Why Millenials and GenZs are Considered as Resilient Generations
The Covid-19 pandemic crisis brought to light the vulnerability of critical systems in our government and society as a whole. A stronger sense of awareness and responsibility is now becoming essential to attain success and sustainability in various work environments.
Professionals in the education and business sectors are gearing towards more intensive skills training to respond to the demands of a fast-paced work environment. However, as unexpected circumstances continue to arise, the resilience of companies is now also being tested.
Defining Millenials’ and GenZs’ Resilience
Millennials (born between January 1983 and December 1994) and Generation Zs (born between January 1995 and December 2003) take up 35% and 24% of the workforce respectively. And according to the Deloitte Global Millenial Survey 2020, Millenials and GenZs are considered to be the resilient generations that could hold the key to creating a “better normal” instead of just a “new normal” society. The study has shown that despite the consistently high-stress levels these generations have experienced before the pandemic, instead of the expected spike, an unexpected drop occurred in their stress levels because of the disruption caused by the pandemic. These generations have witnessed how the Earth can quickly heal, how businesses can rapidly adapt, and how compassionate and resourceful people can be despite the unforgiving circumstances.
Importance of Responding Resiliently and How it Affects the Workforce
These resilient generations can teach us a lot about handling even the most unexpected and problematic situations. Resilience is usually defined as the company’s innate capacity to absorb stress and recover critical functionality. A resilient company can thrive, not just survive, during such altered circumstances.
Responding resiliently is especially important today due to the dynamic and unpredictable changes in today’s business environment. This is often a result of various sources that could stretch and stress the business systems. The pandemic crisis we are experiencing has shown that a company’s response and adaptability can make or break a business environment.
Redefining Resilient Companies in Today’s Work Environment
The current pandemic has shown current traditional management systems have limitations that need to be addressed. Certain aspects have been highlighted, thus far encouraging positive change in terms of achieving Climate Change adaptability, handling social tensions, and attaining economic stability.
The Covid-19 crisis could offer a unique opportunity to revise their business models and rebuild it towards a more systemic resilient model. Instead of just trying to mitigate risk or damage, or recreating what previously existed, a more resilient company should aim to seek an advantage in adversity.
Crises can also be used to shift an organization’s perspective and time horizon towards long-term plans. It can also accelerate transformational change because new needs may arise as competitors may be incapacitated in the long run. Resilience requires systemic solutions and systems thinking, which in turn requires collaborative actions not just between the customers and the employers, but among the stakeholders and employees as well.
A sustainable business should not just focus on the earned value, but also on the flexibility and adaptability and other critical components of resilience, which includes the benefits and capabilities that could be gained by an organization based on a systems strategy they intend to adopt.
Resilient businesses also try to look at things from a new perspective while creating alternative ways of reacting to unique situations. In this case, diversity and variations go hand in hand when it comes to handling unpredictable circumstances.
Resilience is not just about adjusting strategies while dealing with extreme conditions, it gears towards rebuilding organizations that utilize support systems while premeditating the occurrence of constant change. Not only does this prevent rigid measures that could limit an organization, but it also offers less risk by providing opportunities for minor repetitive adjustments, rather than unexpectedly adapting through a one-shot major adjustment.
How a company responds to change often determines the long-term success of the organization. As it is detrimental to consistently utilize traditional business models, it has now become even more evident that organizations need to rebuild their strategies with resilient responses in mind.
