Gen Zs are probably the most dynamic generation to ever exist. Find out why Gen Zs are different from others and what are the various ways to drive engagement among the Gen Zs as a part of the corporate workforce.
The present-day corporate workforce is millennial-dominated and Gen Zs are slowly figuring out their way in the corporate space. No wonder, soon Gen Zs will make their presence prominent in the corporate world. Therefore, their engagement with the companies will play a crucial role in the overall upliftment of the corporate world. However, when it comes to training it becomes a bit challenging to engage them owing to their dwindling attention spans and their self-proclaimed intellectual and independent nature.
In this blog, I’ll be discussing interesting corporate training strategies to engage Gen Zs in immersive learning.
Who are Gen Zs?
Let’s see why this discussion is even a thing. To understand that, we must get an idea of who are Gen Zs. People born after the late 1990s and before the early 2010s are called Generation Z or Gen Zs. In simple words, they are the people who grew up in an internet world and cannot think of a world without it. Because of this overly dynamic behavior, many changes are made to the traditional ways that were used to learn and train the corporate workforce.
Continue reading to know more about Gen Zs in terms of how they are different from previous generations, and various ways that are effective to train Gen Zs as corporate employees.
Are You Planning to Hire Gen Z Employees for Your Company?
Here are a few ways to engage them in effective training:
- Experimental Learning
- Microlearning
- Blended Learning
Continue reading to know more about other strategies.
How are Gen Zs Different From Others?
Now that we have a brief idea of what Gen Z is, we shall proceed on to discuss the differences between Gen Z and other generations. Here are some of the key differences.
1. They are Digital Freaks
Gen Zs are the first generation to grow with constant access to the internet, computers, and smartphones. Some of them can’t even stay sane for more than a day without any of these. Basic technologies like smartphones are more of a daily need for this gen rather than a provided luxury or a useful tool.
2. They Barely Touch Grass
Touching grass is a popular reference to going out of your 4 walls, meeting people, and socializing with them. Gen Z barely does that, and even if they do that, it’s only with people they first met online. Yes, they depend on social media for any type of interaction or engagement. Platforms may change from Facebook to Instagram to Youtube to Twitter, but the medium stays the same.
3. When They Actually Touch the Grass, They Value it More Than the Millennials
This generation might be overly dependent on these online resources to satisfy their needs but they prefer in-person learning activities along with their friends or batchmates. They value the interaction and the engagement they get during these face-to-face meetups.
4. They Don’t Work with Generalized Ways
Traditional ways to interact or understand do not interest them. This generation wants everything to be personalized and on-demand. Their interest lies in 5 different platforms that do 5 different things specifically, for example, Netflix for movies, Tiktok for short videos, Zomato for food delivery, etc.
5. They are Practical but Have Shorter Attention Spans
They like to stay independent and rely on themselves when it comes to learning anything. Instead of asking anyone, they would just search on youtube if they wished to learn something new. They also have a shorter attention span than millennials which means if their interest isn’t gathered in a limited time, they will just switch to another resource that is more interesting and keeps them attentive.
Get updated with the latest eLearning trends that would keep the Gen Z engaged.
Now, the personality traits are not absolute, things differ among different people, but this was more on a majority basis. There can be quite a few people from Gen Z who are still comfortable with traditional methods, but the number of such people is decreasing on a daily basis. Read the section below to understand how to engage Gen Zs in your corporate training programs.
How to Get Gen Z Trained for Corporate Jobs?
1. Experimental Learning
People from this generation wish to learn new things by doing it themselves, they would like to conduct their own research, make their own decision, and then take relevant action. Apart from this being more effective, their experimental approach has proved to be more fun and interactive as well. According to Gen Z, the best possible way to deal with a problem is to face it and overcome it, and that’s quite a practical way, as compared to the traditional way of reading the solutions or listening to them in a lecture.
2. Social Learning
Gen Z loves to share knowledge, engage with each other and co-create online or offline solutions. The social learning methods have no barrier, they might gain knowledge from their neighbor and they might end up learning something from a random stranger from another continent. Their participation in such social learning programs helps them solve problems faster because of the collective brainstorming process that follows their collaborative learning approach.
3. Personalized Learning
Even though their assessment is more standardized than anyone else, their approach has to be personalized. This generation is the most technologically connected and updated with the most valuable resources. The information they choose to grasp has to be in the format best suited for them or else they will lose interest real quick. Adaptive learning is a solid example of personalized learning. Feeding the customized information to every individual as per their requirements will make them learn more things in less time and the things they will learn would prove to be more relevant to them.
4. Microlearning
This is probably the fastest way to make Gen Z learn anything. Videos are the most preferred type of microlearning module for this generation. Gen Z retains the most information when they do things themselves, but what if they don’t have access to the required tools to perform things themselves? Watching videos can help Gen Z gain valuable insights and retain them with more ease. Podcasts, carousels, infographics, or audio clips are some other forms of microlearning. Short integrated videos, from Youtube or custom crafted, helps Gen Z learn concepts in a better way. They might even create their own videos as a part of an assignment. Youtube is the most popular platform for these Gen Z to gain any sort of knowledge. A study has shown an average of Gen Z who has access to the Internet, spends 140 minutes on Youtube on a daily basis.
5. Informed Learning with Integrated Technology
Mentors should allow these learners to be a crucial part of their own development rather than forcing them to take on a traditional path. They tend to understand things better and choose a path for the future that would suit them the most. Offering extra choices to learn a single concept makes things more understandable and connects to a better audience. Integrating technology with their traditional classroom learning can help mentors to engage more learners.
6. Hybrid or Blended Learning
Gen Z has already mastered the art of transitioning between offline and online learning techniques. Creating a proper roadmap for their learning will improvise the process to a great extent. Blended learning is all about combining traditional classroom learning with modernized e-learning. A successful hybrid learning campaign can provide more opportunities to students and a better environment where learning is more fun.
Wrapping It Up!
Gen Zs are a dynamic crowd indeed, there are so many creative ways to engage them which marks a revolutionary future. These learners will invent even better and more creative ways to learn as per their comfort. Despite their adaptive and creative approach, Gen Zs still need interactive mentors who can show them the right path or the highly volatile nature of this generation can lead to unfortunate events no one would desire.
Out of all the strategies listed above, blended learning has paved its way to being the most effective corporate training strategy to make Gen Zs learn. If you are planning to implement a blended learning strategy for training your workforce, you can refer to our free eBook where we have mentioned various effective ways to boost an employee’s performance through a blended learning approach.
