well-being, welfare and doing the right thing. This is not optional.
What it means: As a leader you need to model best practice, be authentic, be human.
4. They test things and figure things out. They are self-curious and picky about what they commit to doing and what they won’t do.
What it means: They are ten times more likely than previous generations to job hop and won’t automatically be loyal to the business or even the sector.
With these insights in mind, is it time to review your company’s onboarding policies and inductions? Often they’ve not been updated in ten years and time has moved on.
What is clear is that in order to engage these younger generations – and workplace engagement is only 10% in the UK according to a 2023 Gallup survey – you need to be a vibrant, in touch leader. Focused on putting people, their uniqueness, their differing communication needs and diversity first.
Ask yourself – do you really understand the values of your workforce? And do they align with your company values?
To do this, you need to stop work. Stop work and listen to them. Conduct a survey to find out what matters to them and what they think of the company they work for.
The younger generation know what matters to them. They care about diversity, equity and inclusion policies and green issues. They expect tech to work. These are basic requirements.
Once you have conducted the survey, analyse the results, decide where you’re going to focus, identify the quick wins and plan for your longer term activity.
It is your job as leader to understand the reality of where you are, define where you want to get to and make it happen. And if you do this, staff engagement and business results will follow. The two go hand in hand.
This webinar is one of 3 in a series that helps leaders future-proof their organisations. Check out the others on our resources page.