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Decoding Gen Z – Why They’re Different & Why It Matters (download transcript)

Adam Lacey

Hello, and welcome to this series on unlocking Gen Z's potential. I’m Adam, co-founder of Assemble You, creators of the only learning library designed to be listened to.

This series is for people managers looking to support Gen Z in the workforce. Across five lessons, you’ll:

• Examine why Gen Z is different
• Discover how to tap into Gen Z’s strengths
• Analyse how to lead Gen Z
• Identify ways to coach Gen Z and
• Understand how to create a workplace where Gen Z thrives

We’ll debunk some common myths and ultimately support individuals in becoming confident future leaders.

I’m joined by Zavier Coyne and Patrick Quinton-Smith. Together, they run Gen Z Coach, which helps forward-thinking businesses unlock the potential of their young people through world-class coaching and training programmes.

Zavier is the world's youngest qualified intuitive psychology coach. He’s a TEDx speaker,  podcaster and entrepreneur. Patrick is a certified leadership trainer and ICF Professional Certified Coach with over 1,000 hours coaching over 200 young professionals.

Before we start, I’d just like to make clear, Gen Z is anyone born in the mid-nineties to the early 2010s.

So, gents, what are we talking about today?

Zavier Coyne

So, today we're talking about why Gen Z are fundamentally a very different generation to every generation we've seen before and why that matters, both in a personal context, but also in the workplace, in the professional landscape.

Adam Lacey

Very cool. Okay, so let's take a step back. And so, with my first question, I just want to ask you a little bit about multi-generational differences. So, why do they matter?

Zavier Coyne

Great question. So, multi-generational differences. This fundamentally links to the fact that right now in the workplace, we're going to have four generations in the same workplace at the same time. We've got Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Y and Gen Z all in the workplace at the same time. And so how we navigate that is incredibly important to look at.

This can be a huge source of tension for organisations, but on the flip side, if addressed properly, it can be a huge source of inspiration, creativity and effective collaboration. So really, why it's important to look at kind of multigenerational differences is because if it's not looked at consciously, it will be the first, it'll be the more source of tension.

And so generational differences we can look at as generational intelligence. And we'll touch on this throughout the series. But, fundamentally, what generational intelligence is, it's our ability to effectively understand, empathise and communicate across all age groups. So, this links to generational differences that we then have different ways of perceiving success, different, workplace standards that all link to kind of the generational context that we grew up in and that shaped the way that we are.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

And to build on that in terms of what makes it important to understand is cross-generational empathy, actually being able to understand each generation and what makes them different helps build that understanding. And that helps build empathy and if we have more empathy, it improves the communication that we have. If you improve communication, you can improve motivation, engagement and productivity and, therefore, performance.

And the way I like to describe it, or the analogy, is personality profiles. Most organisations engage with personality profiles to understand; it might be a DISC profile to understand exactly some nuances and how people are slightly different and how they like to be communicated with. And having the generational profile, it's no different.

There are these slight differences in workplace values and how every generation is slightly different. And Gen Z are just a new generation in the workplace or not so new, but still maybe people don't quite understand it. So, if there are some differences in the way they like to be communicated with to boost their performance, then it's only for a benefit for organisations to understand that. You know, don't treat people the way you want to be treated, you want to treat people the way they want to be treated. And that's really, again, what makes this important.

And another thing to add to that, businesses are struggling at the moment with young people. Like Gallup – there's so many reports. Gallup saying that over 60% of Gen Z and young millennials are disengaged in and unfulfilled in the workplace. Over 60% of them experience stress all of the time and therefore those that segment are 18% less productive than those that are engaged and they're less engaged than other generations.

So, there is a difference in terms of the engagement and productivity of young people. And I think that's because of the generational differences and the way that tension is. I've described the differences, it can either be a source of tension and actually impact productivity or a huge strength. And at the moment a lot of businesses haven't quite worked that out.

And that's really like what the problem we're trying to solve and yeah, why we're doing this series, I suppose.

Adam Lacey

Great. Yeah, exactly what we're trying to unpick here. And so, what you're saying is there's a real commercial and element to understanding this and getting this right, especially if, if people at different kind of generations are not feeling understood and, therefore, it affects their productivity, it affects how they turn up at work, it affects what they're able to get done and that obviously has a knock-on effect to the organisation.

So, let's talk about Gen Z in particular and why maybe it matters for managers to understand this newer generation coming in. What's particularly critical here?

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, I can jump in on that in terms of – it's important for us to look, I guess, firstly at the context of what makes Gen Z different and then we'll get into how that influences them in the workplace. Because every generation has different social, environmental, economical, technological contexts that influence the way that their generation is shaped.

But what's fundamentally different about Gen Z is they've grown up not knowing a life without the Internet. The way technology has impacted their behaviour is kind of, it's part of this massive social experiment. We're still not entirely sure how it's going to play out, but really, it's important to kind of look at both the context from stuff like the pandemic, stuff like climate change, the climate crisis, the 2008 recession, which we'll touch on in a bit more depth.

But what's really different is the technology and the way that smartphones, social media have influenced this generation. So, if I go back to touch on, for example the 2008 recession, growing up with parents who were kind of economically struggling at points and really prioritised almost work over life in a way to make sure that they can make ends meet.

Our generation saw that growing up and started to kind of build the value of okay, work-life integration, or known as work-life balance, that as a value. We'll obviously get into values a bit more in another episode, but really it's important to look at how these have kind of shaped our generation.

If we then move to climate crisis, it is no longer something that our generation sees as a can you can kick down the road. It's something that we're picking up right now and realising, okay, it's been something prevalent for all generations and is a concern for all generations. But our generation has come into the world going ‘Right, the earth's literally on fire here, like we need to do something about it. We can't. This is not another generation's problem as such to fix.’

And then we look at the pandemic. Imagine if your first grad role was online on a computer, how that influences how you perfect perceive successful communication, how you perceive actually just work in general. So that's like a really important piece to look at because our generation has experienced seeing international conflict on the news very regularly, to the climate crisis, to the pandemic, to then social media and smartphones, which I'll touch on in a moment, all before the age of 25, before their prefrontal cortex is even fully developed.

So that's what kind of makes it unique to this generation. But once we start to unpack technology, that's where we start to really see why this generation is different to any other generation we've seen before. And we can break that up into kind of three areas: Internet technology, smartphones and social media. Internet being able to search anything you want at any moment in time. Having immediate access to information.

Smartphones, having an Xbox like a computer, everything, a camera in your pocket, on the go at all times. That's what's very unique about that accessibility to it, that constant buzz and the constant way that distracts. And then social media: how you're managing. Our generation has grown up managing a public facing profile from being an early teen, sometimes before that, and what that does to comparing to different realities and how that shapes the way we communicate.

I could go on and we could talk about the context forever. But those are some of, kind of, the buzz points as to why this generation is different. And I'll touch in a moment on why that influences the workplace. But that's kind of a first kind of contextual landscape of this generation.

Adam Lacey

So, Patrick, can you just tell us a little bit about the impact that some of these external factors are having on Gen Z at the moment?

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Zav, when you shared about social media, one of the big impacts that has had is that constant comparison to others. People are much more likely to not feel good enough because that constant comparison. And that happening at an early age, it becomes very embedded of not feeling good enough, always feeling behind, always feeling less in some way.

And that impacts self-worth, impacts confidence. And in the workplace, that has serious impacts in terms of procrastination, fearing failure, fearing rejection. You know, not wanting to put yourself out there in case you fail and get bad feedback and then it proves your fear that you aren't good enough. So, I always see this juxtaposition with young people being super confident in many ways, feeling they can take on the world and somehow believing their capabilities and what's possible, but equally being able to forget that very easily when they have some setbacks.

So, I believe that challenge and what businesses see as lacking resilience comes from social media and that constant comparison. That's, that's how I see from all the people that we've coached. So, yeah, I think that's a really important point for managers to understand and have some empathy for. And there's so many tools and tips on how to help people overcome that.

But it definitely impacts the way they take on challenges and, you know, actual productivity sometimes because they might fear, for example, taking phone calls because they're worried about how somebody might speak to them. So, I could go on there, but I tried to make that point.

Adam Lacey

So, this is a generation that's been impacted by all these different external things. Pace of change, technology; this, this amazingly powerful device in your pocket. I mean for context here, guys, when I moved to London in my early 20s, I bought a Pocket A to Z book because that's how you got around in at that time.

I mean it wasn't that long till the iPhone came out and I switched to Google Maps and I've never looked back, I've never had a map since. Do you know what I mean?

Adam Lacey

So I get some of this, I get some of this stuff really in terms of that accessibility to information and you know, how much the technology has improved our lives, but also the kind of the damage it can do to our mental health, our self-worth, our self-esteem, all that kind of stuff.

And I feel that context to understand is really important because if you've grown up with, and that's the only thing you've known, that's very different to how I view this stuff, which is like I can stick it to one side and ignore social media because I lived without it before and I don't necessarily need it, need it now.

So yeah, that's really interesting. So, Zav, you mentioned generational intelligence as an interesting point. Can you just unpack why that is so important and why we really need to think about that?

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, so generational intelligence, GQ, and not necessarily the magazine, is looking at generational intelligence. We've got social intelligence, we've got emotional intelligence, communication intelligence. People kind of understand these buzzwords a bit more and this is kind of wrapping them all up and putting them into a generational lens. And the reason that's so important now for managers, for organisations to understand is as we get into becoming a more and more multi-generational workforce, it's more and more important to be able to, as I said with the definition of it, to be able to understand, empathise and communicate effectively across all age groups.

And what is really important in terms of this conversation and this podcast in general is that we don't see generational intelligence as something like, ‘Okay, now I've understood a bit about Gen Z, I can put them in a box and just kind of attribute it to that’ and kind, of almost, can sometimes empower people to have clearer judgments.

Whereas actually this is not about putting people in a box or giving them labels, it's about providing context to build empathy. And that empathy is then useful in how we manage, in how we lead, in how we cross-generationally communicate. And, so, just kind of moving forward in this episode, really inviting everyone as they listen to kind of see this as a buffet, which is analogy I like to use, not necessarily kind of a fine dining, five-course meal that you have to eat everything, but more a buffet.

High quality nonetheless, but a buffet in the sense that you kind of, you take what resonates and can leave the rest behind. But my invitation to the people listening is to notice when you go to instantly disagree or instantly agree with something that's been said. Because we can create a gap in noticing when we immediately go to respond internally to something, that gap is where we can grow, where we can challenge what our assumptions may be, challenge what we go to initially agree or disagree on, and kind of look at it through a different lens.

So that's just kind of something I just want to lay out just as we move further into the session. But coming back to the initial question of why generational intelligence is important is really, fundamentally, as we become more of a multi-generational workforce, to be able to understand Gen Z specifically. Generational intelligence is no longer something that's kind of like a ‘nice to have’ or like ‘that could be useful’ but fundamental to creating a thriving multi-generational workplace.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, totally, totally agree. And this isn't about labels and putting labels on people, it's actually just to help understand because of the context in which each generation was formed. And we're talking about Gen Z. It means some of the traits and characteristics we're talking about, everyone has them of course, it’s just more likely that they do.

So having that understanding that the people you're speaking to are more likely to respond in this way or struggle with these things can just help inform, have our better actions. And, again, if businesses can, you know, improve their communication by even 10% from some of this stuff, the ripple effects of that in terms of their bottom line can be enormous.

Adam Lacey

Great. And then let's maybe go into a little bit now how generational intelligence actually applies to Gen Z in the workplace. So, what kind of things should managers and, I guess others, in an organisation that aren't in the younger generation be thinking about, be aware of?

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, it's a great question and it's important to look at how this actually translates into action. So, I'll briefly give an example if we take the context which is that this links to that generational intelligence. So first we understand, then we empathise and then we can communicate effectively off the back of that.

So, if we understand the context that Gen Z kind of got brought up in: being able to order food the minute they want it, to be able to find out information at their fingertips instantly, to message and communicate straight away, we start to then be able to see, how does this maybe translate into the workplace?

And there's the myth and we'll talk about some myths I guess in a bit more in a moment. But there's a myth then of entitlement, that this generation is entitled. They just come into the workplace and they want to kind of get promoted or kind of get, like increase their salary, or kind of get more responsibility straight away in certain areas and other generations are kind of confused.

It's like we had to kind of work and go through this process to get to these certain stages, and this generation is coming in and kind of asking for it immediately. And it's like we can look at, well, where does that come from? Because sometimes it can just get blanketed as kind of as a generational thing.

That's kind of a trait that we label and kind of look down on. Whereas actually we can understand that maybe that is linked to this generation grew up being able to get everything that other generations had to kind of wait for at their fingertips. They can just get food, information, find out where they're going instantly, book things instantly.

And, so, this kind of notion of how this impacts the brain on a repetitive level in your formative years, and you come out of that into the workplace, that mindset is still going to be there, and it's not been deconditioned yet. So then that kind of translates into the way we see the workplace.

And then generations kind of can judge this and kind of label and blanket a generation as entitled. So then how does that translate into practical action? Well, it then links to, fundamentally, generational intelligence helps us ask better questions. That's one of the most important things that managers can kind of take away as a practical here is: we can then ask people of this generation, or people we're managing in general, better questions.

So, for example, how can I support you in this scenario whilst making sure you still feel you have responsibility? Or what would motivate you the most here? We can kind of start to ask questions rather than presuming ‘Okay, we're going to manage Gen Z as kind of millennials 10 years ago.’ That's one of the biggest mistakes that we see managers making.

‘Okay, what questions can I ask to help understand this generation better?’ And I think fundamentally this links to also, I'm sure some managers that were listening to this, one of the biggest concerns is like, ‘I just don't want to say the wrong thing.’ Like, that comes up all the time. And so actually, one of the best ways to communicate and build off of generational intelligence is how do we ask better questions, and be honest, saying ‘I'm not sure what the best approach is here. Let me actually ask the person I'm managing what they think’, and start to bounce around ideas.

That's my first practical of how generational intelligence can be translated, it’s to first build that empathy: looking at the context, how that translates, and then based on that, what questions can we ask that can help empower and disempower the people we're managing?

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, it's really interesting the entitlement piece. I think because it's a thing that a lot of managers and organisations talk about with younger people, I think part of it comes from growing up on social media and managing our personal brands and always see, say on LinkedIn, being able to see the achievements that people have, the promotions people have because there's this underlying feeling that we're behind and that we need to get ahead.

Often people tie their self-worth to what they're doing or their achievements and this is common among, you know, every, all human beings, but I see it really prevalent within, you know, Gen Z and young millennials. When I first started my job aside as a customer service agent for Bulb Energy, I deemed that role as low value and so I felt low value.

So, when I wasn't progressing quickly, I felt so anxious because I thought I was being judged for being low value and I was desperate to get promoted and to progress and so I worked like a fiend to get my performance metrics high but I wasn't – actually, I was playing safe – I wasn't actually learning some of the harder parts of my job. So, I wanted to be appear good rather than actually focusing on my learning and growth.

So, my fear of not being good enough actually became self-fulfilling because I was, you know, firstly I was asking people to essentially get promoted really quickly to higher roles because I thought I was capable but they kind of had to remind me that you've been here four months, things take time.

But actually, because I hadn't learned some of the important aspects of my job, down the line I had feedback, you know, saying ‘Look, some of your stats are good but actually you're not where you need to be’. And I then took that so personally. I took that so personally and actually made me want to quit.

So, I'm kind of, I'm sharing a few things here but I think this is really common among young people is that underlying anxiety of feeling not good enough. It can permeate in different parts of, of the work. So, when I avoided challenges, can be common. And then when I got feedback, I took it really personally because I was sensitive about my own self-worth and I didn't see it as something where I could learn and grow.

I had a fixed mindset. Not seeing, I kind of saw some of my capabilities as fixed rather than seeing feedback as something where I can learn and grow. So, I just wanted to share that story because it highlights a few things and that I think that's really important for managers to understand and we can talk about loads of tips and tools to help people overcome that and managers to deal with those situations.

But, yeah, that's a little bit of context and a personal story from me, which I see among many young people.

Adam Lacey

Can I just ask, Patrick, and I know we're going to cover more of this in other episodes, but what do you wish your manager at the time had told you at that point? And do you actually, do you think there's anything they could have said that would have changed your mindset?

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, so they did the right thing. Firstly, they did the right thing and giving me the feedback and being honest with me. Absolutely. Because that was the, it was a catalyst for me. I think in hindsight now, the thing that I, we, encourage managers to do is to frame that feedback in terms of where they can get like, ‘You're here now, but use this as an opportunity. Like, you have so much potential. Use this to learn and to grow.’

Like, to remind, to help basically instil a growth mindset. It's like, ‘Okay, you're not here now, but that just doesn't mean you can't get there yet. You're just not there yet.’ And that use of the word ‘yet’ is so important.

We're all on a journey. You know, you're six months into your job. You can't expect to get everything perfect and have the perfect mindset. It's just not going to happen. But just knowing that, you know, you can be really great at this, but it's going to take some effort. It's going to take some work and it's a bit painful and you're going to have to, you know, receive this feedback, but use this as an opportunity.

Use this as an opportunity to learn and grow. That's really, I think, just having that reassurance because young people need reassurance about their capabilities because we forget and we've got the underlying anxiety more generally, so I'm more likely to have that. So, yeah, just reminding me of their belief in me, which I did feel from that person, but just explicitly would have been even better.

And then just, yeah, I think I've said that. So, reassurance of the capabilities and framing the feedback in terms of where they can get to and how they can use it to grow.

Adam Lacey

Yeah, build people up. Don't kind of knock them down or be conscious actually, that even if you are trying to build somebody up, in their mind, they might be thinking, ‘This is catastrophic, this is terrible’, because they are, you know, catastrophising and they are just seeing the wrong half of the kind of coin here. They're looking at the negative.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

100%. And I genuinely, after that, when I got that feedback, I generally put a date in my diary to quit and that's really common. You know, businesses struggle with retention and I really think this is part of that reason.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah. Yeah, to just touch on that. There's the notion of quiet quitting, which a lot of organisations are experiencing with our generation, with Gen Z, of kind of, just kind of silently sneaking out the back door, essentially, because the notion that things are being felt, they're building up kind of internal conflict; there's the kind of notion of being more challenge-avoidant, not necessarily voicing that, or knowing how to ask for help, or how to move these things forward in a kind of conversational way.

So, that's one of the biggest things that we work with Gen Z directly on, is how can they effectively ask for help? How can they move these conversations forward in a healthy way? Take feedback effectively and give it effectively.

But the reason I share that is because it links to kind of what Patrick said. This notion of retention is such a big problem that organisations are starting to face as our generation starts going for more what you could say are portfolio careers, kind of building them out as they go, rather than coming into an organisation for 25 years, building a career, building that network and relationship with the organisation.

And, so, there's so many things and ways to look at that effectively, and how you can approach and tackle that in a good way, which we'll touch on more in other episodes. But, really, it's important to touch on that point in general of quiet quitting.

It links really a lot to retention and it, kind of, often is because of quiet quitting the retention rates are low, not because of massive conflict. And then it's kind of, like, kind of, people leaving. It's more subtle and quiet.

Adam Lacey

It's the opposite, isn't it? It's conflict avoidance, actually. It's not wanting to have the difficult conversation because you don't want to feel like you're not doing a good job, you don't want to feel like you're not progressing, etc. So, you just plod along and do the minimum you need to do to get through the week.

Which is really devastating to organisations, actually. And it's particularly devastating to younger people in the workforce because those kind of first six months, two years, three years, they can really shape your career. It's an opportunity to learn loads. It's an opportunity frankly to make a tonne of mistakes which I don't think enough people realise.

But if I think about my first graduate role and the number of mistakes that I made in those first few years, they really helped shape the rest of my career in a good way. And I was very fortunate. I had a couple of very good managers who, you know, created a brilliantly psychologically safe environment.

Great leaders in the company as well. But I did feel confident enough to make those mistakes almost. And that's sometimes the difference, isn't it? It's that you know, feeling, feeling able to do that.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

100%. And just to build out some more generational intelligence for the listeners here: one of the reasons Gen Z are more fearful of making mistakes is because they have made less in the real world in face-to-face communication because we've spent more time on our screens there's a shift from child-based play which is essentially in-person play and risky play where you learn and make mistakes from each other. You offend someone, you have that conflict and you have that conflict resolution – that has become much less and we spent more time on screen-based play and, therefore, we've had less experience in general, have less experience with dealing with conflict and conflict resolution in the real world as kids growing up.

So, when it comes to the workplace, you know, when there's that tension, that conflict, and they've got something to express it’s more likely to be just ‘Well, I'm just going to quit then deal with that.’

And so that is important to understand, it's not necessarily their fault. But how can the managers open up that space and make it feel safe as you said, that psychological safety, to give them that time to express and manage that conflict.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, I just want to build on that briefly. This links to a book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Really looking at how our brains have been rewired due to social media and smartphones as Gen Z. Really recommend it as a great read to any of the listeners. But fundamentally it talks a bit about that – when we look at conflict avoidant, where that comes from.  

It's really helped build more understanding in this episode for the listener, is this notion of kind of synchronous v asynchronous communication. Asynchronous being when we get a message we don't have to reply in real time. We can kind of, if we get a message that doesn’t make us feel great, we can kind of sit with it, we can even ignore it. We don't have to reply in real time.

Whereas before, children, as they were growing up, were more used to synchronous communication: a conflict arises, you're in person, you have to read the body language, you have to understand how to communicate effectively in that moment. You start to build resilience from a young age.

And this links to also ‘embodied the disembodied’ communication. Embodied being in person, disembodied being you're not there in physical form. So, we may have synchronous communication that is disembodied, that is, we could be talking real time like we are now through a screen. It's real time, but it's not, our whole physical bodies aren't here.

And there's so much to be said for how that impacts the neurological development of our generation, of young people in general. When you don't have that kind of building up of resilience, of managing conflict on those micro levels in the more kind of like fail safe environments as a child, then you don't feel like you've got that safety also when you enter the workplace in your first role either.

So yeah, just building up that context and understanding of how that relates is great for managers just to kind of see where this comes from, so they have the empathy to then be able to navigate it after.

Adam Lacey

Never thought about that by the way: synchronous versus asynchronous. And just in terms of growing up, how you interact with people and actually how much that has changed now and actually how much of the day-to-day interactions go on through social media, go on through WhatsApp, go on, you know, in those modalities, those asynchronous modalities rather than synchronous.

And yeah, that’s fascinating the effect that has on people's ability to feel comfortable having a tough conversation in person. Because like, let's be honest, none of us really, you know, I think any generation doesn't relish a difficult conversation, but certainly some people have just had a lot of them and the more you have, the more you kind of feel at ease.

And I think a good leader has had a lot of them and can do that and they might feel fine in that situation, but the person they're talking to, or the person they're trying to help develop, that might be absolutely terrifying.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah. Just to continue along that line, it's really interesting to look at these areas when it comes to building empathy across generations, We had a workshop last week and a discussion opened up about kind of, yeah, building that empathy from a kind of different angle. We look at this generation of Gen Z and the impacts that are unfolding as a result of social media, smartphones, and we can sometimes then just blame that generation for how they're acting, but they're actually acting based on the result of innovations or things that were created by previous generations.

So, it wasn't Gen Z that created smartphones and social media or where the climate crisis is at now. They're kind of, kind of, having the impacts on themselves or from those. And it's important I think, sometimes to open up that dialogue to kind of go ’Okay, this previous generations.’

It's not blanketing in generation like this ‘Us and Them’. It's we're all together in this. But it's important to sometimes look at that because we can sometimes just blame Gen Z for their behaviours when, actually, their kind of behaviours are outputs of inputs that were created before they were even alive.

They kind of came into the world with the Internet technology and social media in a way that, as I said before, is just this ginormous, crazy social experiment that we just do not fully yet understand the impacts of how it's impacting the way people develop their minds, how they communicate effectively, etc. So, I think it's really important that we look at that, not as necessarily to then kind of coddle this generation and to go, ‘Ah, let's all just support, like we feel sorry for you.’

That's also not what I'm saying through this. But it's important to build that empathy and then we can then move on to like, ‘Okay, how do we approach this all together in the most effective way?’, which we'll obviously be touching on in other episodes. But I think it's just, it's a nice point to open up this conversation, just to notice that the behaviours that we're seeing in this generation aren't necessarily just this generation's fault in that sense. They're kind of as results of different things that have been created in the world before they even existed.

Adam Lacey

Yeah. Victims of the circumstances in which they've been born into effectively. Yeah, which is interesting.

Let's talk a bit more about some of the myths because this is a good one. I feel like there's a few assumptions made around Gen Z that are maybe, that can be a bit dangerous, some stereotyping going on.

And so, can you unpack a couple more of the myths? Obviously, you mentioned entitlement, that's definitely one I've heard in the past. Any others that you come across a fair amount in your work and maybe just touch on why they're a bit dangerous and, you know, how we can think about those in a more positive way.

Zavier Coyne

So, really, before we look at any more kind of assumptions, I guess, like you just touched on the end, why is it dangerous to have assumptions and myths in the first place? And it really is because we can then lose sight of the individual. Touched on this earlier when it comes to generational intelligence.

But I really can't emphasise this enough how important it is: that this is providing context and empathy. This is not providing labels and ways of blanket understanding an entire group of people. So, the assumptions in general, stereotypes in general, whether that is to race, gender or generation, they're incredibly detrimental because we then lose sight of the person before us.

We start to arrive into a conversation, arrive into an interaction with a kind of predetermined set of, ‘Okay, what's this person like? How do I need to communicate with them?’ etc. Of course, there are generational things that provide this ability to empathise and create effective kind of solutions and ways of working.

But in general, when we come to myths and stereotypes, it's really important to notice that they don't apply kind of in a blanket way. And also, when it comes to generations, they’re kind of  large in gap. The youngest Gen Z at the moment is 13 and the oldest is 29. The person who is 29 would log on to Instagram or Facebook on their laptop when they were 14.

The person who's currently 13 has TikTok, YouTube, everything in their pocket instantly on the go from kind of when they came into the world in a conscious way. So, the impact is also very kind of, we're looking at – there's a wide generation, our generation and all generations is a spectrum. So, assumptions also are kind of not very useful because they, yeah, they can kind of blanket and bunch everyone together where that's also not the case.

I just want to kind of touch on those two areas of why it's important to really – it's a great question that you asked – why it's important to look at this honestly and kind of address this head on. So just to provide that context first.

Adam Lacey

Don't lose sight of the individual. Yeah, cool. Patrick, what are your thoughts on this?

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, this question, I love it. It kind of riled me up a little bit because the most obvious one is that the lazy mother, you know, that this is one I hit all the time. It's in the papers but it's just not, it's just not true. Like how can a generation be less motivated?

Gen Z is so hungry and so driven. But I genuinely believe that if Gen Z are unproductive or less productive in the workplace it’s actually the organisation's fault. I just want to share, I actually do understand this perception because I can understand it. So, for example Gen Z: 5 o' clock they'll leave the office even if there's loads of work to do.

They'll be like well, ‘I've been paid to come to the office at this time, I'm going to leave at this time.’ They have a value of protecting their mental health and having work life balance. They've seen organisations sort of abuse or take advantage of people, you know, ‘Right, we can work super late but you might just let us go in an instant.’

So, there is a lack of trust there in a sense of the returns they're going to get from this extra work and that trust I think has to be real built with it rebuilt within organisations. So, when Gen Z leave, you know, you could argue that's actually just smart but then they may have not seen the benefits, they may have been proven the benefits of what they're going to get from that extra work.

So those older generations, that's not how they would behave. So, there is that gap and they see them leaving as they're lazy. I talked about anxiety and how that can impact procrastination but I wanted to share that Gallup study. You know young people are disengaged in the workplace more generally and that impacts productivity.

But we have to ask why are they disengaged? You know, what is it? How is the organisation communicating with them? And we talk a lot about, which we'll touch on, is the different communication styles and often there's this parent-child relationship or communication style is very one way and directive.

You know, older generations telling young people what to do and it just does not go down well – micromanaging – it can be very unempowering which leads them to being disengaged and, therefore, unproductive. So yeah, there's a few things I'd say, I'd say on that but young people are so creative, they're so driven and entrepreneurial, they have so many strengths but as I've said right at the start, these gaps within the generations can lead to that tension and I think that can lead to young people, as I'm repeating myself, lead to young people feeling disengaged and, therefore, unproductive.

So, I can understand why the myth exists, but it's not true.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, I just want to build on that because that stereotype of lazy, obviously one of not being able to take feedback directly, can't handle like conflict avoidant and stuff. I do feel for organisations as well. Like just to kind of, build that piece more, is organisations are basically taking the brunt for the effects of the education system and the technological advances and kind of having to plug gaps before people even arrive into the organisation.

I think that's also really important is, of course, the organisation can have impact, and influence directly that it needs to look at. But also, it's looking at the fact that, okay, these are fundamental human skills that this generation missed out on developing in different areas, that when they come into the workplace are directly translating into, well, creating these assumptions, and also to actually have really tangible impacts on the business with lower productivity and focus, poor retention, et cetera.

So I, I do really feel for managers in this time as well, in the sense that effectively they're picking up pieces that have happened, that have occurred to our generation before they've even entered the workplace. And that also might seem kind of unfair as well, ‘Why do I have to kind of pick that up? Other generations would have had difficulties before they entered the workplace too.’

But what I would say to that, is they just weren't as significantly large in terms of technology and the impact that's had on the brain. And we've touched on the impact of communication, anxiety and all these kinds of things. So, you can of course ignore it in a way and be like, ‘That's not for us to pick up and deal with.’

But at the same time, if you do that, it'll be that source of tension that we touched on earlier. Whereas if you do acknowledge it, you're kind of empowering your organisation and looking at, ‘Okay, what is the future of work? What does this generation need?’ And fundamentally they need support building their human skills up in a way that before work they missed out on developing.

Adam Lacey

Yeah, that's a brilliant point actually, because one of the ones I was going to throw into the ring here is, is resilience. I've heard that before about Gen Z. You know, they've got no resilience. This is a kind of flippant comment. And that is exactly the kind of stuff we've been talking about.

The, you know, you mentioning the different communication styles, communication happening online, not having the face-to-face interactions, all that kind of stuff. You know, Gen Z hasn't had the same opportunities to develop those kind of skills. But it certainly doesn't mean that there's no resilience there at all. You know what I mean?

And so, that's one I've definitely come across. Is that something that in your work you've, you've seen Patrick or Zav?

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, definitely. And it ties back to the point I made around receiving feedback and that, that underlying anxiety, lacking that self-confidence. It's really, you can really put it in that confidence because of this underlying feeling of not feeling good enough. So yeah, when they get feedback, it can really knock people back.

And so, it definitely, that definitely exists. And again, just to help managers rebuttal that, it is helping them build that growth mindset and that this is their, you know, they're at the starting point of their journeys; young people are right at the starting point. They can get to anywhere they want. But the important bit is learning from that feedback.

But it definitely exists. But I'll also argue that young people, you know, I think we will become a lot more resilient just with entering the workforce. A pretty difficult period. We've had corona, we've had kind of coronavirus. We're entering the workforce in a really poor economy. So, I think that resilience is being built. But at this stage, yeah, it, I think it, it does exist, a lack of it, but it's more, it comes from some circumstances of growing up and as we, yeah, we've explained it before in terms of having less experience, face-to-face communication and having less rejection and things like that in the real world.

Zavier Coyne

And it can, it can slightly link to that, the overwhelm that young people feel as well in terms of sometimes there is some kind of like notion of winning. That resilience is like you feel like you're being resilient a lot of the day, if you pick up your phone and you're fed with the amount of international conflicts going on and really vivid graphic scenes of what is going on in the world, plus the climate crisis, plus loads of other social injustices, plus the cost of living crisis.

And then you're also trying to figure out what's your purpose and all of these other things at the same time. There's a resilience to kind of just managing that amount of input and data in your life, and that's not to say that then that obviously translates into the workplace in certain ways, but to build that empathy again.

Other generations, when there was so many conflicts and crises going on. First of all, a lot of them actually didn't know the amount that were going on. It was just kind of like the ones that made the headline news that you'd pick up on a newspaper as you go by or saw on the TV in the main news.

There are so many feeds of data coming at young people incessantly throughout the day that overwhelm is, it can be quite debilitating for a lot of young people as well, mentally, and then obviously dovetails into then how they interact in the workplace. Because that doesn't just leave their mind when they enter the workplace; more often than not, they're still getting those notifications and that input whilst they're at work.

So, yeah, I just thought that was a good piece to touch on when it comes to building that cross-generational empathy.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, I love that point. Yeah, I won't add too much, I just want to reinforce that. Like there's so, people feel like there's so much going on, even though managers might not see that, but it's from what they're receiving through their phones, which feels like they've got so much going on in their minds.

So, when there's maybe a bit of feedback, it's almost like the straw that broke the camel's back in a way. But that might not be visible.

Adam Lacey

Yeah. And I think as humans we naturally gravitate towards wanting to solve the world's problems, life's problems. And so, with so many of them, that feeling of helplessness or feeling of like, lack of agency, lack of control definitely, and I have to check myself, you know, as an ageing millennial, I have to check myself in terms of how much news I actually consume, how much time I spend on social media.

Because if I catch myself on there for too long, those kind of thought patterns, 100% enter my head. So, ‘Oh my God, what we're going to do about this? How am I going to change this?’ And you just can't, you know, you can't impact everything. And also, you just can't hold space for everything in your mind.

You've really got to, you've really got to work on what's in front of you. What can you change, what can you focus on? And that is, yeah, that's really important. So, let's wrap up this session just with the kind of summary of what managers need to have, what kind of mindset managers need to have.

And you've both done an amazing job at giving this context and, you know, generational kind of intelligence and asking better questions. And there's some real, there's some real tips in there. But what are your, what's your summary in terms of, like, what should managers be thinking about with Gen Z? A couple of hot takes for people to take from this episode.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah. The first thing to touch on is auditing their beliefs as such. Just giving that language, just to go, ‘Okay, what are you aware that you are believing?’ Or maybe what assumptions, some subconscious biases may be entering the conversation with an individual of this generation or a group before we've even looked at the individual or the actual group.

So I'm aware I could talk on this for a long time, but I will put it as a really high level. One of the biggest takeaways is being honest with your own beliefs and taking ownership of them and so that you can kind of change them and address them moving forward.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

I love that. One thing I want to share is that, people listening, they might hear a lot of what we said and go, ‘Well, that also applies to me.’ So, how is that different to young people? And I think if there's anything that resonates with you, the word I want to share is just having that empathy.

Firstly, have a bit of empathy for yourself. Because if you're not providing space, if there's anything we've shared, you go, well, I've suffered with that. If you haven't provided that space to have some empathy for yourself, it can be very hard to extend that to somebody else. So, I really want to invite people listening to that.

We're all affected by the pandemic, we're affected by social media to just actually, yeah, hold some space for yourself, you know, on a regular basis, if you can, to provide the empathy for you. And as I said, it makes it much easier to provide empathy for younger people who, if you're feeling it, they're more likely to be feeling the suffering from these things more.

So, yeah, that's my invitation just to have empathy for us. Have empathy for yourself first and then extend that to people that you lead.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, I just want to reemphasise that. That is such a great point to finish on, because this extends beyond every generation, but also when we look at ourselves and stand ourselves and connect with ourselves more, we're able to understand and connect with others more as well.

Adam Lacey

Lovely. So, order your beliefs and have empathy for yourself and others. Our final two points to end on. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back with another episode from this Unlocking the Potential of Gen Z series. We hope you'll join us for that.

1. How might your own generational context and assumptions be shaping your interpretation of Gen Z behaviours in the workplace?
2. What changes could you make in your communication or management style to create more psychological safety and reduce fear of failure for your Gen Z employees?

Why Gen Z Are Different and Why It Matters

Many individuals have never known life without the internet, which has shaped how they think, learn, and communicate.

Social media has impacted self-worth. Constant comparison with thousands of others may lead to low confidence, fear of failure, and procrastination.

Having seen previous generations overwork and burn out, Gen Z values work-life integration, balance and mental wellbeing.

The inherited climate crisis feels frightening, urgent and personal.

Many younger people have been raised with immediate access to information. They’ve been conditioned to expect instant solutions (taxis, food delivery, search engine results).

Feedback can feel like a threat unless it’s framed as support and tied to personal growth. Directive communication feels disempowering.

Less face-to-face interaction and risk-taking in youth mean fewer chances to develop real-world resilience.

Lack of confidence and fear of judgement and conflict can stop Gen Z from seeking support when they need it.

Individuals appreciate questions about what motivates them rather than unconstructive allegations of laziness and entitlement.

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