Ever wonder why some team members resist change while others embrace and demand it?
At Magnet Culture, we’ve discovered that many people’s relationships with technology as children often equate to their comfort level with change as adults. Take listening to music, for example. While Boomers had record players throughout their childhood and early adulthood, Millennials were forced to constantly adapt from cassettes to CDs to streaming on Napster to iPods all between the mid-1980s to the early 2000s during their formative years. They bring an expectation of constant change over time right into the workplace.
Those with a more traditional mindset in the workplace may think, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” They lament that as soon as they understand a recent technology, it’s suddenly replaced with another newer, supposedly “improved” system —one they have to learn all over again. Those with a new mindset were raised to hear, “out with the old and in with the new,” and may think, “AI can do that now!”
GenZ, which we call the On-Demand Generation, grew up in a world with near-instant access to information, free two-day shipping, and the ability to have their young voices heard more than any previous generation at home, at work, and on social media. GenZ is used to frequent, fast changes in their lives, so they expect the same approach on the job and are disappointed in organizations that are not keeping up.
When GenZer Alayna started applying for full-time jobs, she assumed her Millennial peers had “taken care of” all the old-school policies and practices that felt outdated from her view. She was shocked one employer didn’t allow visible tattoos because they were deemed “unprofessional.” Another employer had software so old that the company who created it no longer supported or updated it—so, why do we still use it?
As Alayna began her career, she witnessed how rapidly organizations adapted their work approaches when the pandemic hit in 2020. Having only experienced full-time work during a time when leaders broke long-standing barriers that were once thought unchangeable, she and her peers now struggle to understand why companies claim they can’t adjust to the evolving expectations of the workforce.
When organizations push back on requested changes, it appears as though leaders are not willing to progress. It’s important, in these instances, to explain why the organization has decided not to move forward in this particular area. For example, is it because you are allocating resources to another area, or are there additional impacts to making the requested change?
Are you holding on to the way it’s always been done, or are you proactively listening for opportunities to meet the demands of today’s ever-changing work world?
The above excerpt comes from the Magnet Culture minibook, It’s Not About Birth Year: The Evolution of Employees from A to GenZ, written by Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP and Alayna Thomas, MS, SHRM-SCP. To download the free eBook or purchase physical copies, visit the Magnet Vault!
