According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), competencies are defined as the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that contribute to individual and organizational performance. In a professional setting, competencies can range from analytical skills and teamwork, to harder-to-measure traits, like emotional intelligence and adaptability.
It should come as no surprise that different generations have different values and strengths. Being able to measure and apply information about soft skills, competencies, motivations, and traits can help predict employee success and retention to help companies improve how they hire, manage, and develop their employees.
To uncover some of these trends in our workforce, Cangrade conducted a study exploring the strongest and the weakest professional competencies measured in over 100,000 recent millennial and Gen Z jobseekers across the US. Unsurprisingly, there were findings that were encouraging, and others that were concerning at best. The silver lining? Understanding where younger generations excel and fall short can help leaders and HR teams build better teams and cultures.
Of 40 competencies measured, let’s take a look at the top three strengths and weaknesses defining a vast majority of today’s workforce and what it means for our future job market.
The Strengths
We’ll start with the good news: emotional intelligence, stress management, and facilitating change ranked in the top three competencies among younger generations. We can see the results of this unfolding before us with a stronger emphasis on DEIB initiatives, health and wellness programs and benefits, and the “move fast and break things” ethos of startup culture. Here’s more on each:
- Emotional intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is the inner awareness of ourselves and others, understanding how emotions are impacted by outside factors, and our ability to create healthy and productive working environments with this in mind. As younger generations have been raised with more attention to their emotional needs, this is the least surprising finding from the data. With understanding comes empathy, something our society desperately needs, and younger generations possess.
- Stress Management
Stress management involves behaviors and mindsets that allow individuals to maintain focus and avoid negative or counterproductive emotions under stressful conditions. Again, not very surprising, as there is a high correlation between emotional intelligence and stress management skills. Younger generations have developed coping mechanisms for stress due to its presence in their lives from early ages, and it’s paying off professionally.
- Facilitating Change
Facilitating change is the adoption of innovation and organizational changes that improve business efficiency. These behaviors involve not only personal opportunities, but encouraging others to drive and accept innovation. While younger people are often criticized for not taking initiative, the data says otherwise. This could indicate a lack of trust from older generations in their counterparts’ abilities and willingness to do so.
The Weaknesses
Here comes the more sobering part. Despite the importance of emotional Intelligence and stress management, neither are a replacement for general intelligence. These softer skills are not the ones that will help us to correctly evaluate facts and events. Competencies like critical thinking are—and unfortunately, it ranks lowest on the list, with adaptability and focus preceding it.
- Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the process of evaluating information, situations, and assumptions in order to ensure sound judgment and appropriate responses. We’re living in a complex world with an abundance of information, and technological advances, like that of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced new challenges. Critical thinking is the only thing standing between truth and fiction. The low level of this skill in younger generations is a huge problem, not only as individuals, but for organizations and society at large.
- Focus
Focus entails directing and maintaining attention on the tasks that are most important and beneficial. Inability to focus makes it impossible to accomplish meaningful work, and thus, performance and productivity suffer. It’s easy to blame social media and the attention economy for this, but organizations must invest in training their employees on this critical skill and investing in tools and user interfaces that help ease distractions—or reducing the apps and systems that cause them.
- Adaptability
Adaptability is the tendency to change behavior and communication style in response to different people and situations. This comprises being open to new ways of doing things, and approaching variety and change with a positive attitude. Unlike their older counterparts, millennials and Gen Z are not easily molded into corporate cultures—they bring their authentic selves to work. This could be driven by the shift to remote and hybrid work in response to the pandemic. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it does beg some questions about professionalism and in-office culture.
What it Means for the Job Market
Millennials and Gen Z are the generations best at being who they are—and they have a lot to offer. They are uniquely prepared to deal with challenges and affect change, and we shouldn’t be afraid to let them. In a world where technical and mundane tasks are being automated by AI, people skills and relationship building will become increasingly important. No other generations are better equipped for this.
Building on the impact of AI, it’s likely the demand for jobs requiring focused work will decrease, although it’s premature to talk about the end of focused work completely. And while younger generations, on average, have quite low levels of focus, it’s likely not hindering their ability to complete focused work when necessary. Knowing this skill is scarce, it’s important that we can identify when it’s needed and work on nurturing it in younger generations.
Now, for the elephant in the room: critical thinking. Without it, no organization or society can function. Younger generations scoring low on this vital skill is worrisome news. Armed with this information, we take immediate measures to improve it. The question of how to do it is a complicated one, but here are some high level ideas:
- Promote a culture of inquiry
- Provide continuous learning opportunities
- Encourage diverse perspectives
- Implement regular feedback and peer reviews
- Foster an environment of trust and respect
Despite critical thinking skills, younger generations have the top qualities needed to succeed in the modern workforce. It’s our hope that with this data, leaders and HR teams can help employees build on their strengths and address their weaknesses to grow more well-rounded teams and stronger businesses.
