A company wouldn’t thrive and achieve its desired goals without a cohesive team of employees working diligently and communicating virtuously whilst upholding each other’s values. This is what it means to breed a company culture. With the newest generation, Gen Z, joining the workforce, it is imperative to further develop said company culture in the wake of it, especially in this day and age. Striking a balance in building a disciplined, efficient, and fun culture for your employees can only benefit your organisation as a whole.
In this article, Cahoot Learning will dive further into the minds of Gen Z to help a company build a culture better suited for the new generation of talents in the workforce.
Gen Zs Collaborative Nature
It is predicted that by 2025, Generation Z will make up 27% of the workforce (source), and companies and organisations are inclined to create a new culture that suits the newer generation. Thus, it is crucial to grasp their unique perspective and mindset regarding learning, behaving, and interacting with their peers.
The most efficient way of doing this is simply by looking at learning trends over the past decade. Compared to previous generations, Gen Z has been exposed to a more active and blended learning approach than traditional lectures and textbook learning. Gen Zers are called “The Sharing Generation” for a reason. They grew up in a society where it’s easy to connect with one another allowing them to be more active and collaborative in their learning process. As their emotional connection with each other grows, so does their confidence. The sense of camaraderie helps them overcome any given challenges in their path without giving in to immense pressure that may occur.
Given that Gen Zers believe in the importance of dialogue and accept differences of opinion, they are likely to demand greater personalisation and transparency in what and where they are working. Therefore, it is a requirement for companies worldwide to adapt their corporate training and development to create a company culture that is better-suited for Generation Z’s best and brightest minds.
Transparency & Autonomy
Collecting valuable insights from how Generation Z learns and interacts with others will tremendously help form a better company culture that Gen Z can be comfortable in. It will also provide Gen Z with a suitable environment to flourish, thus allowing the company to reach greater heights.
Although Gen Z can become a valuable asset for the company, they won’t necessarily engage and involve themselves in its environment immediately. Tending to learn by doing, it is vital for organizations to show how it’s done and present the chance for Gen Z to practise what they have learnt and urged to do it amongst the team.
There are a few approaches to accomplish this, such as digitising the company’s files and making everything accessible. This level of transparency can be an outlet for Gen Z to learn and collaborate. It also allows them to apply their knowledge and prove that they understand the work at hand. This way of working also provides them with real cases from past projects and sees their problems and solutions. Eventually, this will develop Gen Z’s abilities to solve future projects they might handle.
The Era of Social Networks
The final approach for creating a company culture suited for Gen Z is to encourage informal social interaction. Being born in the dawn of technological advances, Generation Z has grown up with more access and exposure to digital media than any of the generations prior. This ease of access to give and receive information creates a space for them to express themselves freely. Gen Z is also more open to seeing different viewpoints and opinions and will respond accordingly with either agreement or disagreement, giving value to freedom of speech.
This means their sense of hyperconnectivity and desire to connect would make them extremely comfortable collaborating with others. Establishing these connections means Gen Z is also emotionally invested towards their peers and the company itself. It creates a safe space for them to explore what can and cannot be done to satisfy their thirst for creativity, and challenge the status quo.
In Conclusion
Generation Z’s limitless potential is a double-edged sword, and it’s up to companies and organisations to facilitate and nurture these traits in a positive way. Gen Z tends to learn by doing, so why not show them? Creating a culture of openness and collaboration would ultimately offer an ROI beyond your expectations.
Cahoot Learning has the best adaptive leadership training. We devised a Cohort-based learning model that includes our exceptional adaptive leadership and collaborative learning programs. Learn how to communicate with impact and rise above the rest with us!
