Why kind of talents we need to deal with Gen Z?

IT – internet & digital devices:

Gen X & Baby Boomers were the guinea pigs and users along the development journey, not only witnessing the development and growth, more so, participated in the entire journey.?

By the time the Millennials were born and began to be the users, the smart phone era started; the Millennials grew up with the “development era of “smart” devices, and they were smart enough to make the best of internet and became the generation of “self-learned”.?

It was during the era of Millennials, computer-based training began to gain significant momentum in corporate training departments. In a hindsight, this is one of the key points: Millennials have two key characteristics: 1. Emotion driven, 2. Skilled & Self-learned.?

That means, the Millennials need to be motivated and inspired, they love all the good words and talks to make them feel good. Therefore, during the Millennials era, motivational & inspirational talks, leadership development training, or any kinds of self-development trainings……blossomed! The talks & speaking need not be exactly specific, so long you wrapped with motivational & inspirational words because somehow they could figure out – remember, they are the “self-learned” generation, they could figure out, so long they feel good. Feeling good is most important to them.?

Now, the era of Gen Z has started. Gen Z grew up in the world of IT, they don’t have much interaction with the actual world. Their minds could be as clean as a white sheet of paper – if you think when you give them something, they will do it for you because it is common sense.??Big X!??Their “corporate” common sense is literally zero, if you don’t speak specifically to them, they will look at you blank.?

You think it is common sense when you give something to them, they should know you want them to do it and pass it back to you – big X!??No, they don’t know what they need to do, and they don’t even know they need to pass it back to you or inform you when it is done. Therefore, be specific in communication and in your assignment. When you talk, be specific about your message, i.e., ultimately, what do you mean? Don’t expect that they can guess or understand if you don’t speak directly and specifically.?

A lot of companies realised that the trainings or teambuilding activities that used to work very well, not anymore! Why???Well, the tricks are old - the Millennials have become more matured, and they are immune.??More so after the pandemic, the world has become more online, at least half, a lot of people love WFH. What about the Gen Z? They grew up with logical thinking, things don’t make logical sense, don’t click well with them, and thus they don’t respond well. During the online training, they will turn off the videos, however, it does not mean they are not listening if the training draws their interest. I remember I did a 12-hour training for the graduates of University of Malaya, 80% of the participants turned the videos off, but I noticed that they stayed throughout the entire training, I managed to keep 90% of the participants till the end; I invited them to give feedback, they spoke highly about my training.??All of them were the Gen Z.?

So, what kind of talents we need in dealing with Gen Z? You need people who, not only using their brains, but also using their hearts – be patient, observant, simple, direct and talk logically. In addition, those who care to mentor and coach with good communication skills – these are the talents we need and they can work with Gen Z well.?