Managing Gen Z

[Amy8]

I’m an experienced senior manager who took some time out to work as a consultant – partly to avoid exactly these kinds of situations!

Something happened last week that’s made me question my management style, which I’ve always thought was fair. The CEO asked me (quite urgently) to get something done. I was in a meeting, so I asked a junior team member to help out. It would’ve been easier to just do it myself, but I genuinely needed the support.

He replied that he needed to check with his line manager first because it wasn’t in his work plan (I manage his manager), and then added that he was logging off shortly for a long weekend which had been pre-agreed.

I stayed polite on Teams and explained that sometimes we have to be reactive to senior requests — but honestly, inside I was thinking, just do it! At his age, I’d have just cracked on.

It’s not the first time I’ve had this kind of pushback — others in the team (same age group) have also been quite firm about working from home and not wanting to come in when asked.

I’m genuinely wondering: is this just how the workplace is now — a generational shift and new boundaries — or is it a bit of a disregard for authority and should I be adapting better ?

I’m probably on a level similar to the junior employee you struggled with here, though not by age I’m on cusp between X and millenials (spent years enjoying my life, studying and having kids).
If you turned up on Friday afternoon to me with a request like that and no explanation why I would fully assume it’s your lack of planning which does not constitute my emergency (before you say it’s different, I’m in public sector and it happens All the time) and replied something very similar tbh. I’m not sacrificing my carefully planned out workload for your career. However, if you told me you’re currently in the meeting this has come up and the info is crucial for a clinical decision that has to be made now - I’d look into if I can adjust my plans to leave later if that was necessary and definitely drop other things for it. I guess that’s your new style of working - we don’t ask „how high?” we ask „why?” And don’t just do it on a vague: „that’s how you perform well at a job and make a career” (that’s a sure fire way to wake up realising your life is your career).
Now, with my LM I am full confident in being able to leave that day after emailing them to say I haven’t finished my assigned tasks because there was an urgent request, I’ll get on it once I’m back. And it will be fine and they’re likely to check in I was ok with the urgent one and thank me for taking it on. Not all managers are like that, hence you could also offer to explain to the juniors LM why their other assigned tasks weren’t finished on time before their leave - the offer, even if not needed, would get you a lot of goodwill as you’re showing you understand they’re not just sitting there waiting for any requests to pop through.

This was the CEO asking for something to be done urgently, not a doctor, and the OP passed that request on to admin. Since when does the CEO of an organisation get involved in the sort of a scenario described here? Surely it was more time critical because a lot of senior people didn’t want their expensive time wasted, than time critical because a patient was popping their clogs in front of them?…

@peoplegetreadyforthetrain you sound quite simple, this could easily be explained by poor rapport as opposed to generational differences. If he doesn’t like OP, he could have pushed back on that basis as opposed to his age or generation or “being green”. It’s strange that you’re more likely to attribute this to perceived inexperience, as opposed to a poor working relationship between this man and OP. Nothing OP has said indicates he rates her, he’s acting just like any rattled staff member that doesn’t like whoever is giving him the instruction. I’ve worked with many people like that, and they’re usually in the 40-60 age bracket.

Leveraging hierarchy right left and center does not make you a leader. It makes an (authoritarian) micro-manager.

Some people will like it because they don't have to think and can just rely on you to tell them what to do and how. And know they can have good reviews and promotions by just doing so.

Others will naturally oppose it because they need more freedom to achieve their tasks, and understand how and why things are done.

Your request was reasonable but the way your worded it in your OP was terrible (and very self-centered).

A simple way to change the dynamics would be to have 1) ask the admin if they could please prioritise your demand as it's urgent and you need their support, and 2) briefly explain why it was urgent.

There is clearly something wrong in the way your team engage with their role and understand their responsibilities if an individual cannot understand the urgency of the situation you describe. And that's usually because everyone "do what they are told by seniors" instead of understanding why they are doing it.

It should be easy enough to figure out. If he wasn't at his home desk or wasn't busy working, then he deserves whatever repercussions he gets.

This is more relevant than his generation is.

he thinks you’re shit

he thinks you don’t deserve the job

he probably thinks he can do your job / is jealous of the pay

ultimately, he does not like you. That’s the reason he isn’t getting on with tasks from you…he doesn’t trust you, doesn’t accept you as having authority over him etc

Depends on the job? I started out in those bulge bracket investment banks, and it’s clear part of the job is to stand by and be flexible. When asked to jump, we ask how high - that’s type of mentality. Push back will have consequences sooner or later..

The CEO is a trained dr also with a clinical background - you can be a senior leader and medically qualified

annoyingly for me . I rather not do the management but it comes with the territory

Actually, it just shows that someone was probably covering for him, so you thought he was doing a good job when he was really not.

Sorry, but if a doctor asks me something that I do for my job and I have over an hour and a half to do a 15 minute job, I am going to do it because I will know it's important. It isn't like you asked him to make you a mani-pedi appointment.

I would have replied

Your manager is on leave. This task will take you 20mins. Please send me the information asap

I actually think OP has a point. However, I quite admire Gen Z's boundaries as I worked so many additional hours for no extra money and wish I'd been part of a generation where"work to rule" was collectively enforced and considered the norm rather than the exception.

LOL! So, the slacker is going to morph into a doctor?
I mean...REALLY? Name is fitting.

So what? Why say they were the CEO if they were working as a doctor at the time they made the request, not making the request in their capacity as the CEO?

So what? Why say they were the CEO if they were working as a doctor at the time they made the request, not making the request in their capacity as the CEO?

You mean the manager who was off on annual leave? His needs? Oh my! LOL!

Professionally? He probably wasn't even home or was home packing and not even working.

The made-up scenarios keep getting stranger and stranger.

Next, it will be he was being abducted by aliens, so he couldn't do the job he was hired and being paid to do. Or busy giving birth...running a marathon...saving a cat from a tree...

"I literally don’t have access to the system as he’s an administrator- it was quicker and it’s his job"

Direct quote from one of your early comments.

Picking up on your inaccuracies and the strange drip fees is not a personal attack. You really struggle with being challenged. You should work on that.

The whole drop everything and prioritise work over everything because a Board Member wants it is such nonsense. Outdated and nonsensical half the time. If I had preplanned and agreed time off…tough luck and good on the person for standing up for themselves. The whole reason my boss’s boss doesn’t like me is I push back on his stupid requests.

Good on them. Work is grim these days. We're all at risk of burnout. Most work consists of typing stuff to make Americans rich. Unless you work in emergency services. I'm 50+ and never used to think like this.

They were doing both , I can’t believe I’m justifying the nature of my work here
it was a request for clinical data that this staff member and his line manager own, we needed this to make mdt decisions based on our specialisms , for the best outcomes for the patient l and the emergencies - basically what care to provide

You are SO much nicer than I am with your replies.

I have an allergy to bull💩and PWNBA, so my replies reflect that "unease". 😉

Eh?

I'm Gen x.

I think Gen z have it right. We had no work/life balance at their age. We didn't even have the phrase.

I really wish people realised how complex decisions in the health sector are - it doesn’t work 9-5

But it wasn't a stupid request, it was an urgent request for data to inform a a clinical decision during a meeting. And she isn't a Board Member, she is his boss with clinical responisbility for someone's health and that is his job - to run a data system and answer data requests.

And it was 2 hrs before he was off leave.