Struggles of an Emerging Leader: The War to Win Over Gen Z

When I was asked to write about my initial leadership journey, to look at my past as an emerging leader, my first thought was, “Robin, do you know how much PTSD I have from those first days of running a child care center?!” I’ve done everything I can to block those memories out. Shut the door, locked it, and I was keeping that negativity out of my life for good. Or so I thought.

So here it is…I was a terrible leader. I was awful. I was ill-equipped and had few soft skills. One of my staff members actually had to point out how much yelling my face was doing, even when I thought I was being calm and patient. In those first couple of years, I made every mistake you could make running a business, and especially leading a staff.

There have been many hard lessons I’ve had to learn over the past few years, (and many took me entirely too long to grasp), but the one I think is most important to talk about today is how much people need and are lacking connection in their lives. People NEED connection. Social media has given us a false sense of connection with one another, and it turns out, there’s an alarming number of people that are really lonely because of it.

According to the 2018 Cigna Loneliness Index,[i] “Just under half of all those surveyed report sometimes or always feeling alone (46%) and/or feeling left out (47%).” And almost 20% of Americans don’t feel there is anyone they can talk to. And loneliness is disproportionately affecting our young adults. Gen Z is currently the loneliest Generation. And I would venture to say that some of the younger Millennials are pretty lonely, too.

As evidence of Gen Z’s need for connection: 72% of Gen Z prefer to communicate face-to-face at work.[ii] Am I the only one that was shocked by this statistic? They don’t want to be texted or messaged. They want you to talk to them in person. Our Gen Z’s also would like a lot more current feedback than previous generations, too. About 60% of Gen Z’s would like weekly or even daily check-ins from management. [iii] Who are the majority of our new hires in the child care industry? Gen Z and younger Millennials.

I don’t bring these statistics to you to make you sad or uncomfortable. I am bringing this to your attention because there is a huge opportunity here. As a leader, when I figured out that Gen Z is not just an overindulged generation that doesn’t want to work, but instead they are a Generation that is sad and lonely, it was a game changer for me at my center.

Our younger staff are desperate for community and many actually want mentorship. If you create community, connection, and mentorship opportunities in your center, Gen Z will come around to you and work hard for you.

Lindsey Walker is a new contributor to Seasonal Pathways and serves as a subject matter expert for our new and emerging leaders. Her expertise in this area is a great benefit to our advancing and executive leaders for the insights she brings in bridging the generation gap prevalent in many centers. Watch for more from Lindsey on our website as well as the support she will be bringing to our emerging leaders who are followers on our Facebook page.

[i] 2018 Cigna Lonliness Index: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8294451-cigna-us-loneliness-survey/docs/IndexReport_1524069371598-173525450.pdf [ii] https://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/72-percent-of-generation-z-want-this-communication-at-work.html [iii] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giving-feedback-gen-z-its-culture-amila-dissa-aluthwala