Gen Z 101: How to Develop Talent Across Generations

There are tons of feelings in the workplace about Gen Z held by older generations in established roles. As the workstyles of Gen Z and those of older generations are often different, it’s an easy mental leap for many to assume that young people have no work ethic, are lazy, and are entitled.

The thing is, though, they’re not.

They just don’t come with the same foundational experiences as previous generations.

Once we grasp the different foundations that those under 30 are working with and understand the contexts they were raised in and live in now, integrating them into an organization and helping them flourish within it becomes much easier.

Three Things You Must Know About Gen Z

There are countless nuances to working with individuals born within this generational cohort band, but there are also some common patterns that can help us understand how to craft their strategic growth. Here are three of the core patterns necessary for that understanding:

No Child Left Behind left everyone behind. This bill, passed in 2002, turned American public schools into quantitative data centers. Learning had to be measurable, or funding was eliminated. The consequences of this are myriad, but the main ones are that creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving were not encouraged, nor was speaking up in class to offer different ideas. Of course, this may now be felt in the workplace in some ways.

Social media is where they get everything. It isn’t just that Gen Z are digital natives— it’s that they don’t actually know a world without cellphones or portable internet. The internet used to stay in one place, and we went to it—a family computer in the kitchen, for example. Since the late 2000s, it’s gone with us everywhere, and it is the lens through which the younger generations experience the world.

Teenagers are big business for social media companies, and these companies do not care about the consequences of programming their algorithms to exploit the specific pain points or curiosities of each person.

While developed brains may see things online and be able to identify them as manipulative or false, a developing brain struggles to do so. This can lead to an impressionable sense of the world and a flexible relationship with truth, facts, and perceived reality.

They’re not entitled, lazy, or unwilling: They’re underprepared. No one wants to work anymore is a phrase that’s been used about young people for more than 100years, and it’s always been false. Gen Z does want to work, contribute, and matter. For some, their education may not have prepared them for confrontations of competing ideas, or how to apply nuance to the work they’re asked to do, but they want to work. They just might not want to work in the ways “work” or “office culture” have been understood by previous generations.

That is a lot; a lot of differences, a lot of nuances, and a lot of things to keep in mind.

The good news? They’re still people.

They still want to be seen, heard, and understood. They still want to contribute; they still want to matter. And developing their talent is the perfect way to unleash those desires and encourage their growth.

Three Things You Should Do to Develop Gen Z

With all of this context in mind, here are three concrete ways to operationalize the talent development process for Gen Z:

Know the baseline. Where someone grew up matters, when they were born matters, and how much they engage with social media matters. These elements can be easily ascertained through basic conversation. Private school versus public school will tell you how affected they are by quantitative education. If they play video games with people from all over the world or have never had a job before, these are clues that can help you know how best to integrate them into the learning development plan you’ve created.

Be willing to personalize. Different people are different. Sure, that’s obvious. But here’s the thing about Gen Z—even though I’ve been talking about them in broad generalizations, they are incredibly siloed. They didn’t grow up in a monoculture, and the algorithms they carry in their pockets have fed them steady diets of personalized content.

Therefore, getting to know the individual will be incredibly helpful to make sure learning and development plans can include them. Maybe they only watch sports, or they compete in e-gaming, or they spend their weekends going to tabletop game conventions. Maybe they’re a TikTok influencer for sneakers, or grew up in an isolated community, or have three side hustles.

Knowledge is power, and knowledge of the individuals in this generation is the only way to successfully develop their talent.

Check in and be flexible. Gen Z often believes life is fully set, because while analog lives can be written in pencil, digital ones are often written in ink. Helping them to understand that every single decision is not permanent, and that they are allowed to be flexible in their career and education journeys, can be trust-building exercises for the future.

There’s a lot of noise out there about generations, specifically Gen Z, and it’s hard to know what to believe or where to start. This article provides concrete action steps that you can adapt for your specific needs. The key to all of it, though, is this core truth: Humans want to be seen, heard, and understood. The youths do, too.

For a deeper dive, join me at the ATD25 International Conference & EXPO for the session: From Boomer to Zoomer: Thriving in Multigenerational Workplaces.