Weekly Insights
What church leaders need to know about young people and intergenerational workplace dynamics.
Stat of the Day:
65% of young people wish they got more feedback on their job performance (YPulse Employment and Career Goals Report)
What it Means:
Young people, and especially Gen Z, can usually recognize that the professional demands of the adult world are different from the demands on teenagers and students. There is a steep learning curve as they enter the workforce and, indeed, as they climb whatever ladders exist in their professions of choice. In order to understand this learning curve and catch up as quickly as possible to their colleagues and employers, young people want specific feedback that provides concrete examples of both what they are not doing well and what they can do to improve.
Thus, nearly two-thirds of young people want more feedback on their performance at work—they want to know what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, and how to get better. Gen Z and Millennials are generally more open to feedback than they are given credit for, despite recent high-profile incidents of highly publicized intergenerational hostility.
Why it Matters:
Young people today grew up in a brave new digital age that significantly impacts their study and work habits. More seasoned Americans sometimes experience frustration when trying to work them, as the digital divide sometimes seems insurmountable.
This may contribute to headlines about how difficult Gen Z is to work with, even more so than Millennials. But these headlines conceal the fact that young people generally want to be good at their jobs and get better when they can. To this end, older generations can and should consider engaging young people in constructive feedback that focuses on specific actions and behaviors and provides alternative courses of action.
What can the Church do?
The church and its leaders can serve as incubators for empathic and loving ways of communicating across differences, whether intergenerational, racial, socioeconomic, or otherwise. One way of encouraging this kind of mutual understanding amidst difference is the use of Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication (NVC). This approach views all communication as a way of expressing our deepest needs to one another, and all behavior as the result of those needs being met or remaining unmet. While not all behavior is permissible, we can understand all behavior through this lens and see that there is something deeper, something legitimate, behind it. If we can discuss and address those needs directly, rather than focusing on the surface-level manifestation, we can make serious breakthroughs in how we engage with one another.
Try It:
Gather interested congregants and/or community members and organize a nonviolent communication training or, if there is not enough widespread interest, consider signing up for one of the online or hybrid intensive workshops. Nonviolent communication training can be useful for anyone in ministry, or in any environment where constant interaction with other human beings is an important aspect of work and life rhythms. Such trainings could also be encouraged among young and old alike, facilitating greater intergenerational connections and relationships.