A lot of people wonder what the Gen Z are like and whether they are going to be efficient workers in the future. Susan HayesCulleton works with this generation a lot and is here to share her experience of how wonderful they are to work with.

This video is important for anyone who is dealing with or will be dealing with generation Z in the future. One of the most important things to know about these teenagers is that they will rise to whatever expectations you set for them. During the week course that Susan ran with TY students, she set them the task of presenting on something they are passionate about for one minute, without notes, with only 20 minutes to prepare. They all rose to this challenge and gave outstanding presentations. Before Susan gave any feedback, she asked the teenagers to mention some positive aspects of the presentations which built their observation skills, created a positive feedback loop, and facilitated peer-to-peer learning. After this Susan gave them three positive pieces of feedback and her assistant gave them one area that they could improve on. This ratio of 3:1 is really important because the 3 positive pieces of feedback build confidence, while the 1 pienc of constructive criticism builds resilience.

Another area that the students learned about during the course was the difference between a weakness and something that somebody needs to improve on. Susan illustrates this difference through examples of her own. It is very important for this generation, and every other generation as well, to understand the difference between them.

Once these students knew to expect at least one bit of critical feedback there was no issue. Setting this expectation is so important because it eliminates a lot of the barriers to effective communication. Susan was also eager to mention how this generation are not addicted to their phones and once she set the expectation to not use their phone, by not using her own phone, she has never once had an issue with students and their phones being out.

There have been some guest speakers brought in to address the issue of failure, which is something that this generation worries a lot about. Susan describes failure as "learning dressed up" and wants to eliminate the fear surrounding it for these teenagers. One guest speaker had the teenagers write down their career fears and the most common ones included, fear of not earning enough money to support themselves and their family, getting fired, not making the cut, and not getting enough points in the Leaving Cert.

To address these fears Susan gave the students study tips and tricks that worked for her in her Leaving Cert. She put the responsibility back on them however, because they are the only ones who have control over whether or not they implement these skills. She described the students as the CEO of their Leaving Cert and encouraged them to use all the resources available to them.

A lot of the career fears the students wrote down were a result of a lack of confidence. The weeks course at #SavvyTeenAcademy focuses a lot on building confidence and students come out at the end of the week a lot more confident and with the ability to appear confident no matter how they feel. For more information on #SavvyTeenAcademy visit our website: https://www.savvyteenacademy.com #careerfears #confidence #GenZ #expectations #SusanHayesCulleton