It won’t get any better!
What will managers understandably think when their management skills don’t work? Evidently the people they’re “managing” must be the problem. And if they aren’t engaged or disciplined enough to be led, then they’ll have to be managed even more! But do we still need managers?
In the year 2025 at least 25% of the work force will be Gen-Z. This generation is now perceived as being the least compatible with our current organisation norms and values, ever! And that is a problem, because in a bit we will have them around in any work environment. And more worrying, they will be our customers!
But what is it they actually want?
Gen-Z are an enigma to many. They seem to defy the common rules of engagement of the professional arena. And they openly and easily disconnect and drop-out out of promising career opportunities if they just don't ‘feel like it’ anymore. Logically anthropologists tried to find out what it is they want. Here is what they found.
Gen-Z wants to:
Travel, experience, freedom
Prefer to work alone or in small teams
Expect flexibility & empathy from managers, with minimal leadership oversight.
Work only on what they love & value – like a hobby or filantrophy.
Work must have a societal purpose and make impact.
They want to work hard, but no more than 3 days a week
And only work in organisation with high diversity & social responsibility
Clearly these expectations do not agree with our current organisation values. But remarkably they resemble the properties of a self-organising collective, they look like Swarm Organisation! So who is incompatible? It seems Gen-Z has already decided what future organisations must look like!
“The problem in dealing with change is not the change. It is dealing with change with yesterdays mindset” Milton Friedman.
It may be a hard to swallow reality for traditional managers who are taught to believe that organisation can only occur with leading managers. But the reality is that the era of hierarchic organisation is over. The organisation of the (near) future is a self-leading organisation. No more charismatic leaders or iron-fisted authority-holders that set strategy, ensure quality, or decide how to spend money. They are a thing of the past. You may be confused or angry, but be aware that Gen-Z clearly leads the way into this chapter of human organisation. An organisation that looks like a SWARM organisation.
Do you want to improve the motivation, engagement and adaptive capacity of your organisation? Then look into the intriguing possibilities of SWARM Organisation. We believe in organisations are more enjoyable, sustainable and profitable, for people and planet.
If you like to know how we do this, just give us call !
Evert Bleijenberg MBA
Written by a true human being without the help of AI