Mastering Leadership for Gen Z and Millennials: Inspiring & Retaining the Emerging Workforce (Episode 152)

Ready to crack the code on leading the emerging workforce? I'm Dr. Jason Wiggins, your guide to mastering the art of resonating with Gen Z and Millennials. This episode is packed with strategies to boost your leadership game, ensuring you're not just heard, but that you inspire. We'll uncover the secret sauce to work-life harmony, ignite the innovative spirit, and demonstrate the undeniable influence of leading by example. Brace yourself for a deep dive into the heart of modern leadership, where you'll discover how to embrace individuality while upholding the gold standard in organizational KPIs.

Strap in for a reality check on the traditional annual review—spoiler alert: it's time to say goodbye. With an emphasis on regular, impactful feedback, we navigate the intricacies of creating an environment where your team doesn't just survive, but thrives. Ever wonder how to react when a Gen Z star player decides to step off the field without a word? We'll tackle such a scenario head-on, prompting you to rethink the value of connection and comprehension within your ranks. From fostering a sense of belonging to ensuring each task is steeped in purpose, this conversation is your toolkit for nurturing the vibrant talent of today's youth and securing their loyalty for tomorrow's triumphs.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Well, hello friends. Welcome to your Motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert podcast. I'm your host, dr Jason Wiggins. This podcast is for Gen Z and Millennials, on how we can help improve your lives professionally and personally, while motivating you to reach your goals. This is a weekly podcast, with new episodes generated each and every Monday, barring a holiday. I hope everyone had a terrific weekend.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Let's get our heads right and get into today's show. Today's discussion will revolve around how Gen Z and Millennials would like to be managed and how these same leadership skills can help each and every one of you become better leaders. And besides that, we will also be diving into our segment, the what Would you Do, where we discuss a topic and we'd like to see how you think about, how you would also react to that and what you would do in that situation and that what would you do moment, and we will also discuss three excellent quotes that will leave you motivated to the next episode. And then we'll recap our discussion and send you knowing that you're going to have a great week and we'll set you up for success. So, again, welcome. The important aspect about leadership is how do you impact someone else's work to be better than it currently is, and it's not all about how we focus on the work. It's about how we can motivate that individual to step up to the next level, to be bigger, to be better, and it's the same reflection we have within ourselves. So, if I'm a Gen Z or Millennial or I'm leading a Gen Z and Millennial, these are the key steps or progress that we can make to impact the work of Gen Z and Millennials and as leaders.

Speaker 1: 2:34

And the most important, I always say, is to encourage work, life balance and innovation. And that means what is the best way to work? Well, the best way to work is how each and every individual decides that they want to work, as long as they are meeting the efficiencies and overall well-being and meeting the standards and the KPIs of the organization. As I've mentioned in previous podcasts, some people are morning people, some people are night people, some people like to have a midday, do something else during that time. They have a midday activity, and that's fine, as long as the work gets done and we can state that we had a productive day, even though we might have spent two hours or three hours during the midday doing an activity. But we worked in the morning, we worked at night. We reached the goals of the organization and there's no concern about our overall work and our work ethic. And you have to learn to be innovative. So work life balance and innovation means one way does it fit all? It's kind of like when you pull up a pair of jeans in the morning. You know some will wear a large jeans, some will wear small jeans. One size is not going to necessarily fit all, and that is the same within leaders, regardless if you're motivating or mentoring baby boomers, gen X, gen Z or millennials. It's all about the impact that we make within our organization. And then, when we make that impact, how do we feel about that impact inside? How do we feel about our contributions? Well, when you have a work life balance and you're innovative, you're probably going to feel a lot better.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Leading by example. Leading by example is about being authentic inspect what you expect. So if you expect others to do this, then you need to be able to expect that out of yourself, which is the inspection part. And when you're lead by examples, it's not about being told what to do and simply obeying, like previous generations, the traditionalist baby boomers and, to some extent, generation X. It's about leading by example, through vision and feedback, and when you do that, you also want to ensure that you have a right culture, which means you also need to hire right. So encouraging work life balance and innovation, leading by example, making sure that the values that you have are also nurtured and then conveyed onto Gen Z and millennials to be great contributors. As they know, you would do the same thing for them, understanding the needs.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Now, this is interesting because Gen Z is the first generation to make demands for what they believe is important in the workplace. They are the very first. Now millennials have kind of dabbled in it. They've set their mark, but Gen Z's have been the ones that have been very out forthcoming when it came to their demands of what they want. This includes wanting more, prioritizing important aspects like mental health, having those flexibility with hours, getting more vacation time, and not settling. It's about betting on yourself. Leaders should begin to understand that Gen Z employees need to have open dialogue with the leadership team with their direct report. It's important to ask for feedback and to react appropriately to avoid high levels of turnover. High levels of turnover within Gen Z millennials is not rare. It's not rare because organizations are a little bit behind on learning how to understand and appropriate the right skill set to improve retention of Gen Zs and millennials in the workforce. Again, understand the employees needs, specifically Gen Z and, of course, millennials to a certain degree. But again, some of these aspects will also fall in line with what's important to baby boomers and Generation X, depending on the individuals. Characteristics are just that Characteristics. They do not hold weight for every single person, regardless of generations.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Providing growth opportunities. This is important why? Because if employees get stagnant, they don't feel like their contributions are meaningful, they don't feel that they're making a contribution to the organization and the organization is not catering to the individual by stating that we appreciate what you do. Then guess what? Then Gen Z and millennials will be looking for other opportunities. Therefore, growth opportunities not only should be a priority, they need to be a baseline for success within each and every organization. When organizations don't provide growth opportunities or a blueprint to success for the organization, then the organization and the employee are not gonna meet in the middle Meaning. The employee will likely leave for another opportunity where there is more monetary value, where there's more appreciation and other aspects of the compensation.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Now, millennials and Gen Zs are notorious for desiring change, change that will challenge the status quo and command more of a voice within the organization. This is not the baby boomers, this is not Generation X. You cannot just tell them to do something and expect it to be done. Or should you? Why? Because leadership is simply put, transforming and motivating others to reach their full and maximize potential. And if you are focusing on keeping Gen Zs and millennials within a box and stating this is what I expected of you no less, no more then you will not have a productive employee and they will continue to ask for change. They desire change, they demand change.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Another key component of really dialing in Gen Z and millennial is, simply put, authentic leadership means focus on the individual. It is easy to stereotype different generations, but focusing on the individual and what motivates and inspires them is the best path for success. Knowing that millennials and Gen Z workers are motivated by being able to contribute, feeling valued and making change where it matters should tie efforts to impact through leadership, reinforce their overall appreciation. And then why don't we also, as leaders, consider the investments, the small investments, in development to keep teams fresh, to keep them to continue to improve their skills and to keep the team progressing and moving forward with the company goals. Just to quickly recap we've talked about innovation, work-life balance, leading by example, understanding the needs of Gen Z and millennials, providing growth opportunities, leveraging the desire for change, focusing on the individuals.

Speaker 1: 12:12

The next important aspect to create the momentum to create that continued dynamic within an organization. An organization can only, can only be successful when two things happen One, when they value the employee, when they show that they truly appreciate they value the employee, and when you're able to learn from your Gen Z and millennial employee. This is important because why? This is where reverse mentorship comes in. If you're an older employee of the organization, why not be the one that has an impact by listening to what the millennial and Gen Z employee are saying? This is referred to as reverse mentoring.

Speaker 1: 13:07

We want to make sure that Gen Z and millennials we know that they're comfortable with technology. Maybe baby boomers are not, so this is a great opportunity for Gen Z and millennials to provide that fantastic feedback. Why? Because they were born with technology. They have innate ease with which they interact with the information and the connectivity that technology helps foster. Gen Z and millennials view the world as a place that is equally accessible by any means. We have Google, we have YouTube, we have all these different open opportunities to continue to learn. Gen Z and millennials will continue to bring fantastic and new ideas.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Leaders need to have curiosity and an openness to learn from them, to learn from Gen Z and millennials and, as they learn from their current leaders, then they will be able to demonstrate that knowledge, that appreciation, that activeness, ability to learn. I always like to say when you stop learning, you start dying. It's a morbid concept, but that's why it is so important to realize our strengths, but to also realize our weaknesses. When we realize our weaknesses, it provides the opportunity to demonstrate that we don't have all the answers, we don't know exactly how things are supposed to be, but we need to continue to learn from others.

Speaker 1: 14:48

One of the other key dynamics for leadership for Gen Z and millennials either as a participant or as a leader, you need to walk the culture talk. It is very, very important to understand that millennials and Gen Zs will not tolerate toxic cultures, a misalignment between words and the action of leaders, or work that won't flex to fit the personal lives, and discrimination. This is key. Where we always talk about equality, we talk about inclusive diversity. These are concepts that Gen Z and millennials are very passionate about, and they will not tolerate toxic cultures. Leaders need to have conversations with all team members to establish a culture that is safe, while aligning expectations and commitments, and they need to walk the culture talk. That's why it is so important for each organization, on their website, during their meetings, during the leadership calls, is to continue to emphasize what the culture is, what the contributing mission and vision statements are and how they should be aligned with the overall goals of the organization. That involve charities, involve employees, involve in helping others. These are key components of every single organization in order to ensure that there is no misalignment between Gen Zs, millennials and the leadership team.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Lead with humanity, be compassionate, be empathetic, be nurturing, be a mother, be a father, listen to what the employee has to say. It doesn't mean always agree, but it means understand, listen, let them be heard, let their voice be heard by the leadership team, and they may have some great ideas that are going to be impactful for the organization, improve the organization. But I always like to say we are given two ears in one mouth for a reason why Because it first starts with listening. If a Gen Z or millennial doesn't feel like they're being heard, they don't feel like their concerns matter, then that is very concerning and if it's concerning, you're risking losing great employees.

Speaker 1: 17:40

Remember to always invest in Gen Z and millennials. Invest in them early, invest in them often, let them be able to continue to learn ideas, promote growth. When you do this, it's a better opportunity that they're not looking for their next opportunity. What does that mean? Because if they're not getting the tools or getting the growth development within your organization from learning new things, they're going to get stagnant. And, as we know from Gen Z and millennials, when they get stagnant, they look to look at different organizations that they would like to leave. For there's a lot of organizations out there that promote growth, they promote development, they promote exclusivity, diversity and equality. And if your organization doesn't have a good culture, doesn't have a good leadership, it's not like it used to be. You cannot just put a company together and state, okay, let's recruit employees, have a great team, reward via compensation and ensure that we meet the company goals, because that is not the goal of a Gen Z and millennial. It is not going to be working with your organization for years to come if you have a simplified work platform, if you have an aggressive growth and development structure where the employees are seen as an important aspect of the organization, then you're going to be likely in a better outcome for keeping Gen Z and millennials.

Speaker 1: 19:25

What is the biggest cost within an organization? It's losing valuable employees, it's losing the effectiveness of the organization, losing the culture of your organization. That is why you need to invest in Gen Z and millennials and you need to treat them with respect, be empathetic, be a great listener and have a great culture, and you always want to ensure that leadership across the board from the CEO to the board members, to everybody that is part of the organization you want to foster a supportive work environment. What does that mean? It means laying the foundation to be heard, to be understood and to promote growth in any aspect of the organization that needs to be improved, and many times this can be the hiring, this can be the leadership, and just because somebody's in a leadership position doesn't mean they're great in their position. We all have things that we need to improve on, but it's about being able to have those tough discussions and those great discussions about promotion, about finding better ways to improve our capabilities and getting individuals to the next level through growth, through development and those promotional opportunities.

Speaker 1: 21:09

And that leads us to a key part check-ins and clear expectations. Have you ever worked for an organization that seems disconnected, that will try one thing one week, it doesn't work. They try something else the next week. It doesn't work. And maybe they try something else. It works for a little bit, but they don't come back to it. They don't realize what's expected. Well, that's why it comes back to developing clear expectations what is expected from each member of the organization within the scope of their duties and their overall job? It's about having those regular feedback meetings, those check-ins. When you're a new employee, you should be having visible check-ins on a daily to weekly basis and then 30, 60, 90 days, but you should always have the availability to reach out to your direct report, to reach out to the leadership team. Everybody's phone number should be available in case you need to get in touch with them. And that is part of the check-in the clear expectations.

Speaker 1: 22:22

I used to think that every time you had an annual check-in and remember, for baby boomers and Gen X, it was not unheard of to have an annual review, meaning you met with your boss only once a year to talk about your overall progress, how you did what you can do better. Are you going to receive additional compensation or not? So what would happen was maybe you had a great last two or three months and that's going to reflect on your overall monetary increase. But what if you did great the first nine months of the year and you had some issues, some concerns that prevented you from being successful the last two or three months of the year? Well, guess what? Then you may not get an increase at all and you may get a negative review. That is why it's so important to know, along the lines of progression, how you are doing within the organization. Are you reaching your or exceeding your KPIs or keep form as indicators? Are you reaching your profit and loss? Are you doing the important aspects of the job that the employee, that the employer, expects from you? Again, on a weekly or, excuse me, on an annual basis? It's very difficult to have a good understanding, but if you have regular feedback, regular check-ins, then you're going to know overall how well you are doing and remember.

Speaker 1: 23:55

Another key, important aspect as a leader or those that may you call leaders is understanding. Work is a part of life. Employers need to understand the impact of this mindset. It can include increased flexibility at work, different employee benefits than what we previously heard of in the past, increased focus on the purpose and work and the overall company impact on the world. As Gen Z and millennials, the key thing that we want is we want to make this world a better place. We want to provide a culture where we embrace the climate, the global aspects of making this world and our environment a better place. So therefore, we have to understand that this is a part of what work and how we live it as a manager and a leader. There is, as I mentioned before, one size that does not fit all, so we have to be flexible in our management styles.

Speaker 1: 25:06

Gen Z and employees are more likely to stay with companies that offer meaningful work, ownership of tasks and a sense of belonging. I mean, those are pretty powerful and impactful words and I don't really think they need any additional complexities to it. It makes a lot of sense because meaningful work, ownership of tasks and a sense of belonging and relationship with your organization and I believe there's one more impactful cause for promoting great leadership promoting in a work atmosphere that is conducive to development and growth, just being able to open and promote that communication, that free, flowing communication, meaning promote more open communication, more than just an open door policy. It's about being able to have that connectivity, if it's via via email, text, phone, open dialogue, in person, whatever it may be, whatever suits your overall communication structure. We have to have that open communication.

Speaker 1: 26:24

Gen Z workers are looking for purpose and alignment over all the other motivational factors many leaders are used to. You know those are key aspects of what we do. So again, we talked about promoting and communication. Being flexible with management styles, having clear expectations, understanding that work is a part of life, investing in your Gen Z and millennial, leading with humanity, walking the culture talk. Being open to learning from Gen Z and millennials and reverse mentoring, focusing on each individual, providing growth opportunities, understanding the need for desire change, learning Gen Z and millennials needs, leading by example and providing a work life balance. These are key components that will help your organization retain, attract and motivate the desire from millennials and Gen Zs to want to work for you. And if you're a millennial and Gen Z leader, then these are key traits that you also want to instill within your leadership style. These are key characteristics that will help you be successful as a leader while also helping the organization thrive and meeting their goals.

Speaker 1: 28:04

That leads us to our next segment. Our next segment is the what would you do moment. And remember the what would you do moment is simply put I'm going to provide you a what would you do moment and then you're going to say how would I react to that and think about it. So the what would you do moment in this case is you have a Gen Z employee that comes to you as their direct leader and states I will be putting in my two weeks notice as of right now, while citing no other reasons. So I asked this question how would you react when you believe you had a great relationship with that employee? So they're going to put in their two weeks notice at this point and cite no reasons. Well, my first thought is how good was your relationship? Was it really good? Because if it was a strong, strong relationship, then they may have provided some forewarning, and maybe they did provide forewarning, but you just might have missed the queue from your Gen Z employee. And that goes back to the key concepts and characteristics that we just recapped. It's about keeping those components in mind, ensuring that you have those weekly and daily check ins and dialogue, so you're not surprised. They might give you some forewarning. They may talk about compensation. They may talk about meaning of their work life balance, their learning and development some of the key components that you may have not been able to provide them. So that right there would lead you to go. Well, I probably could have did this better and therefore you utilize those same improvement techniques with your other employees. So hopefully that helped and let's lead.

Speaker 1: 30:16

This leads us to our other segment your motivation. Your motivation in this case is about Be an impactful leader. Remember, leadership is not about having the power to wield to others. It's about having the power to share, to enable your staff, your team, to share in all of the glory that organizations can provide Meaning. You can make an impact by not only being a leader or not being a leader. It's about how you structure your work, how you impact others and you demonstrate leadership skills.

Speaker 1: 31:05

Sometimes the non-leader can be more respected than the leader themselves. Why? Because they may come to the non-leader as somebody that has those key attributes and maybe should be the leader, but either doesn't have the desire or has yet to be determined, and they may be a leader in the near future. So that goes to my next point. If you're a Gen Z and millennial and you're looking for leadership opportunities, you're looking for leadership skills, then this is where you go back to your current organization and you share within your check-ins, you share that dialogue, you share your passion for wanting to help others, for being able to improve your organization and what you can bring to a leadership position. But the key thing is don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to step up, don't be afraid to be recognized and don't be afraid to take that power and demonstrate it for good within the organization.

Speaker 1: 32:13

The quotes of the week are one is by Eleanor Roosevelt that future belongs to you, to those who believe in the beauty of dreams. Again, the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of dreams by Eleanor Roosevelt. But remember, dreams also need to be determined by having a set of goals. So goals also need to be part of that dream. Another great quote by Winston Churchill Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. So that's really important. Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. What that means is don't let the highs get too high and don't let the lows get too low. And the final quote is by Gandhi Be the change you wish to see in the world. And that goes back to what we discussed earlier Inspect what you expect. Be the change you wish to see in the world by Gandhi. I want to ensure that.

Speaker 1: 33:33

I thank everybody today. I thank our listeners for your continued listenership. Please continue to promote and share our podcast with others. Again, our success is only because of you. If you want to help us with the show, if you'd like to provide your feedback or say thank you or whatever you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to me via my email. Jason at Gen Z and MillennialExpertcom. Again, that's Jason at Gen Z and MillennialExpertcom. Thank you for listening to this week's your Motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert podcast. Our next podcast will be next week on Monday. In the meantime, keep your heads up and push towards your goals, while always keeping your eye on the prize. Have a great week and we will see you again for our next podcast next Monday on 129. Take care and bye. Bye.