Managers urged to improve feedback skills amid generational tensions

Employers across Australia have been urged to implement reforms on how line managers provide feedback after new findings revealed that they feel uncomfortable providing it.

Findings from Development Beyond Learning (DBL) in 2023 found that Australian managers are uncomfortable in giving feedback to employees.

Pete Humphreys, CEO of DBL, said employers need to find a way to change that within their business or they risk failing to deliver the continuous learning and feedback that are important to younger employees.

"I think what managers need to do to reduce the risk is that they need to look for feedback from other sources, so it could be a colleague of their employee, or it could be someone else that works with them on a different project," Humphreys told HRD.

"I think they could also use data and tools to better help give feedback. It could be project-based feedback — not just anecdotal, but much more evidence-based."

Line managers in Australia should also learn to ask for feedback about themselves.

"They're not very receptive at doing things like: 'How am I doing? How am I supporting you? Am I giving you the right constructive feedback? Have you got clarity on the development that you need and the gaps in skills you need to develop to be more effective?'" the CEO said.

"They're not good at doing that about themselves at all."

Generational gap issues

Humphreys made the remarks as he further pointed out that line managers are not very good at providing feedback when there is a "one or two generational gap."

"They find it, as a skill, very uncomfortable to do," he said.

This discomfort reflects rising tensions in the workplace following the entrance of Gen Zs in the workforce, who bring new attitudes towards work.

"Gen X managers, let's just say they can be more traditional. They will view that their role is to put the organisation first, themselves second, and the world and others third," Humphreys said.

But Gen Zs are not like this, according to the CEO, who said that this new breed of employees will put the world and others first, themselves second, and the organisation third.

There are also issues with Gen Z employees not being resilient enough, and they are perceived to struggle with some soft skills.

"Soft skills that organisations are looking for and individuals are struggling with would typically be things such as personal brand, self-awareness, critical thinking and problem-solving, adaptability and resilience, teamwork and collaboration, and communication and presenting skills," Humphreys said.

"That mismatch on skills, such as resilience and personal brand, it's kind of conflicted and that creates these kinds of increasing tensions."

Gen Zs not the problem

But Humphreys disputed the "blind perception and evidence" claiming Gen Z employees are the problem, not very good, and have come out of education with the "wrong type of skills."

"That is completely the wrong way to look at this. Individuals and generations are different, and they bring with them different skills and experience," he stated.

According to Humphreys, Gen Zs are digital natives who bring diversity of thought. They are also inclusive in nature, with strong ethical values and belief systems.

"Organisations and line managers need to harness what Gen Z can offer, and they need to be meeting them in the middle, rather than going: 'This is the way we do things here, this is the way we've always done things, you need to conform to a Gen X line manager's way of the world,'" he said.

Strategies for feedback, learning

To improve the situation in workplaces, Humphreys suggested offering frequent and informal feedback to satisfy younger employees who always want to know what they're doing.

"They like praise, they want recognition, and they like to know what are the things that I can improve on," he said. "They don't like long gaps and then getting a bunch of surprises on the things that they're not doing."

This is also the case for learning strategies at work, which Humphreys said should be "constant and ongoing."

"Doing something once every three to four months — it doesn't work, quite frankly it's a bit of a waste of money," he said.

Involving early talent in their learning and development programme can also be helpful in making "learning stick" for Gen Zs.

"[The early talent] might be one or two years further into the business, but the more that you can help bring them into the training environment and talk about 'This is what I learned, this is how I applied it, this is how I worked with my line manager to close the skills, and this is the output: I got promoted quicker, I was more productive.' Those types of techniques are really important to make learning stick," Humphreys said.