The widening gap between the expectations and realities of working with employees who were born between the late 90s and early 2000s has stimulated studies into the dynamics of working with these young and talented employees who now constitute a third of the world’s population. I call them the bearer of a new order. Studies have shown that these digital natives prefer influencers to actors, skits to full-length movies, emojis to written words and video calls to audio ones (Zebra IQ, 2020). Moreso, this group of employees are inquisitive, nonconforming, and creative – qualities that employers always look for in employees. Although for some employers, nonconformity will not make the list.

As much as Gen Zs are a great asset to any organisation, their nature is not fit for the rigour of the physical and mental demands of an average working environment, today. What then is the way out? How do we harness the wealth of human resources that Gen Zs represent without burning them out. Here are three ideas that can help to get the best out of Gen Zs.

Prioritise Mental Health

Gen Zs are not as stoic as other generations before them; they walk on the precinct of mental breakdown. According to a 2020 consumer survey in the United State by McKinsey, “one in four Gen Z respondents reported feeling more emotionally distressed (25%), almost double the levels reported by millennial and Gen X respondents (13% each), and more than triple the levels reported by baby boomer respondents (8%).” It may be difficult to pin this result on a single factor. However, to get the best out of these digital natives, it is fundamental to pay attention to policies and practices that impact their emotional, psychological, and social well-being. For instance, a corporate culture of mental health would require that employees’ pay commiserate with their levels and the socio-economic realities of the moment (e.g., inflation).

Also, employees should be mandated to take their paid leave as and when due; comprehensive health care support should be provided for all employees; work from home should be encouraged when appropriate. The ambience within the organisation should be friendly so that employees are free to express themselves and give feedback on company policies. All these will reassure employees that their organisation has their best interest at heart, and as such, they will always go the extra mile to deliver their quota.

Emphasise Emotional Intelligence

Employees with high EQ are easy to work with and they help create a healthy working environment. They can identify stress-related emotions both in themselves and in others. Employees who have an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses seldom burn out –their limitations and strength inform their goals and action. As a manager, helping your Gen zs understand their emotions will impact your organisation’s productivity to a very great extent.

Encourage Peer Coaching

Creating an environment where employees can learn from one another in a more relaxed and informal setting will help your Gen zs perform maximally. In such an atmosphere, employees can freely seek guidance and exchange performance feedback without feeling awkward. Moreover, by working together to improve their skills and performance, employees feel more connected to one another and more invested in the success of the team.

It cannot be overemphasised that Gen z is a special and valuable generation of employees who bring new perspectives and fresh ideas to the workplace. However, to get the best out of them, managers should endeavour to understand their makeup – their strengths, preferences, and motivations. Also, managers should provide opportunities for growth and creativity to improve their skills and confidence.

Employees’ performances are hinged on many factors of which an enabling environment which allows employees to freely provide feedback without being shut down or victimised is pivotal. Organisations that have psychological safety as a part of their core values will always get the best out of their employees. When employees feel safe at work, they find it easier to share their opinions about policies and express personal reservations or approval for the organisation’s operational strategies.

Communication in the workplace transcends the use of the appropriate linguistic resources to express thoughts and opinions. It includes many unwritten sociocultural rules that limit employees’ choices of words; dampen or heighten motivation to ask questions and regulate the enthusiasm to proffer genuine answers. When these sociocultural rules are pragmatic and people-centric, it sets the stage for effective communication within the workplace otherwise, employees will find it hard to express themselves and performance will suffer.

Psychological safety is neither a carte blanche for unprofessional behaviours nor being unnecessarily nice and agreeable to subordinates. It is a culture of respect, trust, and openness which fosters participation and inclusivity in the workplace. Managers need not compromise high professional standards in the process of providing a safe space for their employees to thrive.

Communication is pivotal to the success of any organisation; a breakdown in communication in any organisation is a harbinger of failure. Everything revolves around effective communication. For a smooth running of any organisation, leaders must be able to accurately communicate the organisation’s visions and goals, individual roles, core values, deliverables etc. In the same vein, employee must also possess the ability to effectively exchange information and meaning within the workplace.

Carol Lehman defined Communication as the process of exchanging information and meaning between or among individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, and behaviour. Going by this definition, an effective communication is hinged on individuals’ interpersonal intelligence (people smart skills).

Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to read, empathise, and understand others. People with interpersonal intelligence are good with people and thrive in social interaction. Rather than being a quality that some are born with while others are not, interpersonal intelligence can be improved by broadening your understanding of human behaviour and motivation and practicing certain behaviours when in interpersonal situations. The following tips can help improve your PeopleSmart skills:

Understand people: In order to improve your interpersonal intelligence, you must be intentional and strategic about understanding people. Mel Silberman Suggested three broad ways through which this can be done:

• Listening and Observing: To understand people, you must make a conscious effort to listen to their ideas and points of view, and observe their body language.
• Clarify Meaning: The core level of understanding is recognising the significance of what the other person tells us. Delve beyond facts and figures to access the underlying meaning being communicated. To achieve this, ask open ended questions, paraphrase and respond to feelings.
• Interpret Behaviours: Attempting to understanding actions of individuals with whom you share the same values and world view may be easier than trying to understand the actions of people of different culture. You can interpret co-workers/colleagues’ behaviours by evaluating their personal goals, assessing their personal styles, and recognising their differences.

Express yourself Clearly:  If your goal is to improve your interpersonal intelligence, you must strive to always communicate clearly. Good verbal communication means saying just enough – do not talk too much or too little. Try to convey your message in as few words as possible. To improve on your clarity, endeavour to always talk straight and include the listener in the communication process.

Assert your Needs: Your listeners and co-workers cannot read your mind, therefore, tell them what you want. “Besides having healthy limits, you need to speak up so others know what they are. Holding back what you need from others only leads to frustration.” You should make sure to understand what you stand for and you should communicate that clearly to others. Improve your assertiveness by being decisive, remaining calm and confident, and being persistent.

Feedback: Feedback is important to effective communication – Effective communication is only possible if communicators at all organizational levels seek out feedback and take appropriate actions to ensure that the intended meaning is passed on to the relevant audience. Feedback is something we give as well as receive. Whether the gift is welcome or not depends on knowing when and how to share our reflections so that others accept, value, and seek out our point of view. When we exchange feedback in a caring and skilful way, we open a window on the world. We like to think we know ourselves, and most of us do in many important respects. We know our likes and dislikes, our feelings and beliefs, what makes us laugh and cry. But others have a vantage point we can never hold. They are our mirrors. If we hide from or deny their perspectives, we miss out on vital information.

People with high interpersonal intelligence easily empathise with others and are gifted in dealing with other people. Your ability to communicate effectively will improve considerably if you follow the steps highlighted above.

• PeopleSmart: Developing your Interpersonal Intelligence by Mel Silberman
• Business communication by Carol M. Lehman & Debbie D. Dufrene

One of the linguistic problems plaguing speakers of English in Nigeria is the H-factor. It is more common in the Southwestern part of the country. It is a situation in which a speaker pronounces a word without the phoneme /h/ as though it has it, and removes the phoneme /h/ when pronouncing words that obviously have it.One important thing about the H-factor is that those struggling with it cannot tell the difference between a word said with the phoneme /h/ and another one said without the phoneme /h/. To such people, ‘anger’ and ‘hanger’ are pronounced the same way.

Although, many people struggling with the H-factor do not know what they are doing wrongly when they speak, a speech that is riddled with indiscriminate realisation of the phoneme /h/ can be a deal breaker. Therefore, the following steps will come in handy in your journey to eradicating the H-factor from your speech.

Practice with Chants and Tongue Twisters:Like most issues in English pronunciation, there is no elixir that can help cure the H-factor. However, a strategic and consistent learning and practicing would rid your speech of every form of the H-factor. H dropping and wrong insertion of H in English pronunciation can be corrected with chants and tongue twisters.To do this, carefully select words that have the phoneme /h/ in them and alternate them with words that do not have /h/. Make use of words that are most likely to take H insertion. For instance,

1. Happy apple, heavy eggs, Eight hay sack.
2. Henry has a bottle of holy olive oil in his house.
3. Honest Hannah has a bottle of honey in her house.

Practice saying the lines making sure to pronounce the phoneme /h/ in words that have them and try not to insert /h/ into words that do not require it.  You can start slowly and increase your pace gradually to get optimum result.

Singing: This is another potent way of dealing with the H-factor. Deliberately collect songs that have the phoneme /h/ in them and sing. While singing, take care to pronounce the words of the songs appropriately, paying attention to each sound. Also, listen to songs that are rendered in standard English and sing along. Make conscious effort to accurately repeat what you hear.

Go Slowly: If you are a fast speaker, you may need to reduce the pace of your speech until you can confidently speak without falling into the embarrassing traps of the H-factor. Taking your time to pronounce your words carefully can help here; Don’t rush.

Repetition: Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-Hour Ruleholds that deliberate practice is the key to becoming world-class in any field. In the same vein, repeating the steps giving above will help achieve your goal of clear and ‘clean’ speech. 

H-factor is one of the most embarrassing pronunciation challenges. And worse, most people who have it do not know. However, if you can strategically plan your learning with the information given above, your speech will be free of H-factor in due course.

More sample sentences:

1. The half-hearted climber fell down the high hill.
2. He took hot tea and hamburger in the afternoon.
3. I hope she took the whole family on holidays.
4. Henry’s horse rides on a high onyx hill.

Good manners are requisite to being accepted into different social groups in a society. Since manners have been described as a sensitive awareness to the feelings of others, it is important to strive to retain this awareness at all times in other to maintain good manners. One way to retain this sensitivity is to consider etiquette as a system based on four major categories- courtesy, consideration, camaraderie, and class.

Courtesy concerns listening rather than talking; not interrupting someone, being particularly sensitive to the needs of the elderly, standing when someone enters a room or your workspace, if possible, and using phrases such as ‘Please,’ ‘Thank you,’ and ‘excuse me.’

Consideration acknowledges that there are many other people sharing a limited amount of space on the planet. This facet of etiquette involves keeping your voice down, not cutting people off in lines or on highways, e.t.c.

Camaraderie means thinking of yourself as a team player and not always trying to promote your own achievement. Try not to keep a meticulous record of every favour you are ever owed, else, you will feel miserable. Know that when you feel like you are part of a team, everyone will enjoy working with you.

Class concerns your demeanour: this should aim at being cordial rather than dour (unfriendly). Be pleasant and do your best to please; even when others are unpleasant or direct foul moods at you.

Etiquette is based on a system. Over time, the system will work for you – if you can only get out of your way long enough to allow it to.