The counterintuitive leadership approach that transformed my Gen Z team’s performance
The counterintuitive leadership approach that transformed my Gen Z team’s performance
Published on Fast Company, May 13, 2025, by Shayne Fitz-Coy.
“We need all three people for this single-person job? That’s completely unsustainable,” I thought, imagining my team’s budget tripling overnight. As the CEO of a mid-sized financial services company with nearly three decades of leadership experience, I’ve built my career on quick action and operational efficiency. Yet here I was, about to deliberately ignore every management principle I’d ever followed.
Look, young workers may be clocking in, but they are mentally checking out. According to Deloitte, 40% of Gen Z workers report feeling stressed, over half are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and a third say their job is a major source of anxiety.
Meanwhile, Gallup’s 2024 report shows that just 23% of global workers are engaged, contributing to a staggering $8.9 trillion in lost productivity worldwide.
My experience managing this generation has revealed five fundamental differences that require a radical rethinking of leadership approaches. Here’s what I discovered and the counterintuitive experiment that broke through.
THE GEN Z MANAGEMENT PARADOX
In my experience, traditional management practices collide with five core characteristics of today’s entry-level workforce:
- Collaboration Over Individual Achievement
Gen Z employees consistently prefer working in groups, even on tasks traditionally designed for individuals. During a recent content creation assignment, I observed three writers huddled together on what should have been individual articles. My initial reaction? “We’re paying triple for single-person work.” But the quality of those collaborative pieces consistently outperformed individual efforts.
This aligns with research showing Gen Z is a “social-first generation” that naturally gravitates toward collaborative environments.
- Equality Over Meritocracy
Unlike previous generations who competed for differentiated rewards, my Gen Z team members prioritize equal treatment. When offered bonus structures designed to reward top performers, they expressed discomfort, preferring a system where everyone receives similar recognition. What feels like unfair leveling of achievement to me feels like fairness to them.
During our annual review process, I implemented a competitive bonus system to motivate exceptional performance. The result? Widespread disengagement. Team members performed better when rewards were distributed equally.
- Collaboration Over Criticism
Traditional feedback mechanisms like 360 reviews have become surprisingly ineffective. When asked to evaluate peers, my Gen Z employees provide remarkably similar scores across the board, essentially breaking the system’s ability to identify performance differences.
In a recent evaluation cycle, half the team rated all colleagues identically, rendering the feedback mechanism useless. Their reluctance to critique others appears connected to growing up in an environment of constant evaluation from rating drivers to restaurants to retail experiences.
- Flexibility Over Compensation
While previous generations prioritized salary negotiations, today’s young professionals focus their bargaining power on flexibility, remote work, and time off. Research shows that 73% of Gen Z workers say a healthy work-life balance is more important than salary.
One team lead regularly champions group time-off policies, but has never once discussed her own compensation in three years, a pattern consistent across her peer group.
- Conformity Over Distinction
Perhaps most troubling for innovation, these team members display heightened self-consciousness and reluctance to stand out. Growing up with smartphones documenting their every move has created a generation uncomfortable with professional risk-taking.
THE EXPERIMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
After months of trying to fit these square pegs into round management holes, I faced a difficult truth: traditional approaches were failing. During a moment of frustration, my partner suggested something radical: “Why not manage them the way they want to be managed, not the way you’ve always managed?”
The idea seemed professionally irresponsible. Every management principle I’d learned emphasized individual accountability and efficiency. Nevertheless, with performance lagging, I decided to test a counterintuitive approach.
I identified our most underperforming employee, a social media content creator who consistently delivered uninspired work and refused to appear on camera (a real liability in her line of work). Instead of continued coaching and performance management, I assigned her a project with two colleagues as equals.
The results were stunning. Not only did all three appear on camera willingly, but they created content of remarkably higher quality than anything produced previously. Their genuine enthusiasm translated into authentic engagement that viewers immediately responded to, driving metrics well beyond previous performance.
The cost calculation initially seemed straightforward: triple the personnel expense for a single output. But the ROI analysis revealed something different: the collaboratively created content generated 470% more engagement than her individual efforts, making it significantly more cost-effective despite the higher production investment.
IMPLEMENTING THE GEN Z MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Based on this experiment and subsequent refinements across teams, I’ve developed a framework for managing Gen Z employees that contradicts conventional wisdom but delivers superior results:
- Replace Individual Accountability With Collaborative Responsibility
Assign small teams to projects rather than individuals, then hold the collective accountable for outcomes. Research confirms that Gen Z thrives in environments emphasizing collaboration over individual competition.
- Emphasize Impact Equality Over Performance Differentiation
Structure recognition to acknowledge group achievements while still privately providing individual feedback. This supports their preference for equality while maintaining performance standards.
- Create Psychological Safety Through Collaboration-First Feedback
Replace competitive evaluation with collaborative improvement sessions where teams identify their collective strengths and growth areas.
- Value Flexibility As Currency
Recognize that work-life integration may be more motivating than traditional compensation. Our practices, like Monday Morning sprints and “No-Meeting Wednesdays,” align with maintaining engagement among Gen Z employees.
- Build Confidence Through Structured Risk-Taking
Create safe environments for standing out professionally before expecting comfort with high-visibility risk-taking.
The essential insight: Gen Z doesn’t need to be “fixed” or forced into traditional management paradigms. Instead, leaders need to adapt their approaches to leverage this generation’s unique strengths.
The cost of implementation is real, sometimes requiring more resources initially. However, the performance improvements and authentic engagement ultimately deliver superior business outcomes and lower turnover costs.
In today’s competitive talent landscape, the question isn’t whether we can afford to adapt our management approaches for Gen Z. The question is whether we can afford not to.
Originally published in Fast Company.
