How Leaders Can Motivate their Gen Z Employees to Reach Their Full Potentials

By Sebastian Partogi

Recently, we organized a webinar in collaboration with Linov HR on the subject of tapping into Gen Z’s hidden potentials in the workplace. Before the webinar began, we conducted a little “audience survey”, asking participants to share their experiences working with their Gen Z colleagues in the Zoom chat box.

Most of the comments on the chat box were negative. “The Gen Z employees are just too spoiled; they’re simply not tough enough”. “They want instant results”. “They’re simply too demanding”. In a LinkedIn survey we did a couple weeks ago, 49 percent of our 35 voters were concerned about the mental health of their Gen Z colleagues.

Before you start reading this article any further, please reflect on this question:

In what instances do these negative stereotypes about Gen Z hold true? Also, do you have any positive working experiences with your Gen Z colleagues, which help you debunk these negative stereotypes?

According to the webinar speaker Suryo Sasono, Bukalapak Senior Vice President of Talent, every generation has its very own positive and negative traits and Gen Z is no different. Yet as humans we tend to focus too much on the negative. The Gen Z employees had the following positive traits:

– They are very assertive, not afraid to speak up their minds openly. They also tend to be more egalitarian than their colleagues from the previous generations.

These traits can actually spur more innovation and creativity in the workplace.

– They are quick learners who tend to be open to feedback and tend to correct their mistakes swiftly upon getting feedback.

– Their motivation to work hard stems from their desire to find meaning and purpose from their careers, not just financial benefits (although the latter is also still important, of course). They are also motivated by the desire to constantly develop themselves creatively and intellectually to attain personal growth from their careers. This is why they can easily be bored by monotonous tasks or want to leave a job when they no longer feel challenged.

Based on our understanding of the Gen Z’s positive traits above, here’s how we as leaders can optimize their hidden potentials in the workplace, according to Suryo:

1. Engage them in the company decision making process

Perhaps top-down decision making processes and rigid hierarchies should become the things of the past. A more egalitarian workplace can result in higher innovation and creativity since participative decision making can result in better ideas. Because Gen Z workers are very assertive and like to speak their minds, you’re more likely to have a successful and productive work environment when you also involve them in the company decision making process and engage them in an open communication with company leadership members.

1. Infuse your organization with a clear sense of meaning and purpose

By infusing your organization with a clear sense of meaning and purpose, by linking your company’s activities to a greater good, you can increase the motivation and productivity of your Gen Z employees. For instance, if you are a big corporation, you can create programs which empower small and medium enterprises to help them grow their business. Or, you can also persuade your Gen Z employees that it’s important for your business to always grow in order to open job opportunities for youngsters.

1. Stimulate their minds and creativity by providing them constant learning opportunities

Do not let your Gen Z employees get stuck in a rut. If you notice some of them have already worked for a long time in a particular task or division, engage them in a dialogue on whether they still feel challenged in their current role. Then, explore ways you can give them the new challenges that they want. For instance, you can rotate them to a new division, work with new people, or assign them new tasks to satisfy their need for constant learning.

In actuality, leaders can apply these strategies to motivate their employees from any generation. It is fair to say that the aspects mentioned above (sense of belonging, meaning and purpose as well as personal and professional growth) are great motivators for all professionals, regardless of age. It is just that the Gen Z are more vocal and assertive in expressing their needs for these things in the workplace.

Then, what about you? Out of all the strategies to engage the Gen Z mentioned above, which ones have you tried to implement in your own organization? Tell us in the comment section below!