Late last year, I was asked by Cibit to design three trainings: Leading a Team, Collaborating in a Team, and Team and Stakeholders. It was a great opportunity to also write a blog post about working with Gen Z and Gen Y.

You can read that post here: 'Between Avocado Toast and Frappuccinos: A Guide to New Leadership'.

I shared it on LinkedIn, and one of the comments was: 'Sonsoles, you spent 10,000 hours honing your skills in classical music before you moved on to contemporary music. Gen Z and Gen Y should also spend 10,000 hours developing traditional skills before they are allowed to change their tune.

Look, it's exactly the other way around!

Leadership is not a position within a hierarchy; leadership is taking the initiative to do what is needed at any given moment. You, as a leader, with your 10,000 hours of traditional leadership experience, are the pro! You are the one who, driven by curiosity, engages in other forms of collaboration because the market demands it right now.

What is striking about a leadership position is that it is conferred upon you from the outside. This can lead to the idea that you should primarily build upon the methods and approaches you have been taught, rather than taking the initiative to develop and engage in innovative forms of collaboration with younger generations.

That’s why it’s important to distinguish between holding a position and actually taking initiative. Leadership and taking initiative go hand in hand. Therefore, you don’t have to wait until Gen Z has accumulated 10,000 hours of traditional skills. They are already valuable to your team with their unique skills and approach.

Practical examples

When I look back at my work as a producer and pianist in the contemporary music industry, it indeed started with the hardcore 10,000 hours of classical music training, after which I began to explore different tones and bring different types of performances to life. And that is exactly the role I see for today's leader: daring to explore new tones and create different experiences with generations that sound and view things differently.

I will give you a few examples from my experience. Together with fellow musicians and composers, I have helped to create new styles. For instance, consider the 'Traveling Light Piano Trio,' which consists of two jazz pianists – including Albert van Veenendaal – and myself, with a classical background. The gap between jazz and classical music, especially in terms of timing, is as significant as that between Gen Z and previous generations. In this case, Albert was the initiator/leader, driven by the curiosity to develop a new common language that would be neither jazz nor classical.

But our experiments at that time went even further. I think of a project involving 10 pianos, 5 software developers, and the audience at Paradiso in Amsterdam. Yes, we engaged in collaboration with the audience. For convenience, let's call this audience Gen Z. Could they play the piano? Or did they have any knowledge of music? No, and that was precisely the point. We were curious about what new things we could create together. The audience added a new dimension to the concert experience. As stakeholders, we—pianists, software developers, and the audience—created something that resembled performance art or participatory art.

In systems thinking, this collaborative creation is referred to as the '3rd entity.' This entity encompasses the dynamics, communication, shared values, conflicts, and mutual influences that are unique to the relationship between the parties. The idea is that this relationship has its own personality, independent of the individual characters or intentions of the involved parties.

To rephrase the well-known expression: the whole is different from the sum of its parts.

Simultaneous realities: The whole is different from the sum of its parts

This is what Jaap Boonstra, whom I reference in ‘Between Avocado Toast and Frappuccinos: A Guide to New Leadership’, calls working with 'multiple realities.' See in the video below what this looks like in practice:

In my article, I also discuss Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato. In some performances, the audience lies on mats or large soft cushions on the floor and can move freely around the space. Additionally, visuals are often used. This creates a completely different experience for both musicians and the audience. Together, once again, something new is brought to life.

I do the same when working with teams and stakeholders. Together, we use systemic process tools to create a performance that doesn’t take place on a traditional stage but right at your office.

So when I look at Gen Z, they shouldn't just be hired because they can do what previous generations could do. They possess unique skills and a different worldview. For example, they excel in creating high-quality (YouTube) video productions, possess impressive presentation skills, and have the ability to quickly build extensive networks. These talents are not only unique but essential in today’s dynamic workplace environment.

You, as a leader, take the initiative.

You, the leader who has invested 10,000 hours in traditional leadership, must take the lead, driven by curiosity and with the well-honed skills to organize 'concerts or performances' in the workplace, where new languages are invented together.

Sticking with the music metaphor, the organization needs to produce a new sound. And sometimes, as in the examples above, it's not so much about creating new music but about something that leans more towards performance art or participatory art. Music may or may not play a role in this.

You might be pulling your hair out trying to effectively engage and motivate these generations. While many leaders struggle to find the right approach, I have a strategy that works. That's why I am frequently brought in for team sessions focused on working with GenZ and GenY.

As a hint, here's a tip: GenZ thrives on goals. So give them a target, rather than rigid and inflexible procedures.

This requires space for them to achieve these goals in their own unique way.

And perhaps you might feel overwhelmed at the thought of losing control by giving them more space. But no worries, I can help you with one of my two signature programs: the Mandates Matrix. This one-day session is designed to shape a leadership approach where you, as the leader, set the rules, while the team contributes to the decision-making process. This approach will not only appeal to Gen Z but also enable you to swiftly respond to market changes and future-proof your strategies, thanks to the new dynamics created. You happy, GenZ happy, everyone happy, excited and engaged.

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Sonsoles Alonso, Team Fixer

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