Three Tips You Can Give Young Teammates to Help Them Succeed
Tim Elmore
Founder of Growing Leaders, Inc. Best selling author, keynote and workshop speaker
Although the Millennial generation is the largest demographic in the workforce, Generation Z is the fastest-growing population heading to work. They’re the “new kids on the block” and they have experienced headwinds as they’ve entered their jobs:
According to the Center for Generational Kinetics, these factors have stunted their orientation into a career. 43 percent of them plan to change their career (or industry) because of what they experienced during the pandemic. More than a third of them believe the pandemic has delayed the advancement of their career. And because so many are living on low incomes, 61 percent of them want their employer to provide the option for daily payment of their wages.
Step into their shoes for a moment. Imagine you’re 22 years old and your parents have insisted you focus on academics, so you never took a job in high school or college. Thanks to social media and video gaming, portable devices made your life both fun and overwhelming. None of these realities, however, prepared you for the “freshman year of your career.” The result?
More Gen Zers quit their jobs during the “great resignation” than any other generation.
Three Tips We Can Offer Them
As they enter their careers, we owe it to them to help them succeed. Gen Z brings a hacker mindset, an entrepreneurial spirit, and fresh eyes to your team. On the other hand, they won’t understand the nuances that make your organization work. Seasoned veterans can help them “win” at work by helping them answer three questions. Our Growing Leaders’ president, Steve Moore, summarizes them this way:
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The Questions to Answer in any Organization
1. Power – How do we gain influence here?
The answer to this question can be tricky because of politics within the team. Stick around long enough, however, and you’ll discover how to influence supervisors and colleagues alike. When I arrived on staff with John Maxwell in 1983, I quickly recognized what was important to him. If I helped him research and create a leadership talk or if I organized a meeting, he’d write me a “thank you” note and tell me I had saved him ten hours of work. I quickly saw “time” was his love language and I had gained influence this way.
2. Judgment – How do we make decisions?
Everyone must recognize whether the “boss” delegates decisions to department managers or holds onto the decision-making power. Is the chief executive empowering or authoritative? Decision rites are a major reason people become confused, frustrated, and even leave their job. I coached a business leader recently whose company was merging with another. He continued to hit a brick wall when he met with his counterpart until he realized why the bottleneck existed. It didn’t make things easy, but he now understands how choices are made.
3. Success – How do we measure wins?
Every new employee enters a job assuming they know how the team measures success, but they often get it wrong. Once again, there are often nuances and hidden agendas. We do well to help new team members recognize that what gets counted gets rewarded. They must listen to what gets talked about at budget meetings, planning meetings and team celebrations. Who gets the bonuses and for what activities? The mission statement on the wall is not as important as the conversations happening down the hall.
Chris Gardner inspired the movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness.” He went from a homeless man to a business success as he discovered how to win at work and in life. He brilliantly noted, “If you want to play on the team, go to the gym. If you want to own the team, go to the library.” I hope this short piece was a trip to the library for young team members.
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