E26 | Gen Z Vs. The World At Work #TeamWorkTuesday

Is your team navigating different generations, their perspecitives and expectations? Does it sometimes feel like you are not understanding each other or seeing things with the same lens?
We get it!
 Communication is about more than words or shared physical space - it's about connection.And connection starts with understanding.Today, we are looking at how the lens that different generations view work and life through can add value to all that we can create together.
GETTING TO UNSTUCK is a live podcast recording with Christal Duncan, Colin Kingsmill, and Carol Vickers from Whole Human Coaching. Find out more about our work and take the Whole Human Wheel of Life assessment at https://wholehumancoaching.com

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Transcript

Gen Z Vs_ The World At Work

Colin Kingsmill: [00:00:00] Morning, Good morning. Good 

Christal Duncan: morning. Happy March. I know, Happy March, Happy March. For some places, we're based in Canada, across Canada, and for some places in Canada, March is coming in like a lion, so we hope it's going out like a lamb for you, wherever you are. Welcome to another day of Teamwork Tuesdays and to Getting to Unstuck.

Here at Getting to Unstuck, we our conversations are focused on helping you. Our listener and sometimes participants, if you have questions or you're part of our conversations, our live conversations, think [00:01:00] and work through areas where we sometimes can get stuck in life and work. So, Tuesdays, we focus about teamwork and we are thinking about we.

We're thinking always about how do you lead in these situations? So whether you are the designated leader or you are seeking to grow your own leadership, that's what we're focused on today. And before we get started, I want to let you know that last week's our, our free live workshop about the future as whole human connection was good.

And it was it was a part of it, what we're working towards. So we're excited and we're now, I want to let you also know that on March 29th of this month, 28th, pardon me, 28th, it's a Thursday, March 28th, we're having another free workshop. So you can find out more information over at whole human coaching.

com. We're going to be talking about it more here on LinkedIn as well. And we invite you, if you are someone who's interested in learning how to connect and communicate. And use [00:02:00] coaching skills in your leadership in ways that will transform how you show up. You're going to want to join us for that workshop.

Absolutely. Please keep an eye out for that. Okay. So today, excuse me, we're talking about Gen Z versus the world of work, which is, which is much more hard provocative than we actually, I want to put it but you know, teams often navigate different generations, right? Different perspectives and expectations, and it can sometimes feel like you're not understanding each other or seeing things with the same lens.

That's actually very often. But communication is about more than words or shared physical or virtual space. It is about connection. So that starts with understanding. So let's look at the lens that different generations, how they view work from today to offer [00:03:00] some insights for our listeners. About how they can how they can connect with people that are from a different generation than them and really lean into the strengths that the shared strengths that they have together.

Yes. 

Carol Vickers: Yeah. And it's interesting as we began conversing about this, that our title really is about something that sounds more like a conflict. And I don't know that it. always appears that way in the workplace, but there definitely are attributes of each generation that don't match the same way. You know, so while we had the, the grace, I guess, when we were, when we're growing up and in school and in a certain grade of being with our peers, we don't have that same opportunity in the workplace.

There are going to be people who are, in my case, much younger than me, and there are many people that, that I have worked with who, who look around and think, I just [00:04:00] don't belong here. And as a leader, that's the key thing that you need to be able to establish in a team is having everybody feel like they belong.

So we hit upon some elements in the workplace where each generation is different. 

Colin Kingsmill: Right. We, we were looking, we've looked at things like communications, how those, how those differ how people approach things like work life balance, how people approach feedback. I think we could do a whole episode on feedback and performance reviews because that seems to be such a hot topic these days.

Anyway, aside from that, and then also how mentorship might be different and how the use of technology is, is different. So. I hadn't really thought about this before, but if you've got sort of boomers and Gen Z and Gen X and sort of maybe potentially five different, four or five different generations in [00:05:00] your team, you could quickly descend into something that might feel toxic.

Simply because, you know, that person who might be Jen is Gen Z prefers a digital messaging app as opposed to somebody who might be a millennial that might prefer person or by a boomer might prefer by email, so it's right. It's interesting. And if you think about it, just one message and three different communication channels that might not be speaking to each other could create you.

A lot of confusion really quickly. 

Carol Vickers: Oh, yeah. Chaos, actually. When you think about it. Because if I'm walking down the hallway and I just happen to have a conversation with you, Colin, in person, and then you go and you send an email to Crystal, and Crystal sends a quick text to a person who's the Gen Zed, all of a sudden And I'm using the Canadian Zed there, sorry.

All of a sudden, whatever you [00:06:00] and I talked about, Colin, is completely different. It's an exaggerated game of, what was it called? It was called telephone? Back in the day when we'd whisper something in someone's ear and 10 people later, it came out completely 

Colin Kingsmill: different. That's right. And the opposite could also occur sort of in the, in the, in the backwards way.

And there might be a break in the chain where I don't want to face to face communication right now. Right. So without maybe without permission or something like that, I'm just not in the mood. I don't want to talk. So it, it can be, and that's just communication, right? Right. So, so then you have things like work life balance, which Again, that's a whole other subject that we could probably address in another podcast.

But, but, you know, we were talking earlier about, about Gen Z having a very different approach to, to what that means to them today versus somebody like me, who I'm, I guess, Is that X? You know, I'm much more probably workaholic. I [00:07:00] guess I would call it. But so, so just, just, you know, men are from Mars and women are from Venus, whatever the book, but, but I think what we need to do is bring that awareness into the workplace, you know, because Otherwise, it can just yeah, descend.

Yeah. 

Christal Duncan: I think the, the, the awareness is, is there in, in terms of, often in terms of I don't fully get it and it can be, it can be frustrating. And so the opportunity there is to find, not only find ways, but allow the allow it to the emergence of what is the shared common values and possibilities.

You know, one of the things you said, Colin, you said, you talked about work life balance and I have had in, in my other business with Brave Souls, I have had, I work with predominantly Gen Z workers and I have a deep appreciation [00:08:00] for their succinctness and their ability to hone in on. to be able to communicate and represent themselves.

And I think that that probably is a combination of their access to information that like no other generation before, because they've, you know, they've never not known life without the world being open to them in all things accessible for starters, but also their ability to be like These are the hours or this is what I'm, this is, these are my boundaries.

Like I I've in, in, in a healthy way. Right. But if you don't understand the boundaries. are a good thing. And if you come from a background where your boundaries were not top priority or not even a priority in the workplace that you came up, in the work culture you came up through, you can find, it would be, it's understandable that that can seem like it's not a work ethic.

Right. That's the term. [00:09:00] Ethics. Because 

Carol Vickers: ethics is part of all of this, isn't it? It's like me determining but from my place of judgment that you're not working hard enough or you're not putting in enough hours because look at what this is, this is what we do here. So there's, The Gen Z's are challenging that, which I think is a tremendous opportunity for leaders, is to look at what are the Gen Z's saying?

Why have we ran our organization based on their priorities? What might happen? 

Colin Kingsmill: Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah, this is, this is, this is very interesting because sometimes you just want to give them a helmet and say, you know, get on with it, right? That, and, and I think that's, that's like a generational thing because that's what, you know, somebody in.

my generation or older would, was told, you know, just get on with it, pick yourself up and get, and get moving. So just 

Carol Vickers: getting, 

Colin Kingsmill: yeah. [00:10:00] So if you're not, if you're not attuned to that it can create it can create real, real misery. I heard of somebody recently who, who who I have great esteem for was told that they were, you know, Again by Gen Z, but they were too harsh.

They were too direct. They were, they weren't, they weren't. And and, and, and, but so, so I kind of see both sides, right? Yes. I'm, it's, it's like, yeah. Mm-hmm. It's like, well, well, that's the person that owns the company and runs it. And sometimes they have to make decisions that are rapid and on, you know, and don't have time to do the whole thing conversation.

Yeah. So it's, it's, it's. So how do you, I guess the question is, how do you find that sweet spot where a founder, owner, CEO might be traveling at a hundred kilometers an hour, somebody Gen Z might be saying, Hey, let's go 25 and, and see what are the possibilities and what we might discover if we slow down.

Right. Yeah. [00:11:00] And if, if I'm happier and things like that, so where's the, where does the speed limit, how do you get to that point of 50 kilometers an hour? Is my question, I guess. 

Christal Duncan: What an interesting, what an interesting thought. And you know, when you were, when you were saying earlier about communication, I was thinking about I remember a few years ago, there was a big debate.

I heard some, like, I don't, I don't remember where, about the judicious use of the exclamation mark. It sounds funny, but it's like, so when you are, and I I can find it sometimes too that I'm like an emoji exclamation mark person and people that are younger communicators, that is, that expresses, that is how they express themselves.

Older people were they were, Educated and brought up in a way that like you judiciously use the exclamation mark. 

Carol Vickers: You don't over never in professional writing, 

Christal Duncan: professional writing. And you never like use like the happy face [00:12:00] emoji, like nothing like that. Right. And if you, and, and you always pick up the phone and you call someone, but really like, and this is where I feel like I even have a Gen Z tendency maybe is that I'm a texter, right?

I'm like, I don't, I don't answer the phone, but I am like, text me first and ask me if, if I'm available. Like that to me is like, you know, my parents were the age where you just knock on the door and drop in. And I'm like, let me know before you're coming over because my time is still, right? So the though, but those, those things also do because we are whole humans, those things color and temper, how we connect and how we have to understand.

We, we need to be able to lend the grace to each other that there may be different ways that are different priorities of how we connect and communicate. 

Colin Kingsmill: Maybe, maybe it's, maybe we should underline the fact that we're all, we're all differently whole. Yeah, 

Carol Vickers: totally. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. 

Colin Kingsmill: And we were talking about echo [00:13:00] chambers before and, and, and the importance of, of.

of getting outside of yours. So you might be, feel totally whole, but can't connect with that wholeness that's over there. Right? Yes. 

Carol Vickers: So, yeah. But there's a really important principle to begin that though, Colin, is what you're saying is that if I can hold that I am whole and complete and that you are, Then there's, there's a possibility there because I think if we go back to our title, the conflict comes up when people are not, are assuming that other person is not whole or they're not complete or they're doing it wrong.

There's a lot of judgment there. Yeah. Yeah. So commonality where if we look at. And we have examples of workplaces that we've worked with, or worked in, where there was a range of [00:14:00] different generations. What has it been successful? What 

Christal Duncan: works? Well, I think that one of One of the strengths that younger workers and when I say younger, I kind of mean like millennials and Gen Z have brought to the workforce is the understanding about feedback and recognition that they are very real because if you historically speaking, the workplace has been very compartmentalized a lot of times and feedback has been Not necessarily had good positive connotations for a lot of people over time.

And so that's how you've been conditioned as a leader is that you only give feedback on the negative things, or you only point out the things that are lacking. I younger, younger workers, they, they are able to appreciate that. They also. Want to hear and I think dessert. We all deserve to hear. What am I doing?

Right? Like what is what do you want me to lean into more [00:15:00] and an ability to recognize and acknowledge those things? Mm 

Colin Kingsmill: hmm. I've always looked at things like recognition and performance reviews You know how you were supposed to like say what are your top strengths and what are your weaknesses and you had to focus on?

The weaknesses I think that's B. S. You know, every time I've worked with somebody, I'm like, all right, those are your strengths. Let's amplify those like go wild. Right. And forget about your weaknesses. I've never liked Excel. Right. I'm never going to be an Excel. That's not, that's going to be a weakness. I will never address.

I don't care, right? And so what if we lived in a world of work where it was just, let's find what's super unique about you, right? What's, what's your joy and your specialty and your, and, and let's, you know, run with it, right? That's, I think where you can go from that 25 kilometers an hour to 100 and you can then, Then you can, then maybe you can connect, right?

Carol Vickers: But you have to create, and this is some of the conversations that we have [00:16:00] often, is how to create that environment where initially that is even possible. So it goes back, you know, we could debate on which one of these is the most important, but I think it goes back to communication. If you've got a space and you've got a leader and, or you are a leader who invites difficult conversations sometimes, I want to hear the, I want to hear both sides of it because sometimes I may have to deliver both sides of it.

So 

Colin Kingsmill: I also think it's, it's, it's before you start communicating, I think you have to have a brand promise that is, is, is robust and can, and, and can connect to your teams and your people, you know, we would like, like, And so it's what I, when I say promise, it's like beyond the mission and beyond the vision.

Like, what are you, what are your attributes? What are your values? What's your language? What's your, well, no, as a company, as a company, right? So, so if you can, because remember, Carol, we've worked in [00:17:00] organizations together before where there was something there, there was some kind of magic. Yes. You didn't know.

Yeah. And I, and I think that gets a lot, I think, I think that gets forgotten in a lot of places. Yes. What's the essence? What's the magic? Where's the play? What's, where's the joy? And how can we articulate that? So when it does come to a communication strategy That dialogue is easier because it's easier to get that I'm here because of that, you know, yeah, yeah, 

Carol Vickers: something bigger attributes that I recall about that organization was that I came in with a very, I don't know, I'm a boomer.

So I came in with a boomer work ethic when we're at work, we work into people who would just have their coffee and wanted to chat. And it's like, oh no, but I've got to get back to, and I realized that there was a whole possibility of work in a different way. And it really has honed and, and clarified for me [00:18:00] who I am as a coach, is continuing to look at that.

That work doesn't have to be nose down to the grindstone, that there is a way that we are creating, as we've been talking about, community relationships within the workplace. That there's a natural mentorship that's going to occur between someone of a younger generation or less experience Yes, there's going to be a willingness to go.

How how do I do this? I've never I've never worked with this piece of technology before 

Colin Kingsmill: Yeah possibility that that that that play or that allowing that space allows for possibilities and authentic mentorship as opposed to I'm older and I know better kind of thing. Yeah, 

Carol Vickers: yeah. I think it's actually Boomer versus the world at work.

No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, it says, 

Christal Duncan: well, from any perspective, right? Hey, 

Colin Kingsmill: let's, let's, we can do that next week. 

Christal Duncan: Yeah. And you know, the interesting thing about the idea of generations, you know, [00:19:00] the the original meaning of the term generations it, I can't remember if it came from an ancient Hebrew or Greek word.

It actually means lifetime. So technically we are of a generation sharing an epoch of time, but we have we have culturally adapted that to basically. Put it into segments. So it is a construct of our society to think in terms of generations. And I think that a lot of how we've divided up the generations is almost through how big chunks of how we've made almost technological shifts.

That's, that's a lot to do with how, with it. So Is it possible that the divide is less about what divides us or about what we have in common that we can, we can amplify in turn into a strength because it's a pretty beautiful thing when it's a group of people that are. Totally [00:20:00] diverse in their age and their, their life experience.

And, but they're, they're, they're connected on a car and on moving something forward. That's a, that's a powerful. 

Carol Vickers: You know, when you look at any crisis in the world, if there's an earthquake or if there's a car accident, you don't have people going, well, wait a minute, you're not doing it right. Yeah.

Everybody, regardless, because we're all sharing this. this life together, wants to do something about it. So I love the shift in perspective there, 

Colin Kingsmill: Crystal. I mean, that, that, that is, that is so important. I think for me anyway, I mean, my mission is, is just my personal one is, can we please reclaim our humanity?

Well, it's ours. It's all of ours. Can we please remember who we are? And that, that, that, that love, which which crosses all destinations, right? And is, is, is is beaten out of us in our [00:21:00] culture today, right? Yeah. It's just, it's totally beaten out of us. I'm hopeful and optimistic. I 

Carol Vickers: think you're optimistic.

Colin Kingsmill: Yeah. Maybe hope. I think hopeful is. Yeah. Yeah, hopeful, hopeful because I don't want to be naively optimistic because the world is like, scary, but, but if you know what you said, I think is so important, you guys, because that's the missing link. We talk about wholeness and humanity and becoming whole again, but love for our fellow humans is Is so easy to forget when you turn on the news or scroll social media for 10 minutes.

And anyway, I'm babbling on and I'll stop. 

Carol Vickers: I love that we got here. 

Colin Kingsmill: Yeah, good place to start with love. That 

Christal Duncan: was good. Yeah. So, [00:22:00] wherever you find yourself in life, and if you, and even in any kind of generational designation that you have maybe had as a label on yourself there is potential and opportunity there to think and to focus on what we, what are our common What's our common good that we share?

What can we build together? Thanks for joining us today. If you liked this episode and like our work why don't you just follow and share? And in particular, if you have a particular favorite podcast app that you use, why not subscribe to our show and share out any episodes that you feel Other people need to know and as well, don't forget that we have that workshop coming up on February 28th.

And in the meantime, you can also, Oh, March 28th, March 28th. Oh my goodness. That's right. Yes. Yes. February. 

Colin Kingsmill: February flew by too fast. It was just like, 

Christal Duncan: yeah, yeah, exactly. March 28th. Thank you. And you can find out more at whole human coaching. com. [00:23:00] Thanks for joining us. See you soon.