Hannah Best - RGV Welcomes Gen Z!

Ever wondered how Gen Z is shaping the modern workplace? Join us on the Bosshole® Chronicles as we welcome Hannah Best, the newest addition to the Real Good Ventures team. Fresh off her transition from intern to full-time employee while finishing her MBA, Hannah offers a firsthand look into the unique perspectives and expectations that young professionals bring to the table.

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Chapters

• 0:06 Generational Perspectives on the Workplace
• 10:46 Navigating Generational Diversity in the Workplace

Transcript

John Broer: 0:06

Welcome back to the Bossh ole Chronicles. Everybody out there on the Bossh ole Transformation Nation. This is your host, John Broer, and we've got a really special guest today. This is a sort of launch, if you will, for our newest member of the Real Good Ventures team and her name is Hannah Best, and you're right if you recognize that last name. Hannah actually joined on as an intern almost two years ago at Real Good Ventures and has done just a remarkable job, and it was very clear to us, the way she has just embraced talent optimization and the work that she's done, that we wanted to have her as part of the Real Good Ventures team and she's also finishing up her master's, her MBA, and I thought it'd be great to have her on to share a little bit more about what is her generation thinking and expecting as they move in to the workplace. So I'm thrilled that you are going to meet Hannah Best, the newest member of the Real Good Ventures team and also somebody who is going to come out and make a big impact in the workplace. Let's get to the episode.

John Broer: 1:23

The Bossh ole Chronicles are brought to you by Real Good Ventures, a talent optimization firm helping organizations diagnose their most critical people and execution issues with world-class analytics. Make sure to check out all the resources in the show notes and be sure to follow us and e njoy today's episode. Well, Hannah, first of all, welcome to the podcast and also welcome to Real Good Ventures. I shared in the intro that you are officially part of this team and it's good to have you here. What better way to have you join us than introduce you to the Bossh ole Transformation Nation? It's good to have you here.

Hannah Best: 2:04

Thank you, John. It's so good to be here and it's, I consider it, a blessing and something I'm grateful every day to now join the RGV team full time.

John Broer: 2:12

Yeah, we're having a lot of fun, and you know. By the way, I just want to let everybody know out there, not only does Hannah do direct client work, but there's a lot that Hannah's been doing in the background. For those of you that have not checked out our Instagram channel, please do it. The Bossh ole Chronicles has an Instagram channel solely because Hannah understands how to make that happen. And, by the way, as I said in the intro, you'll recognize her last name best. Hannah is actually Sara's daughter and we're just so glad to have you here but also already has made a huge contribution to the work we do at Real Good Ventures.

John Broer: 2:51

And I thought that, Hannah, you are now finishing up your MBA at Bowling Green State University and congratulations on that. By the time this airs, I think no, no, no, yeah, your graduation is coming up. You're gonna be done within a couple of weeks, so congratulations on that. But the other thing is you, like a lot of other people your age, are entering into the workforce and getting into the workplace, and I thought this would be very helpful for our audience to hear. What are young professionals like yourself thinking and anticipating and thinking about the workplace now? And I hate labels. I hate labels. But you are officially part of Gen Z, is that correct?

John Broer: 3:37

Yes, Gen Z okay, but one of the things you mentioned before we hit record was we actually have four distinct generations in the workforce right now. Can you just? This is something you've talked about in your class. Where can you speak to that at all?

Hannah Best: 3:52

Yeah, I think right now, Gen Z is pretty much just entering the workforce. Um, I think Gen Z is like the end of the 90s into like the 2010s. So, that first decade there, but there's millennials before that, I think. Then it's Gen X and then would be the boomer generation. So right now Gen Z is the new addition to the workforce and definitely there's some experiences that I'm sure we'll get into today that shape a really unique generation, I think.

John Broer: 4:26

Oh for sure. So in other words, yeah, Okay, so I'm a Boomer. Technically I was born in '63. Anyway, so I'm a Boomer. So we have both ends. Actually, I never even realized that we have both ends of the spectrum of the four generations of the workforce on this particular podcast.

Hannah Best: 4:42

Yeah, you're right.

John Broer: 4:44

And I am genuinely, and I know your mom, too, I mean we're genuinely interested in, and I think all managers and supervisors and potential employers need to be thinking about who these people are. How do we create this pathway for them? So let's start there as you start to think about your transition to the workplace. Let's acknowledge that you have a leg up because you've been working with us for the better part of two years in a kind of an intern position, but I think it's been a real benefit to you and us, because we've been able to spend all this time sort of realizing, oh my gosh, Hannah will be an amazing part to this team. But as you make this transition, what are some of the things that you're thinking about? What are some of the expectations of how you're looking at the world of work and what you want from the world of work? Does that make sense?

Hannah Best: 5:37

Yeah, absolutely. I think. For sure my transition has looked a little bit different than most of my peers just because of that internship experience, like you mentioned. That's given me a lot of time to prepare and think about what I really want to do. And I think at the start of college, just like many, just about everyone no one really knows what exactly they want to do unless it's something like being a lawyer, being a doctor. There's a lot of gray area and college is supposed to be that time to figure it out. But it's hard and I think a lot of my peers, now that they're graduated, they still are not 100% sure.

Hannah Best: 6:13

So I'm definitely grateful that, you know, I was introduced to PI, into Real Good Ventures and I have this opportunity. But I think what's always stood out for me of what I want is I want the opportunity to work with people, with teams. I think that kind of stemmed from being an athlete in college. I loved the dynamic of being on a team and helping that team collaborate and find success. So that's kind of what prompted me to get into behavioral analytics and this work in the first place. But I, um, I think I have a longing for and many of my peers do to do good and to um contribute to adding good work to this world.

John Broer: 6:54

I think that's an interesting point there. There seems to be a okay. So I'm going to go back to when I was graduating from a fellow MAC school, Miami University. It was pretty much very different. I wasn't thinking about my contribution to community or more of an altruist, I mean. It was like I'm going to get a job, I'm going to interview, get the best job possible, learn and grow and carve out this career. I think there's a very different perspective and that's not bad, but I think we need to take that into consideration. So, when you think about since you mentioned your peers, Hannah when it comes to your peers and the conversations that you're having, generally speaking, how are they approaching the world of work? It sounds like they have more of a desire to, as you said, do good, have an impact, have a voice, if you will, but I don't want to speak for them, that's why you're here. What sort of from your peer group? What are you hearing? What are they thinking?

Hannah Best: 8:01

Yeah, that's a great question. I think you might receive kind of different answers across the board. For the most part, if you think about, you know, just like we say when we talk about behavioral analytics and we say people behave in a way that makes perfect sense to them, I think the same way applies to this generation, or really any generation is you know your experiences that you have, they shape your perspective and they shape the way you approach work, approach the world. And if you think about the experiences of my generation growing up,G en Z there's some pretty significant experiences or really unique experiences that like, if you think about one of them, let's say technology you think about one of them, let's say technology. Technology has always been a part of my life. I don't.

John Broer: 8:48

Right.

Hannah Best: 8:48

Growing up, I think we always had a TV. I remember my mom had a Blackberry, and then the introduction to smartphones and iPhones and you know it's always been. You've always had this opportunity to have so much information in your hands.

Hannah Best: 9:04

So that's just always been the norm and that's created a different viewpoint. But there's also been, you know, a global pandemic. There's been gender and racial equality conversations and political divides, and even if you look at something like 9/11, that happened in this generation. So the idea of terrorism, that's always been a norm or something that just is there, it exists, and so I think, as a result of that, there's been an increase of wanting to do good, because there has been a lot of unrest or a lot of change, for example. So I think that's one big thing. Those experiences deserve to be acknowledged a little bit and definitely has contributed to the way. I think that's one big thing. You know, those experiences deserve to be acknowledged a little bit and definitely has contributed to the way I think we will enter the workforce and what we'll expect.

John Broer: 9:51

That's interesting and I hope people that are in my generation or even in the Gen X generation are realizing yeah, your generation has never been without technology. It's always been there. I remember before that I had a Palm Pilot. You probably now I'm really dating myself, but you're right, we have seen the evolution of technology, you have been at the heart of it and you've never known a lifetime without it. So something you said and it sounds like Hannah, this was, and thank you for that. I think that that's very helpful.

John Broer: 10:46

I think our managers I hope our managers, our supervisors out there and our business owners that that are looking to recruit and grow realize that this and I'm going to use the term you had shared generational diversity really can be an asset. It doesn't have to be a liability, because I think the old way of thinking, the old model I kind of grew up in the old model was these kids come out of school, yeah well, you just sit there and listen and pay attention and learn and you'll get your shot one of these days. But you got to pay your dues and I mean that is such a convoluted way of looking at how we help people grow and come into the workplace. Nobody coming out of college is really going to want to hear that. It happens, though, but it sounds to me also like a caveat to what you're saying is and I think this is true for everybody across the generations people want to find meaning and fulfillment in their work. I don't think that's any different from Gen Z or any of the others. Would you agree with that?

Hannah Best: 11:36

Yeah, totally.

John Broer: 11:39

So for me, I am hoping that you know you sharing this message is helping the organizations understand that it doesn't matter what age, what generation, what background. The idea of many voices from different aspects and different walks of life is beneficial and at the same time, you can count on everyone wanting to find meaning and fulfillment in the work that they do. It just might look a little bit different. Is that making sense?

Hannah Best: 12:09

Yeah, totally, and I think the term generational diversity, it's a term that's so important for every generation to recognize but also kind of put some effort to coming into terms, like it's not just earlier I talked about acknowledging the experiences of this generation but it's a two-sided stick, like this generation also needs to put effort into understanding previous generations too. And expect that you know we're not going to all think, expect that you know we're not gonna all think the same way, we're not going to approach things, but we have to be able to at least hear that out or try to find a balance between approaches or thinking in order to have any success.

John Broer: 12:49

Because it's a reality.

Hannah Best: 12:50

We said there's four. There might even be five generations if we, if we really look at it. So so yeah definitely a necessary conversation, so I'm glad we're getting to have it.

John Broer: 13:01

Before we- I know one of the things that I want to hear from you, like what should managers because it's the Bossh ole Chronicles what should managers and supervisors expect from this emerging workforce? If you will, let me get back to something really quick, no-transcript merit and inclusion are not mutually exclusive. I think you can still. People should grow and be rewarded and acknowledged for their merit in what they do and at the same time, the tent can be really big. We can include a lot of people in that.

John Broer: 14:02

In this case, we're just talking about people from many different or a number of different generations. So the noise out there you even mentioned it the political unrest, the noise that is really distracting us from, I think, what is our core work. Let's drive, you know, get it to. Managers and supervisors have a unique role of developing other people, and those people could be from four or five different generations. So I just wanted to connect this back to the sort of the conversations we've been having around understanding that bringing people in of different ages, of different nationalities, of different educational levels that's what I think about when I think about inclusion, and that generational diversity gives us that opportunity.

Hannah Best: 14:48

I would say, if I remember correctly, Dr Upton she talked about. You know that there's word that DEI is dead, but it's the opposite it's alive and it's well. And I think it's the same thing here with generational diversity. It's the ball's rolling and it's not going to stop. So, managers, the way I see it, you can get ahead of the game, get on board and learn about it, put some effort into it, or you're going to be left behind, because that's where we're going.

John Broer: 15:17

So let's talk about those managers and supervisors, let's give them a little bit of a heads up. You are speaking from the perspective of somebody who is squarely in the emerging workforce, or Gen Z. What are some takeaways or some tips that managers and supervisors should consider as they begin to look at hiring members of the Gen Z group?

Hannah Best: 15:42

Yeah, I think the big one that stands out. I think I've heard this a few times and I really hope this isn't a norm or it's not really happening all the time. But I hear these stories about new graduates like coming to a job interview and they bring like a parent with them. Or they receive a job like an acceptance and they're an offer and they bring in their parent to like consider the options with them, and to me that I would be really embarrassed if my mom or dad came with me to a job interview. I would never do that.

Hannah Best: 16:19

But, I've been hearing that it's a thing with this generation and it's happened multiple times for employers. Although it's crazy to believe, I don't totally throw it out as a possibility.

Hannah Best: 16:30

That it could happen, yeah, especially for the reason, I think, relating it to all that unrest I talked about, with kind of growing up with all these different changes and divides and fear, if you will. I think there's a lot of people now in my generation that need some extra support or will expect a little bit of extra support because they are used to it. Like I, I can attest I have parents that have always put my best interest in the forefront, whether it's a good or a bad thing, I mean, I think it's good to an extent and ultimately, as a young individual, you have to advocate for yourself and learn to do things on your own. I think this generation is really used to having a little bit of support and having people in their corner, and so I think, moving into the workforce, it might be a change, when someone doesn't receive clear expectations, to provide some clear details, because it's something this generation's used to and it helps them do the work well.

Hannah Best: 17:29

Okay, that's one thing that definitely jumps off the page for me.

John Broer: 17:49

I think, well, and let me dive into that for just a second so probably, and I did read something about that. Somebody did a survey yeah, the like the top 10 challenges when it comes to Gen Z come, you know, coming into the workforce. The thing about the parents just totally blew me away.

John Broer: 18:06

I'm not even sure how I would react to that, but I think, to look at it more generally and, Hannah, I think your point of, as an adult, being able to be self-reliant, independent, stand on your own I mean, that's as I'm a parent and that's all we could ever hope is that our, our children, we have equipped them to go out into the world and prepared them for this, not to go into an interview with them, but I think the takeaway that I get is, you know, managers and supervisors I don't think this is necessarily unique to, or should be unique to, Gen Z, but input, feedback, connection, conversation, making sure that there is just dialogue happening so that we haven't forgotten about you, because that's just something, generally speaking, that is helpful for you in your career path and, quite frankly, I think that transcends generations. We just missed it, and it's probably more prevalent. Okay, what else? Anything else come to mind in terms of what managers and supervisors should look for?

Hannah Best: 19:18

Yeah, I think one thing I know is we've talked about this or you've talked about it before on the podcast is the need for individuals wanting to work in different settings to have that remote option or hybrid setting.

Hannah Best: 19:32

That's definitely a big topic and it's super common within Gen Z. But if you think about, you know my experience in college or my generation's experience in college, like, I entered my undergraduate program in 2020. So it was when everything went digital. So my, basically the first two years of my college experience was either fully online, meeting with a professor over Zoom, or only going into class one day a week and having small groups, and so that shifted the way I learned, I think. Sure, I had to make different adjustments to the way I was doing my work, to the way I was doing my work. I was doing my homework and you know I had to learn finance on my own instead of sitting in a classroom and looking at a board and listening to a professor. So that shifted the way I think, and I think a lot of my generation too. So, moving into the workplace, there will be a need or a want for that opportunity to have either hybrid or remote work.

John Broer: 20:36

Right.

Hannah Best: 20:37

But it's pretty popular just because that's been a big part of my life.

John Broer: 20:40

That's how you yeah, yeah, yeah, I never really thought about that. Yeah, your first two years were fully digital, fully remote in college and you were used to again coming out of high school. You were used to being in the classroom and at school. Interestingly enough and we've had different episodes on this is some organizations feeling like, okay, well, we're past COVID, so we're going back to what it was pre-COVID and we're all going to work in the office. And then, all of a sudden, there's this huge amount of pushback and we've often said there are some jobs that have to be done in a location, in an office or in a facility. We get that.

John Broer: 21:15

But to completely dismiss this new way of work, the new world of work, including remote and hybrid, is really foolish. It's really sort of hearkening back to an old and antiquated model and that's why we talk about reinventing the workplace. By the way, just for our listeners, tune in within the next couple of weeks because we're going to have Jenny Mobius on and Jenny actually has her own podcast that is talking specifically about hybrid work and helping organizations figure out how to make that work, and it's going to be really helpful to our managers and supervisors. Sorry, I just wanted to throw that in there. Hannah, anything else? Anything else that you would just share with our managers and supervisors out there.

Hannah Best: 21:58

Yeah, I think one of the last points when it comes to what to expect to, you know, kind of tying back to that unrest and the need for support, and we talk about reinventing the workplace, the workforce, we talk about that there's you know, what's usually left at home or what's not brought to work is starting to be talked about in work, and so I think there's also a rise of mental health issues and that's going to become even more prevalent if you think about all the experiences this generation's had. So I think we can expect even more of that as well. And there's a rise, too, of companies offering support for mental health, and I think that's so great and it's needed. It's overdue, but it's needed to have those resources within a company. So I think that's something that people going into the workforce in my generation they're going to be looking forward to.

John Broer: 22:48

Yeah, yeah, because my generation, you were told, leave it at the door when you get here. Yeah, yeah, personal stuff, you leave it outside Again.

John Broer: 23:19

That's just very narrow thinking, because we're humans and we're just these as my business partner, your mom would say we are meaning making machines, and it doesn't stop when we get to the office or we start to do work, but that this is great.

John Broer: 23:23

And I want to say that from personal experience, because I'm on the other end of the generational spectrum, if you will that your perspectives, your approach have certainly elevated the way we do work here at Real Good Ventures. And I'm going to give an example, and I shared it at the beginning, our ability to get Bossh ole Chronicle content out on Instagram. At the heart of it is your work, and could we have figured it out? Yeah, was it sort of inherently woven into our DNA, like it is yours? No, so this is where that generational diversity I get excited about it, just for what we're able to do at Real Good Ventures and what it offers our clients. But this has been great, and what a great way to usher in your full-time presence at Real Good Ventures than introducing you to the Bossh ole Transformation Nation. This has been awesome.

Hannah Best: 24:12

Yeah, I'm so glad we could have this conversation, and I'll just add one final point. When it comes to that generational diversity and its importance and being across the board you just reminded me when you said you know, now we're using Instagram and there's all these new capabilities I think that that's going to be a huge pro of this generation is the need or the want to innovate and to do more. We've been really lucky to see a lot of leaders that are inspiring and doing what's never been done before, and so that's definitely going to show up. And so, while there's drawbacks and pros to each generation, I think one of the strongest pros of Gen Z is that need to be entrepreneurial or to innovate and create more good, so I think that's exciting and it's a promising future for the workforce.

John Broer: 25:01

Well, I know it's a promising future for us at Real Good Ventures. So now, annah, thank you so much. This is great. I want to remind everybody. Anybody want to connect with Hannah on LinkedIn check the show notes. It'll be in there. But this has been great. Thank you so much and I have no doubt in the years to come, you will be hearing more and learning more from our amazing Hannah Best. So, Hannah, thanks so much and everybody thanks for listening in and we'll see you next time on the Bossh ole Chronicles. We'd like to thank our guests today on the Bossh ole Chronicles and if you have a Bossh ole Chronicles story of your own, please email us at mystory@thebossholechronicles. com. Once again, mystory@thebossholechronicles. com. We'll see you again soon.