In the first of a series of articles for Merch Magazine, leadership specialist, David Haylor addresses the challenges of managing multi-generational expectations

As those who saw my presentation at the recent BPMA conference will know, there is often a lot of misunderstanding between younger and older generations in the workplace.

I am a supporter of our younger colleagues, but appreciate that such tensions can be challenging when it comes to leading teams.

In addressing these issues, it is important to grasp what is going on and understand some of the underlying context that creates it.

So, what’s the problem?

When I walk into any room to discuss this topic, I ask the audience for one word which defines Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012).

It’s a long list but the number one, by far, is “entitled”.

Now, let’s be honest, the precise day, month, year any of us is born is irrelevant. For any individual, terms like Gen Z and Gen X are meaningless nonsense. If I went back and asked any audience over the last 2000 years what they thought of the younger generation I would likely get a similar response.

But… and it’s a big one…

When we talk about leadership we need to step back and see the bigger picture and that bigger picture tells me that if I have 500 25-year-olds in a room and 500 50-year-olds, I can predict their average responses with great accuracy. Also, the times we live in are taking that natural older/younger generation perception gap and putting rocket fuel under the issues that separate us.

To name just some examples:

The cumulative pace of change. Technological change, social change, political chaos, climate change, economic turmoil, the tectonic shift in the geo-political make-up of the world, Brexit, Covid… I could go on. All of this leaves organisations and individuals a little punch drunk. They find it hard to focus on the positive, the opportunity and the constructive next step. Instead fear and anxiety defines a lot of long-term thinking and decision making.

Covid and lockdowns. This is not a political point, simply a psychological observation. Gen Z in the workplace today were in their late teens to early 20s when they were locked down for the best part of two years. There is a lot of data on the impact of that but for now I will simply say that if you put any human being into a closed environment for more than 10% of their total lived experience and say, don’t go out, don’t take risks, stay safe; guess what happens? It has obviously dented their confidence levels, perception of risk and willingness to move outside of their comfort zone.

AI. Gen Z is the generation seeing a technology whose algorithms are being used to run up to two interview stages for large firms, to run dating apps, and, in their perception at least, take jobs. Unemployment is running at approximately 16% for 18- to 24-year-olds and they face rejection and fear of the future with a bot telling them they’re not good enough.

Economic reality. Gen Z have never seen a boom – they have only ever seen stagnation and recession. They don’t expect to buy a house, many can’t afford rent away from home, and they doubt they can ever afford a family. They certainly don’t expect to be better off than their parents. That influences what you believe you can aspire to, what motivates you and your response when your director tells you to work harder.

All of this leads to a workplace where the older generation expect the younger generation to work as they did, to follow the old rules, to sign up to the same social contract. Whereas the younger generation are asking ‘is it worth it’? Why should they think otherwise? And who was it who rigged the system against them?

All of this has damaged all our belief in future potential, but especially so for Gen Z. Most importantly it has broken their trust in authority, in the systems around them and the older generation who have made all the decisions in their young lives.

Frankly, would you trust us given the seeming mess we appear to be making of everything?

However, I am an optimist, honestly. There are brilliant people and teams who are taking the above context finding the positive and the opportunity and leading the charge for all of us.

In my next piece, I’ll talk about the solution and how we replicate the energy, creativity and high performance that some of your teams already have.

There are reasons to be positive, I promise!

David Haylor is CEO of Haylor Leadership, a specialist in maximising the potential of teams