There is a fear spreading through management right now that nobody is naming out loud. Managers are scared to give feedback to their Gen Z employees. And because it stays unspoken, it is quietly destroying performance culture inside organizations everywhere.
In this episode, I walk through exactly why this is happening, what it's costing you, and what works when it comes to delivering feedback to a younger workforce. This is not a Gen Z problem, and it is not a manager problem. It is a product of a generation raised with a very specific relationship to evaluation, criticism, and their own sense of worth colliding with a management culture that was never trained to work with that reality.
I draw on Carol Dweck's research on fixed vs. growth mindset, Dr. Kristin Neff's work on self-compassion and external performance feedback, organizational researcher Edgar Schein's concept of humble inquiry, and Sheila Heen's research from Thanks for the Feedback to explain what is actually happening in those feedback conversations when they go sideways. Then I give you concrete, specific tools to make them go differently.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- Why a significant portion of Gen Z was never given direct developmental feedback before they entered your organization
- The neurological leap that turns a comment about a deliverable into an identity threat
- Three specific things that go wrong in most feedback conversations with Gen Z
- A 20-second framing technique that changes the entire dynamic before you say a single word of feedback
- Why Gen Z does not leave managers who give honest feedback, and who they actually leave
CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS:
00:01 The fear managers won't say out loud
00:40 The millennial manager story: one feedback conversation that went wrong and what happened next
02:01 The deep mismatch in expectations, emotional history, and how Gen Z was wired to receive feedback
02:10 Carol Dweck: growth mindset and the conditions required to develop it
03:20 How self-esteem culture, protective parenting, and social media shaped Gen Z's relationship with evaluation
03:44 Dr. Kristin Neff: self-compassion research and what happens when worth is tied to external feedback
04:08 The leap: how this report missed the mark becomes you are inadequate
04:41 Many Gen Z employees have never received direct developmental feedback before
05:00 Three specific things going wrong in feedback conversations right now
05:00 Problem 1: feedback is about identity, not behavior
05:45 Problem 2: no relational foundation exists before the feedback lands (Edgar Schein, humble inquiry)
06:25 Problem 3: expectations were never set clearly upfront
07:04 One concrete shift: the 20-second framing technique
07:50 Sheila Heen: asking for a smaller piece to give employees agency
08:30 The real truth about what Gen Z actually needs from a manager
Download my FREE Gen Z Playbook: https://www.tessbrigham.com/#retention
Follow for weekly episodes, and be sure to visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about Tess's work as a licensed therapist and certified coach.
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