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Tapping into Gen Z’s Strengths – Values, Motivation & Engagement  (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, what are we talking about today?

Zavier Coyne

So, today we're looking at how can we tap into Gen Z's values and their strengths; really understanding what truly drives them and what the keys are to unlocking their potential.

Adam Lacey

Very cool. Right, let's start with values before we go into strengths. Can you talk us through some of these and then maybe reference how they differ from previous generations?

Zavier Coyne

Of course. The first one, which is a really big one to look at, is the notion of questioning the status quo. That is a big value of our generation – of Gen Z. Really questioning institutions, questioning authority, questioning what they're told so that they can – this notion of self-determination theory – so they can determine things for themselves. That is a value that is coming through more and more. So, questioning the status quo, I would say, is the first big value to touch on.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

And where that's come from. Growing up with the Internet and being told, you know, ‘Don't always believe what you read online because it can be, you know, edited by anyone.’ And we're used to seeing, you know, fake news and things like that. So, we've had to just kind of decipher what's real and what's not.

So yeah, just challenging what's been done and also seeing how businesses have really – there's been so many startups that have disrupted so many industries and that have become, you know, multibillion dollar enterprises. So, I think we've seen the power of challenging the status quo as well. So, it's kind of been embedded in that, in young people's collective consciousness.

Adam Lacey

Great. So, we're challenging the status quo and the reasons behind that. What other values are we kind of experiencing with Gen Z now? What are we seeing?

Zavier Coyne

So, one of the other big values is that notion of belonging and representation. And there's many reasons as to why this is important but, actually, let’s look at it from a very, like, statistical perspective for a moment: Gen Z are the most diverse generation ever. So that it's not actually – that's statistical, that's not even kind of an opinion.

That is Gen Z are statistically the most diverse generation ever. So, this notion of belonging and representation comes from that place of actually wanting to feel like you belong wherever you are. And this notion that we come from diverse backgrounds, from globalisation and the impact of that, it's meant that people are very multinational. It means that our generation has a value of being culturally aware. That's also a big value. But this notion of belonging, to feel like you belong and are represented – both on a kind of, you could say, we go back to like a tribal level – you feel like you belong to the tribe, that you are part of the collective.

That's become even more important because people feel sometimes more disconnected to that than ever. And there is also, though, the flip side of that – online: people can find their tribe, they can find people that they feel like they belong to and represented by online. But when it comes to the workplace, how is that translated is really important for managers to consider. And that's a big value of our generation definitely.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Definitely. And how managers communicate is such an important part of, like, helping young people sort of fulfil that value as well, and the culture itself.

Adam Lacey

That’s really interesting because yeah, like you say the technologies played an enormous part here. You know, in twenty, thirty years ago, your tribe was pretty much the people in your geographic proximity, frankly, wasn't it? It's the people you spent physical time with who lived in the towns and cities, villages that you were in.

And that very much shaped your identity; shaped how you thought about the world, how you perceive things. But thanks to technology, thanks to low-cost travel as well – let's not underestimate that, you know, that wasn't a thing thirty, forty years ago – being able to actually go to different places; more, kind of, you know – Europe and the Schengen agreement as well, frankly – being able to work and experience different cultures and travel freely between countries. That’s something that's only happened in the last kind of, you know, twenty years or so. So, all of these things are kind of part of life for Gen Z and they weren't for previous generations.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

And then to touch on the next value that you see is authenticity and transparency. Gen Z really seek truth and they seek authentic communication, authentic and real people. We have kind of grown up with, well, a lot of, we'd say, fake politicians and distrust in organisations and institutions, as Zav has already said, and on the Internet, you know, deep fakes, fake news.

All of this we've had to have, as I already said, we've had to decipher what's real or not, and what's not. And we are not accepting of what is – we're not accepting of fakeness essentially. So, we really crave that authenticity, and this applies to so many contexts in the workplace; you know, leaders being real and being honest and communicating exactly what's going on and not hiding truth from people.

We've grown up being also able to access information at any time. So, if you want answers to stuff, we can get it. So, if we feel like we’re being withheld information from other people, we then naturally distrust them. Like, well, what are you trying to hide? What aren't you trusting us with? And it can lead to a lot of disengagement in the workplace.

Then it also links to a point: if you're trying to attract, or if you want to try and attract young people, you know, it's really important to set expectations. So, rather than selling the dream about a business, being honest about the challenges of the business, you know: if you're gonna have to work late sometimes and you know, when things get intense, being really open and honest about that. Organisations think, ‘Well, if we should tell them the bad bits, they won't want to join our business.’, but actually, by being honest, it actually builds that trust.

Zavier Coyne

And that's also why retention rates are dropping as well, because young people will enter the workforce based on this idea of what they believe a role to be. And then three months, six months in realise, A, it's maybe not that and B, they don't feel equipped to operate in that kind of way.

So that transparency is actually also – that actually can be cost saving for organisations. If they be more upfront, they'll get people that maybe are more aligned to the culture of the organisation and the way that it works. So, yeah, just wanted to build on that point.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, it's all about building trust. It's all about building trust. And that authenticity, that vulnerability, you know, that’s what builds the trust and that applies to generations. But it's particularly important for young people to see and feel.

Zavier Coyne

It links like to managers, the way we interact; this notion of, kind of, organisational hierarchy and structure, we're seeing it start to dissolve essentially. Not necessarily just a complete collapse of it, but more in terms of we need to have open channels where we can see through rather than kind of levels, where it kind of feels like you're not going to be able to see any of that until you get there. And so, forward it goes.

So, having managers where there's that authentic piece of – you feel like you can approach; like being approachable as a manager, and being honest. As Patrick said – vulnerability. Vulnerability is a prerequisite to connection. So, to build connection effectively with young people requires that vulnerability. And through connection you then get better communication and better performance.

So, that transparency and authenticity is super intertwined and managers can really, hopefully, take a lot away from that and reflect on where they can maybe imbue those values themselves more.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, 100%. This is honestly such a big unlock. If managers can get this right and be vulnerable and be really radically transparent about what's going on within the organisation and how they feel about, you know, giving feedback, etc, it makes such a huge difference. So, yeah, it's an important value, but a massive one for managers and organisations to, like, tap into.

Adam Lacey

Yeah, and I agree, by the way, and I think authenticity, transparency, vulnerability, to build trust, to attract the right people, to retain the right people, is a very kind of clear path to success. I would say there's definitely some nuance in there as well. So, speaking from someone who's done this correctly and incorrectly in the past, as a manager, as a leader, you can sometimes be too transparent or too vulnerable.

And that can be a real issue. And I've had some really great advice from an executive leadership coach called Ruth on one of the episodes that we recorded with her, actually. And she said something that's always stuck with me, which is ‘Don't share unresolved vulnerability.’ So, as a manager or a leader, if you are having a very tough time and you're in that tough time and you haven't fully resolved it or got to the light, if you like, that's a bad time to share it, because what you're going to do is you're going to push your own anxiety and your own kind of problems down instead of giving people a kind of open and clear path forward to say, ‘Look, I was feeling like this happened, this is how we got through it, this is the lessons learned.’

And I've always struggled with vulnerability because I love to be vulnerable and open and anybody listens to our podcast knows that I, you know, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm pretty much an open book about my stuff. But actually, when it comes to leading and managing, I have started to temper what feelings I share with the team versus just my kind of, my unfiltered kind of vulnerability on the table, all the time.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, it's a really important distinction and kind of the way I used to frame that was, and still do, is the notion of being vulnerable and oversharing. Like being vulnerable is different to oversharing. And I think that's really important to get clear on. It's a really important nuance that you've just touched on.

From listening to what we’re saying, of course, we're saying the importance of transparency and authenticity, but like you said, that unresolved vulnerability. It's kind of looking at transparency in different areas; when we talk about transparency of maybe our feelings – be the transparency of job role expectations – of course, we start to play with the nuance of being transparent – that kind of really links to like what we're talking about.

So, it's a really great point and I like to frame it as, yeah, vulnerability is different to oversharing. So yeah, thank you for touching that point, Adam.

Adam Lacey

Persistent oversharer. It's a lesson I learned quite quickly.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Now another thing I want to share on this is the notion of starting with why and the transparency of decisions. Young people generally, as I said, with the value of challenging the status quo, don't like being told what to do and not understanding why. They will reject that, I guarantee they’ll reject that.

So, quite often in business, there are times to tell people what to do or there's decisions that have been made that may not have had their input. And if that is the case, and it is, the way that it'll be well received is to really explain the why behind it. To try be transparent about how it impacts them and the challenges the business are facing in order to make that decision; the criteria.

Really over-communicating what made that decision go ahead. And, so, once they have that understanding, and it's got that transparency of information, they'll feel like they believe that nothing's being withheld and they're much more likely to feel valued and respected in that and then they'll accept the decision. They might not agree with it, but there’ll be buy-in.

So, it's a really effective strategy for managers to, again, tap into that value.

Zavier Coyne

If I link that to my own experience, when I worked for a major consultancy firm, we would have some deliverables that we had to create and I, kind of, really felt there was information withheld. I was kind of capped at what I could know and that really influenced my motivation to create the deliverable.

Partly because I didn't actually know exactly the purpose of the deliverable. I didn't know exactly who was seeing it, why they were seeing it, what the importance of it actually was. And so, I felt completely disconnected to the work itself. With most motivation – it’s because we've got a goal we're working towards, we know what we're working towards.

So, if we don't have the transparency of what that actually is, which often can be withheld in bigger organisations for many different reasons, but it's important to look at that honestly to see if that can be adjusted because it can really influence the motivation of the people working on certain things. And that was a massive thing for me, a learning of like. I need actually that communication of like, why I'm doing what I'm doing so I can put myself into it fundamentally.

And that's what then leads to – we link it back to the first episode, where we talked about that assumption of laziness or disengagement - it actually is often because the engagement that's kind of been delivered for managers isn't there in the right way or there's not the right transparency. So, we can start to – as we're furthering this podcast – we'll start to make those links more and more about how the context we discussed in episode 1 links to the way these values are tapped into, the strengths that are kind of unlocked and, essentially, the way that managers communicate and employ different initiatives to get the most out of this generation.

Adam Lacey

I feel with the kind of honesty, empathy, vulnerability, you unlock solutions in your people that otherwise they would not get to. Because if they don't understand the context, they don't understand the why, they are less likely to think hard, come up with the creative solutions like you say, they're then demotivated because they don't understand the full context.

The full context could actually unlock the solution to the problem that you might be having. And I think that's a really important thing to remember as a leader.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Reminds me of the phrase, you know: if you know the why, you can endure any how. So, the more leaders can communicate the why, it makes that – you know, in Zav's example, how he's putting himself into and how deliver on that – it makes that much more bearable. If it's something that you didn't necessarily want to do, if you can understand that why, it just really brings that engagement through.

Zavier Coyne

So, the next value is work life integration and flexibility. And I've adjusted that wording from work life balance to work life integration for a reason. And the notion is that when we talk about work life balance, we've got this notion of kind of two sides: kind of like, I'm working and then I'm living.

And our generation is starting to see like, ‘Well, how does work integrate into my life?’ And so, this notion of work life integration is a really important thing to look at. And if we link it all the way back to where's that come from? Of course, every generation kind of wants balance in their working life.

But if you take the example, if you come into the workplace during a global pandemic and you're used to being able to like, join a meeting, switch your laptop off, go for a run, come back, or, you know, the way you spend your lunch hours, the way you work, the way that you take care of yourself, it really does change as a result of some of these big shifts that we've seen kind of contextually in the world in the last decade.

So, the first part of that value is work life integration and the second part is how it ties into the flexibility of the way that we work, which is massive.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, definitely another reason the work life integration is there. We touched on the first episode of Gen Z growing up in the 2008 financial recession and seeing our parents, you know, have some financial hardship and can burn themselves out by prioritising work and financial gain and how it impacted their life and family life.

And it's just instilled that belief that, you know, rather than living to work, it's about working to live and seeing work as just part of life, as Zav said. So that's just part of some of the context that has shaped this value today.

Zavier Coyne

That's a great point. And I think it's important that organisations start to kind of look at this honestly in a way because it's started to have a quite a big impact in terms of other generations perceiving, ‘Okay, we're going to climb the ladder at all costs. We're going to get in first few years, completely grind it away, regardless of the impact on my health, on my relationships, etc.’

And this generation are coming in, rather than asking themselves a question, ‘Am I going to kind of do this, climb the ladder at all costs?’, it’s ‘Is this worth compromising my relationships and my wellbeing for?’ And the reality is when you get down to the kind of more nitty gritty of the details as well, and the kind of cost of living, we've got a generation that's coming into a ginormous cost of living crisis where, for example, grad roles, the salary hasn't shifted anywhere near in relation to inflation.

And so, when a millennial would come into a grad role, they might have more flexibility with the cash they're earning, they might be able to enjoy things a bit more and feel like, ‘Okay, this is kind of worth it. I'm kind of getting into the mode, I'm going to grind it out. I can see where I can go here.’

Then you've got our generation coming into the same grad roles in a cost-of-living crisis where they're working, and they'd be working the same amount just to make ends meet. And so, the question then comes up is not ‘Am I going to work this hard so that I can get there?’, but ‘Am I going to work this hard just to make ends meet?’

That doesn't necessarily add up in their minds. So, there's more questioning that comes in. So, then it links down to the first value of questioning the status quo. We're questioning ‘Is what I'm earning in the kind of trajectory of my career worth sacrificing my wellbeing and the health of my relationships for right now?’ which is something that other generations are kind of, let's say, acclimatising to.

That is new. This is the first generation where work life integration, work life balance isn't kind of this add on. This is kind of, like, at the heart of how a company and organisation shares their job roles and organises their culture.

Adam Lacey

Brilliant points. Yeah. And working from home, working flexibly, hybrid working has really shaped organisations over the last few years and actually massively shaped how we all work and our relationship with work. But if that is your first experience of the workplace, as it is for many people coming into their first roles at the moment, then that expectation is completely different to someone who had to, you know, schlep it on the Northern Line for an hour every day for eight years, which is what I had to do. Do you know what I mean?

Adam Lacey

It's a very different place to be coming from. And I can see there where, you know, how that impacts work life integration and how flexibility is a big part of what they're, what you're doing now or how Gen Z feels now. But, also, just how that might misalign with what existing, you know, older generations work on.

Zavier Coyne

Definitely. And it kind of links to then, ‘Well, what can organisations do about this? What kind of is some of the takeaways from it with navigating this value?’ And when we look at flexibility, the data doesn't show that everyone in our generation just wants to work on a laptop and travel the world. That's not what the data shows. Despite that being some kind of glorified expectation of this kind of hybrid working reality. They really value working in person, but they value working in person when there's like clear purpose. So, for example, an organisation, rather than just being like ‘Every Wednesday and Thursday you gotta come in’, that's not connecting to the purpose of why that's important.

There's nothing, there's no actual kind of structure and meaningful about that. Whereas if they're like, ‘Okay, we'd love everyone to be in next Thursday, we've got this manager that will be in because then you can learn from them here in person. We're going to have this meeting and hopefully get this takeaway. So that's why I want everyone in person.’ That helps to people to feel connected.

And that flexibility – if young people are going into the office and senior managers aren't there or other people aren’t there, that's where that kind of, that's where the culture of an organisation and that cross generational learning took place. So, they come into organisation, into the office, and it's just their own generation kind of sitting around working and there's not much structure, there's not many motivational meetings where it feels like you're actually getting deep work done.

That's not going to make young people feel like they're connected to working in person. So, to summarise what I'm saying when it comes to how managers can see this value – is to communicate in-person work with touching on that ‘why’ and the purpose behind it.

That can be a great way to connect young people and start to build an in-person and kind of hybrid culture that is really, really effective.

Adam Lacey

Fabulous point, fabulous point. Right, any more values? Or are we on to strengths?

Zavier Coyne

We do have two more values, if you're up for it.

Adam Lacey

Let's go for them.

Zavier Coyne

So, one of the values is learning and personal growth. This notion we grow up in a – we're now growing up in a – kind of a world of wellbeing entertainment: you can figure out how to personally develop – self-development – at your fingertips all the time.

But there's this notion of actually ‘How do we integrate that learning?’ Taking it from information into insight. So, not just something we know and talk about, but how do we integrate that as people into our lives – it is really important. So, for example – even just people listening to what we're saying – it can be useful what we're saying, it's useful information we're sharing, but actually how you then integrate it and take it away, that's the insight; that's the practical application of it. And to link it back to our generation as a value, this notion of continuous learning; we're continually looking at, ‘Okay, how can we personally grow?’ And in an organisational context, this links to developing human skills that are kind of beyond the role. So, for organisations – we were at a workshop on Friday and we were talking with an HR lead about this and it's kind of a vulnerable thing that you could do; it can be really impactful if you communicate, ‘Okay, we're going to really help you develop your human skills that will be useful beyond this role.’

And what that does, is that empowers young people to know, okay, this is going to be beneficial for, you know, that portfolio career that I mentioned. ‘Regardless of what I do, how is this job going to help me personally and professionally?’ And if I can develop my human skills, my abilities as a human being, fundamentally, then yeah, I'm more likely to want to give this role a crack.

And the irony of it is some people, some HR leads, can be concerned that they'll take advantage of that and then leave. But the reality is when you build that relationship, you build that trust; when you come into your first role, you really want to learn. With our generation, they come into their first role, they really want to immerse themselves. Of course, you've talked about that conflict avoidant and that area kind of maybe sometimes curbing that in a way. But fundamentally, at their core, a big value is ‘How can I learn? How can I grow personally in what I'm doing both in my personal life and my professional life?’

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Love it. And just to build on that – the personal growth side – I think where that comes from in terms of the value: you know, there's so many external factors and circumstances going on in the world which we cannot control and we're very aware of those things now. So, I think that has led to people focusing on some things that they can control and being able to focus on their personal growth so they can manage their wellbeing and start to develop some of those human skills. It’s becoming more and more important.

So that's part of where that value comes from. And that desire to learn and grow, to gain control of their internal circumstances, when the outside they have less control over.

Adam Lacey

Human transferable skills: don't underestimate the value of them to anybody in the work, in the professional world for sure.

Adam Lacey

Cool. So, what's our final value? Patrick, maybe you take this one.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah, sure. So, the final value is purpose, fulfilment and social impact. And there's a few things that really closely link together. And we kind of see one being the main part, which is that desire for purpose and fulfilment in the workplace.

Of course – well, actually, I won't say that. I was going to say ‘Of course everybody wants that’. But I'm saying that from a Gen Z perspective or a zillennial perspective. For older generations, it was secondary, you know. Speak to my parents’ generation, it wasn't really important, it wasn't really something that was thought about. Millennials –it was something that they wanted but they didn't maybe have enough boundaries around that. They think they wanted it, but essentially, they're kind of more accepting of not having it. Whereas I think young people then, that is something that they look for most when looking in organisations. ‘How is it going to give purpose and fulfilment?’ And it's such a big driver, such a big driver, and people and the energy that can be unlocked from them.

Personally, for me, the reason I was so engaged in my first role (well, after I had some coaching) was connecting me to the purpose and fulfilment of what I was actually getting from the business and how I could help other people in the organisation; how I could help the impact the business was having.

And once I connected to that, it was just a huge fuel source and it's the same for other young people. So, it's a strong value and one to be tapped into. And that's where the social impact comes in – it's having social impact that can give us purpose and fulfilment. And social impact can be broken up into the larger social impact that is happening on the world and society as a whole.

It also can be broken down into the microsocial impact in terms of, as I've said, ‘How can I impact my team? How can I impact my colleagues or friends at home?’ And yeah. So, it's those daily actions that actually bring purpose and fulfilment and that's something that we help young people understand, is that, you know, the organisation can provide that by communicating, you know, their ‘why’ and all of that.

But actually, it's about what we do day to day, understanding our personal values and how we can live and breathe those in small actions.

Adam Lacey

I really like that because that was going to be one of my questions – is this just, you know, having a really good company vision that is purposeful and, you know, fulfilling? But, you know, you made the point that that is probably a very small part of it. And, actually, day to day, how people interact with each other, how people treat each other; the impact, the purpose within their roles – that's more important.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, it's really like the biggest thing there is that microsocial impact, like you said. And that can be as simple as just sharing. By doing this, you are helping make this person's job easier here. Like it doesn't have to be grandiose, like, massive ESG standards. Of course, working towards those is important, but on a fundamental level, daily, for our generation, it's like, ‘How does this help one person?’ That can be just a useful question or heuristic that managers can say when they're sharing about, ‘Please, can you get this piece of work done?’ Or ‘How do you think we should approach this?’ Because this helps this person to do this better or helps them with this more. That's also social impact as well.

Adam Lacey

Yeah. You know what, the team here, every time we get some nice feedback from a client where, you know, someone's listened to something that we've done, and they've gone, ‘You know what? That really shaped my day. That really changed what I did on this. That really helped me get this job role’ or whatever.

That's the stuff that has the most impact and I would say drives the team here to want to do better. That's the thing that picks them up way better than me saying, ‘Great job.’ You know, someone else, someone outside the business saying, ‘You know, this had an impact on what I'm doing.’ That really motivates them.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

100%. Yes. Yeah. That's a big takeaway for managers. Just being able to share customer feedback and, you know, anything that is showing the impact that they are having and how their actions fit into the bigger picture is so powerful.

Adam Lacey

Yeah. Loops back to the ‘why’ you're talking about. That really helps people understand why they're doing the stuff they're doing every day.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Exactly. See all these values tie in together. Yeah.

Adam Lacey

It loops back to personal growth as well. Like, ‘Here's an opportunity where we've not done well to do better.’ Yeah. Yeah, it's great.

Let's talk about strengths. Conscious we've spent quite a bit on values. What are Gen Z's kind of major strengths? Let's go through them as we did with the values and maybe give a bit of a summary.

Do you want to kick us off, Zav?

Zavier Coyne

Yeah. Cool. That notion, the first one, links the values in such a way that it is being value-driven. So, we can kind of take everything we've just discussed in the last kind of half an hour and pack that into just one strength. Because Gen Z aren't afraid to communicate their values in the workplace or show that they matter, essentially.

So that's the first thing to say is: everything we've spoken about today that drives their strengths in the workplace; that they are willing to come back to, as you say, a moral compass. We could kind of look at it as they have a strong moral compass that doesn't kind of stop when they enter the office doors, but kind of continues and permeates.

And sometimes that does create challenging environments, sometimes that does create tension between generations. But if that's communicated and looked at in the right way and we bring in this kind of piece of generational intelligence, it can be a really amazing asset for organisations to tap into, to drive forward the work they do and feeling that it's imbued with kind of a value and a deeper purpose to it.

Adam Lacey

Yeah. And I guess managers, organisations – that's an enormous opportunity for them right there, isn't it? It's like, ‘Okay, first, number one, understand these values, understand what is the kind of motivation, what's driving. And then number two is how do you tap into that to improve productivity, to solve big challenges, to get better results?’

And I think that what you've listened to so far, just understanding that puts you, kind of, you know, way, way closer than a lot of people who have very little idea about the new generation coming into the workforce.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Exactly. And that's just building that generational intelligence and, you know, the power of it. Yeah. Moving on to another strength is creativity and entrepreneurialism. Entrepreneurship. And actually, I'll talk about entrepreneurship first. Gen Z are actually set to be the most entrepreneurial generation out of all generations. And that is a factor of particularly technology – the accessibility and ease that one can do things on their own.

They can, you know, they can start businesses with a phone and an Internet connection. That's all you can need. You know, we've seen the rise of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg signing Facebook in his dormitory, you know, in college and the size of that. So, we've seen what's possible. We've seen, you know, influencers becoming really quick just from using their phone.

So, as I said, we can see what's possible. And the creativity that young people have and being able to see different concepts and bring them together and to create, you know, content or businesses that haven't existed. Entrepreneurialism is an expression of probably that core strength of creativity and that can then be applied in the workplace.

That idea of intrapreneurship – being able to create new products or innovate within the context of an organisation.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, this is such a big point. And to kind of dovetail off the back of that – intrapreneurship, it's really important to create those conditions. As Patrick said, this is set to be the most entrepreneurial generation yet, which in terms of why we’re kind of saying that is statistics show that it's the largest proportion of any generation who wants to start their own business.

And there's an important distinguishing thing to say here: wants to start their own business doesn't mean they will start their own business. And not everyone is meant to start their own business. But it's this notion of – it links back to the first value of questioning the status quo: what can I do? What can I create? What can I change? What impact can I have?

And starting to feel like they – we – are empowered with the toolkit to essentially do that. I was fortunate that I just had a phone connection and social media and I created my first business at 15 and just started getting into that – that would never been accessible for previous generations.

So, there's some amazing plus sides there of entrepreneurial opportunity. But when in organisational context is ‘How do we encourage intrapreneurship?’ So, that entrepreneurial drive within an organisational context, and it's really important here because I've known some organisations kind of go maybe down a – kind of make some mistakes in this area, let's say – where they say, ‘Right, we need you to think entrepreneurially about this, we need you to commit to this.’

And, basically, they're saying ‘We want you to work harder and do more with none of the upside that comes with what entrepreneurship is about.’ So, that is a really important thing that I want to establish is people also engage with entrepreneurialism because of the potential of what you can create, the kind of uncapped potential of that.

So, that's important for organisations to not kind of kid themselves that they're now going to have a team load of entrepreneurs if they kind of train them in the right way, doing kind of all of these crazy things, because otherwise they would just go outside of the business and do them. But there is this skill set that is there to be honed and tapped in through intrapreneurship.

How you encourage entrepreneurialism in an organisational context internally and that's through creating small fail-safe incubators where people can challenge and brainstorm ideas. That's through the questions you ask. Giving people a task which is maybe for example, in the early stages of their career, with less kind of pressure or weight on it, where they can fail and they can explore; kind of even reverse mentorship is a great way to encourage intrapreneurship because you start to challenge cross-generational ideas in a more collaborative and open way.

So, there's these practical ways that we can kind of nurture environments for entrepreneurship, but there is this massive strength, that as a whole, our generation is really interested in, ‘Okay, how can we create change?’ And then the vehicle for that is through entrepreneurialism.

Adam Lacey

Super pertinent point about the risk versus return in terms of, you know, as you guys know – you have your own business – it is a slog, you put in the hours, it is difficult, it is hard, you work more than the average person, but you're doing that because you've got a clear vision of where you want the business to be and the return and you're putting up that risk.

Don't ask someone to do that without a clear kind of return. I think that's a really obvious one. I love the idea of incubators. I think that's really good safety and that, as we talked about and we'll talk about a lot, I imagine, over the course of these series, is super important – safe to fail – and then, yeah, reverse mentoring. Great. Practical.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, I just want to build on this because this is when it comes to supporting young people in the workplace, this notion of entrepreneurialism, like we've just touched on that risk vs reward; if when an employee or some young person in organisation is going above and beyond, is actually standing out in their field and you could say their bracket of whatever kind of way the organisation is structured, if that is not recognised in a proportional way, then that can really demotivate and disengage employees.

I know from a role that I was in a major consultancy, when I would go above and beyond and work on some extra initiatives outside of it, and then there was kind of no acknowledgement for it. It kind of felt this kind of demotivating in a way.

It was more – I had to then connect with that for more the philanthropic efforts that would come with what I was working on, rather than actually it's being respected in the organisation. And I know people, young people in their roles, who, just because of their age or how long they've been in an organisation, are being capped by the potential of where they could go.

And that's also where organisations lose talent and don't retain them when they could be is because they're not seeing the individual for the individual. They're kind of bunching them with anyone who's a managing exec or kind of a data analyst or like whatever kind of role they're in, kind of what that should be like.

They should be there for kind of six months to a year and then maybe – But some people may just be very different and immediately take to a role or maybe will take longer. And if we're not considering people as individuals in an organisation, especially as organisations grow, this is more important to be able to be aware of.

The reason it's linked to the entrepreneurial point is if someone's putting more in and then getting given the same as people who they're like sitting right next to, who they know are not putting the same amount in, that's incredibly demotivating. And they'll look at ‘Where can I go where that will be rewarded?’

So, trying to touch on that because I think it is linked, and if they can tap into that strength and kind of see the individual for the individual, it can lead to some great growth for the organisation.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yes. The next one is digital and global natives. So digital natives and global natives. So digital natives being, as we've said, being born in 1996 and onwards, Gen Z, we've not – we've grown up in a world with just only knowing the Internet – we've not known a world without the Internet. So, we're very digitally fluent.

We use different technologies and we're used to using loads of different technologies throughout our lives as they've developed. So, we are able to use that crazily. And it's a massive strength with the use of AI. There's so many different tools and we're not scared to embrace these new technologies because we've grown up with them and seen the impact of them.

So that obviously is a strength for organisations to tap into, as we'll be able to use these technologies to great effect. And the global natives: we have grown up, you know, being the most diverse generation, statistically speaking, than anyone before. So, we're used to being able to speak to people from different cultures and backgrounds much more easily than other generations, just from the nature of our exposure.

So that's a huge strength in an organisation as well.

Adam Lacey

Fantastic. What's our fourth strength, then?

Zavier Coyne

The fourth strength is being, what you could say, BS detectors. So, they've got a strong BS radar and that links back to that value of authenticity and transparency. Yeah, our generation's got a good sniff and sense for that. So that does come up. It actually can erode trust straight away. But the strength of it is, is that it can build a really strong foundation of organisation.

It can like kind of help pull out weeds, pull out parts that, kind of, pull out inefficiencies, pull out stuff that is in an organisation for organisation sake, which kind of help to pull out that bureaucracy. And actually to look at it honestly and actually talk about it is a really big strength because it links directly to the efficiency of an organisation.

If we can actually mean what we say and kind of get things moving in the right direction rather than getting caught in the fluff, that can come up as well. Let's say that the kind of PG version is their detective.

Adam Lacey

Brilliant.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah. The next strength I want to touch on is adaptability. I was just talking about being digital natives and being able to essentially adapt to all these different technologies. Gen Z in that sense are very adaptable. When new information comes in and there's new systems to use, etc.

We're very comfortable at, yeah, changing. We get used to one technology and then we've got to change to another. So that side of adaptability comes very easily. I also want to say that in some cases we can be less adaptable when in changing physical environments or things in the real-world context, as potentially we have less experience in adapting in that sense because what we've adapted to is, maybe, changes in technology. So, there's aspects where that is a huge strength – adaptability – but in some cases it can be still a challenge.

Adam Lacey

More adaptable to digital change, possibly less adaptable to other changes and something for managers just to be aware of.

Zavier Coyne

Yeah. And this kind of actually links to something that when we are working with our generation directly, this notion of how we can move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, and that growth mindset really incorporates that piece of being adaptable. And being adaptable in all areas comes down to also being humble to acknowledge where you need to move, where you need to change, where you need to evolve.

So, when we move from a fixed mindset, the idea that ‘Okay, our capacity is already limited and predetermined’ to a growth mindset of ‘Okay, how can I take this feedback and then navigate it in a more effective way in both personal and organisational context?’ that really helps to kind of tap into that strength even more.

But that's specifically from how Gen Z themselves can tap into their own strengths, you could say more, through a mindset shift. But in terms of managers, there's another strength that kind of Gen Z have of being fast learning and problem solvers, kind of in a way we're used to especially in a digital landscape, fastly learning.

We want to learn something, we got instant access to it and we kind of can go from there. There's not as much of a delay effect in learning as there would have been before for other generations, which is a massive plus. And when it comes to the stuff that we're talking about, when we do speak with our generation, the feedback is always so positive.

They're hungry to learn this stuff. There may be an initial kind of bump period, like kind of just slowly warming up to what we're exploring, but once they're in it, once they understand how beneficial this is for them in all areas of their life, they start to really pick this up quite quickly; start to look at these communication skills, start to look at these human skills that we're talking about and touching on in quite a fast way, which is really positive.

So, there's that kind of hunger to learn and that eagerness to link to that value of learning and personal growth that, when you can tap into that value, it's a strength that they can do that quite quickly. So, I want touch on that as well.

Adam Lacey

Fabulous. And what's our next strength then?

Zavier Coyne

So, the final strength we've got down is socially aware communication. And it just kind of touches on that point that we were talking about earlier about BS detectors and links to also the value of kind of questioning the status quo.

Our generation is really interested in how you can have that clear, transparent communication and what that means is also socially-aware communication; communicating in a way that means internally everyone feels that they belong and feels represented, that is actually a massive strength.

Because previously in organisations and other generations, sometimes certain demographics could feel siloed, could feel excluded. And this doesn't look at the organisation as a whole. So, our generation is really looking at, ‘Okay, let's look at the human for the individual’ and what that leads to from that socially-aware communication is a thriving, diverse, multi-generational workforce.

And there's obviously loads of other demographics you could touch on there. But the notion is that it's incorporating all demographics in the way that they kind of communicate, which taps into the value of belonging and representation, as I just mentioned.

Adam Lacey

We’ve got our six values and our seven strengths there. And what we're going to do in future episodes in this series is we're going to really get stuck into, ‘Right, how can managers, how can organisations, leverage those values, leverage those strengths, tap into the potential of this generation and actually get the most out of them?’

But Xavier, can you maybe just recap us on the values and then, Patrick, recap us on the strengths and then we'll wrap up?

Zavier Coyne

Yeah, for sure. So, the values. We've got the first one of questioning the status quo, the notion of then belonging and representation, then authenticity and transparency, then work life integration and flexibility. Then the value of learning and personal growth and the final value of purpose, fulfilment and social impact.

Patrick Quinton-Smith

Yeah. And then the strengths from being values-driven or driven by all of the values that Zav just shared. Number two is creativity and entrepreneurial drive. Number three, digital and global natives. Number four, being bullshit detectors. Five, being fast learners and problem solvers. Number six, having socially aware communication. Number seven, being adaptable.

Adam Lacey

Thank you both and hope you join us for the rest of the series on this, where we're really going to be getting into how we can make the most of these as leaders and managers, how we can tap into the potential of this generation. We'll see you in the next one.

1.  How frequently do you create opportunities for Gen Z employees to feel a sense of belonging and purpose in their day-to-day work?
2. Where might you be unintentionally withholding information or overlooking context, and how could more transparency boost Gen Z engagement?

Tapping into Gen Z’s Strengths

Gen Z excels at critical thinking. Individuals often challenge authority and tradition because they’ve grown up needing to fact-check information online.

Gen Z is an incredibly diverse generation; connection and representation matter deeply. Inclusive workplaces where people feel seen and valued are essential and socially aware communication creates a sense of belonging.

Transparency and authenticity build trust. Young people want managers who are open, honest and real.

Continuous learning and personal growth are seen as core parts of a role, not optional extras.

Purpose and fulfilment are essential. This generation wants to feel their work matters and that their everyday actions can help others.

Explanations matter. Gen Z are unlikely to accept decisions if they don’t understand the reasoning behind them.

Vague job descriptions and withheld context reduce motivation and lead to disengagement.

Entrepreneurial drive is strong but needs to be matched with opportunity and reward, not just extra responsibility.

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