#103 New Gen up at the Jungle

Struggles are real, but the game is not to hide behind them but to face it. Gen Z are pumped up yet unable to ride the wave of this jungle; sharing few tips which might help them do this better!

Last week I was invited for a round table discussion with folks who have come back from their SIP (summer internships) or are in their initial corporate years and we all were discussing about work culture and how this jungle is shaping up. What intrigued me was their stories about the environment, their bosses and how they think about work; after all it’s always warming when people around you get positive vibes. But the conversation turned more engaging when the side gossips started about how they take work and struggles they are going through in their workplaces. Few were interesting to solve like how do I tell me boss that I am capable of managing work standalone or how do I network outside my team but what stuck with me was their ethics towards work and influence of tech in their work and how they seem to trust “Google baba” more than people experiences in the industry.

Read my take on Work Ethics in the below post:

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To cut some slack and be mindful of the changing dynamics at workplace, people are striving to find a balance between their life and work, which is necessary. Yet, the basic remains the same, the approach to work, attitude and skills required at work, no one can just sweep everything under the carpet and still command growth and upticks in career. Folks today definitely know how to work faster and smarter than us and we are happy about that, but they have left the tech to rule their lives. Easy Money and Early Retirement has become the motto of their generation. Is that wrong? Took me a moment to answer that as ‘No’ but just bringing back the essence of value of work in that journey.

Let me put an anecdote: my grandfather has been a business guy and accountant all his life. He has never gone to college or learnt accountancy as a subject but the speed at which he deduce entries and calculate numbers is something that me and my father struggle to. And again the preciseness and accuracy, my dad has at work; I cant even imagine myself or my brother to ever have. How ironical is this that we are more educated and more enabled but still we are unable to match our previous generation’s expertise at work. It is only because they do exceptionally well at whatever work they did and they enjoyed it thoroughly which is the real value of work. And if this value for work goes for a toss, trust me- we won’t be far off from hiring senior interns to help us run our little shows like ‘Ben helped Jules’

Well, I tried my luck to help them take a middle ground at work which aids them to better manage their life and below were some of my key suggestions, coupled with some first hand anecdotes I encounter at work as well with these newbies.

• First & foremost is the communication style; we respect that ChatGPT and AI has made your work easy and smooth But don’t be Shashi Tharoor of your generation. I have met folks who have sent me application for content creation and their work is nothing but a memento of ChatGPT presented to me. Even at work, you can spot the presentation made out of ChatGPT, you might feel happy about that smart work but don’t make a fool of yourself by relying on that submission. To top it all, Instagram and social media handles are offering chats using AI.

  Communication & good hold on language are key to positive first impressions.  Use the tech resources but don’t be so dependent on them that you start feeling scared to face the real world without AI. It might sound old school but just like we stopped remembering contact numbers after Phones invaded our lives, GenZ folks are forgetting how to write and talk after AI taking over theirs.

• Do you guys remember the question banks at your school and colleges? Oh yes those folks who always have questions for the teachers and at whom we all used to roll our eyes over. In MBA lingo, it’s also called DCP (Desperate Class Participation) and our generation knows well on how to navigate it for our benefit. I have noticed even my brother who never questions anything and later I find him googling his doubts. Of course you are cool and you don’t want to spoil that know it all image but Google can’t answer everything under the sun.

  What’s the problem with asking questions and learning from others? Guys, we all have learnt stuff during the course of work, we also question, argue and debate on points we don’t understand. But you guys just go puff in the air with no sign on whether you have understood or not. Save some internet, time and efforts by walking upto your seniors or whosoever you are comfortable with and ask what’s confusing you. Trust me, you will learn ten more things about it. 

• And this brings me to the next point: “Learning”. The know-it-all attitude is so big that learning is a lost battle now. They don’t want to learn and perhaps just pass such opportunities by blaming on others. Sometimes, even i get surprised when I receive responses like: ‘You know what to do, then just do it yourself' or I don’t need to learn more, I am okay with what I know’. Such phrases give me such a big FOMO, that where did I go wrong coz I am still learning new things everyday and these folks know enough to reach where they want to.

  Guys, don’t fail to seek help from your seniors coz if you don’t ask you will struggle more than you even think and might actually start sulking at work. Gone back the days, when managers used to make faces or uninterested in helping you what to do or make assumptions about you or your work. Take the luxury of troubling your co-workers until you get to the bottom of your queries, this luxury is limited to initial two years of your career only.

• Unlike Millennials, Gen Z understand that work is a part of their lives and not the entire life. They don’t run around under the pressure of work and kinda know better on how to manage work stress. Why do the work they do feels like a favour to others; and they expect others to live with it? They clock at 9, leave at 6: perfect but if there are two tasks assigned, those will arrive at close to 6 in the mailboxes. God forbid, that work was critical and if not done in right manner, the manager gonna be burning their midnight oil for sure. When I probed my audience on this, the responses i got was- that was the best I could do, I sat on it for the day to get what’s required out of it, Others were also doing that way; so i picked up the same.

  I procrastinate if i get into a new project which is going off my head but before I pull out my hand for help, I try all my luck to better understand and resolve on my own. Once, I am clear that I can’t close it myself, I go out and ask help irrespective of the fact whom I have to seek help from or what others would think of my this big fat experience. 
  
  Sometimes, the work is complicated and needs everyone to think out of the box and in such scenarios when you just do your bit: it feels like you did it just for the sake and not with spirit. Never let others feel that you are not into the work (reality can be anything) coz if this starts kicking in, you will get work which others know you can do and your growth will settle there and then.

• This brings me to another point: You want recognition for the work but not the responsibility or ownership of closing it. How does this work? And why are you so edgy on recognition; that’s just a by product of your work and it will eventually fall in place for you like it does for others. No one can take away your share of credit, might be possible in short term but long term: that’s not happening guys. This time is not to fight this battle rather the time to build on your skills and be best at what you do. The cycle is simple : You work well > Manager gets a comfort on your work > New work will roll in > Manager will start letting you take lead (because he trusts your work) > You are one step above and this cycle continues to take you wherever you want. The moral of the cycle is Trust on work. And to build this trust, there are some blocks that you need to climb (mostly the above ones).

  If you ask my friends, they will tell you that I always find a way to get into messy work. While I don’t know how, but yes I do and all credit goes to my managers for this. They take on something out of blue and we start figuring that blue out together and once others feel confident about our work and us, then messy work becomes the way of life. i am not saying that you start getting into extra work or new troubles, but build a rapport in your organization that the work you do is the best in every form. This will take you places you have never even imagined. 

Enough of advices I think, but these are some tricks that have been passed on to me from my mentors and I am passing onto you guys. Everything takes time and efforts but the outcomes do turn out to be beautiful as ever. Not going back to making work your worship, but do make the ways that others still feel that your work is a piece of art for them. Well, an abstract art always get paid and values more than the scenic art and you know why?

"You never know what's around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain." —Tom Hiddleston