The early talent in your organisation plays a big role in future proofing the business. They bring digital skills, open minds and new perspectives that help to keep you ahead of your competitors. With the war on talent and the fluid careers favoured by younger generations, taking steps to retain this talent is a priority. Poor direct line management is one of the top reasons for leaving a business across all generations and Gen-Z is no different.
In fact, Gen-Z put more emphasis on having supportive managers than any generation before them and therefore are even more likely to leave if they aren’t well managed. Equipping your early talent line managers with the skills they need to effectively manage these cohorts helps ensure you keep them in the business.
Here’s some of the key things that will set your managers up for success when leading and inspiring early talent:
BUILD MUTUAL TRUST – Research from the Workforce Institute shows that trust is the number one trait Gen-Z look for in their leaders. As an early talent manager therefore it is crucial to quickly establish trust in relationships with new team members. That means getting them to trust you and demonstrating you trust them by empowering them to take ownership of their work and staying clear of micromanagement.
PRIORITISE CAREER DEVELOPMENT – Career development, learning opportunities and regular feedback are important to this generation of young people entering the workplace. The relationships between managers and their early talent team members will be strengthened if they are equipped with the skills to have productive career conversations, seek out development opportunities and deliver positive and constructive feedback well.
USE THE COACHING APPROACH – Gen-Z value career development and feeling like they are progressing quickly. Integrating a coaching methodology empowers your Early Talent to make moves independently and reflect on their own performance. It enables them to generate their own ideas, develop autonomy and it increases a sense of ownership of their own progression. This approach also helps your emerging employees learn from mistakes and own where they went wrong – in order to make better decisions in future. Not only that but it ensures early talent managers provide this new generation with the support they are looking for without giving them every solution.
Setting your managers up for success to manage early talent is a key way to make sure you’re keeping this group within the business. Giving them the right tools so that they can effectively build trust, tackle career development conversations, and use the coaching approach are a few of the core ways to enable them to succeed in management.
Investing in training for these individuals not only equips them to manage at this level but also shows this group of managers you value them by investing in their development.
