The big resilience fallacy

At this Friday newsletter released yet again on Monday – and I want to flatter myself by hoping that you missed the timely publishing of this new edition – I am exploring this often-weighted term “resilience”.

As stereotypes go, the ones that concern Generation Z make us believe, most convincingly, that the term does not even apply to that lot.

For example, the phenomena of “quiet quitting” describes the situation when leaving an unsatisfactory job is foregone in favour of just doing bare minimum in order to stay afloat. Where’s the hard push to change things, to adapt, to improve the circumstances? Nah, I’ll just drift along..

I was at a conference last week, a really brilliant one, where we discussed the topic of intergenerational communication. In fact, Esther Stanhope and I hosted an icebreaker at the opening of the conference, featuring the material from our Boomer to Zoomer series of masterclasses (more information is at https://alisagrafton.com/boomer-to-zoomer-programme/ ). The discussion that ensued was a real eye-opener for many.

Because the view that resilience is one of the qualities that is sorely missed in the youngest generation in the workplace was widely held. It was held by the older leaders – Xers (born 1965-1979), Boomers (born 1946-1964) and some Millennials (1980-1995), but did the Gen Zedders themselves agree?

Nope. The did not!I was at a conference last week, a really brilliant one, where we discussed the topic of intergenerational communication. In fact, Esther Stanhope and I hosted an icebreaker at the opening of the conference, featuring the material from our Boomer to Zoomer series of masterclasses (more information is at https://alisagrafton.com/boomer-to-zoomer-programme/ ). The discussion that ensued was a real eye-opener for many.

Because the view that resilience is one of the qualities that is sorely missed in the youngest generation in the workplace was widely held. It was held by the older leaders – Xers (born 1965-1979), Boomers (born 1946-1964) and some Millennials (1980-1995), but did the Gen Zedders themselves agree?

Nope. The did not!

In fact, the view was offered that Gen Z have resilience in abundance. Otherwise, that generation simply would not be able to navigate the world that is positively moving towards a climate catastrophe, burdened with forever wars and mad-men politics, while dealing with frequent financial woes brought on by the current instability and a constant sense of upheaval.

And, to me at least, this seems like a fair point. Perhaps we got it wrong, and Gen Zedders are, in fact, mega resilient – yet they are honest about the among of frustration that they can tolerate.

If so, tables are turning, and the onus is on the leaders to assume a proactive role in brainstorming the new vision of resilience.

A quick tip? Don’t do that without engaging your Gen Z first!

?

Looking to retain the best of your people and improve communication within your teams and valuable clients? Chat to us about our groundbreaking masterclasses “Boomer to Zoomer”. Get in touch - [email protected]

?

?

?

?

?