Gen Z As Managers

Gen Z may be the best generation of managers for the workplace of the 21^st Century, according to Julie Coates, one of the foremost authorities on generations.

“Gen Z managers know that no one is normal,” she states. “Success depends on embracing individual differences and turning those differences into assets that can build organizations. We will never return to the way things used to be in the workplace,” Coates concludes.

The youngest generation in the workforce today, Gen Z was born roughly between 1995 and 2015, so the oldest are around age 28 in 2024.   In the first research done in North America on Gen Z as managers, Coates interviewed local Portland workers and Gen Z managers. Her son Willie first discovered the new management style and reported on his findings.

She found seismic differences between young managers and older bosses. “You can be sure Gen Z will manage differently,” Coates says.

Gen Z’s most popular leadership style is an “affiliative” management style that emphasizes emotional cohesion and personal trust, Coates states. By comparison, Baby Boomer managers embrace an “autocratic” management style.  “For Gen Z, gender, race and neurological differences do not matter,” she asserts.

Gen Z managers understand anxiety and depression is at an all-time high in the workplace.They have developed a flexible and responsive management style that likely will be the new normal for the rest of the century, Coates predicts.

Coates is Senior Vice President of the Learning Resources Network (LERN), a national association in continuing education and lifelong learning.

For more, contact [email protected], phone 800-678-5376, or view LERN’s website at www.lern.org

For More

For more, Julie Coates’ presentations and writings on Gen Z As Managers are featured in two one month online professional development courses.

Management in the 21^st Century

Managing Generations in the Workplace