How are companies stimulating Gen Z's interest in leadership?

Good leaders are not born ready. They need to be trained and developed as soon as possible so that, in the future, they are prepared to assume such responsibility. The inspiration for the command of a successful business must come from above, teaching how to inspire and develop people so that they connect with this purpose and work together for this cause. It was thinking about this that FI Group, a consultancy specialized in the management of tax and financial incentives for PD&I, is investing heavily in its Leadership Development Program (PDL) in a strategic partnership with Pande, a reference company in the process of building value for brands that consider organizational culture as a relevant part of their strategy.

With its first edition organized in 2020, the need to develop this program came before the exponential growth that the consultancy had been acquiring in recent years. “Investing in leadership has always been a priority for us and, far beyond developing them, we knew the importance of taking care of these talents so that they could take this position. Therefore, we decided to dedicate ourselves to this partnership so that we could have greater security and assertiveness in the preparation of future leaders”, explains Vanessa de Lima Pereira Montagnoli, human resources manager.

Under the command of the Organizational Human Development area of the FI Group, the PDL was built on three pillars: understand, develop and inspire. In the first, there is a thorough analysis of which professionals have the ability to become excellent leaders in the short and medium term. Based on this study, the second stage of development enters, where these ‡accandidates are coordinated and supervised in an intense preparation in this sense. To reinforce this process, enters the pillar of inspiration, which fosters this care from the managers and directors of the company so that, together, they take care of people so that they adapt to routines and become true leaders.

In this trajectory, Pande's support was extremely important, especially in the last two pillars. “We applied a deep and detailed diagnosis to understand the profile and skills of talents in the FI Group and, with this, together with their HR department and the feedbacks of the leaders themselves on this subject, we were able to identify the moment of each of them and how to lead them through these stages in the best way”, points out Luciane Lamour, consulting director at Pande.

This proactive listening was one of the most important points for the success of the PDL. This is because, according to Luciane, there was a great internal challenge regarding the management of teams of different generations, since each had different purposes, goals and ambitions. The identification of this need was a key point before a greater clarity of the individual moment of the talents and how to develop them strategically in this direction.

One of the biggest challenges faced in this program, according to Vanessa, covered Generation Z professionals. Unambitious to be leaders, it was necessary to direct a more in-depth and humanized care to reverse the image that many of them had about this position which many associated with a stressful, stressful and dysfunctional chair & chair & so they could connect with people, inspire them and transform them into their careers.

More likely to have a higher rate of stress and anxiety at work, leadership is a position that usually runs away from your interest. Reverting this idea is not something simple, and depends on an organizational culture strongly guided by this individual understanding of expectations and ambitions and, above all, in integrating them with other generations, so that they are inspired to learn from each other in order to develop this purpose in each one.

Fortunately, there were no shortage of successful cases in this transformation. Lais Leoncini, graduated in chemical engineering, joined the IF as an intern 10 years ago and, from an early age, reports that his managers always reinforced that he had expertise in products and invested in this knowledge for its evolution. “Eles have always been dedicated to teaching me and preparing to be a leader in the future. I had a very accelerated growth inside, facing opportunities that made me develop and, today, inspire my team and future leaders so that, together, we can achieve better and better results”, he highlights.

For Lais, one of the biggest challenges he faces today, as a leader, is also related to Generation Z, causing them to motivate and engage in this cause.

Giovanna Moraes, also a graduate in chemical engineering, is a member of this generation and today, leader in the company.“I joined FI Group as an intern and noticed, from an early age, a very great attention of them in this development. It is a fact that many millennials value freedom and flexibility and, here, these factors have always been provided, through a more flexible structure that allowed me to develop the skills of a good leader, focusing on humanized management, empathy and positive impact on the personal and professional development of each of”, recalls.

Guilherme Augusto shares the same opinion. Graduated in systems analysis, entered three years ago as an intern and, recently, assumed the position of leader. When he began in this position, he confesses that he had fears that he would not be ready, lacked confidence before such responsibility.

But over time, the company's actions in involving him in the routine of customers and with people of different thoughts and visions made him change his perspective and see that he had the ability to be there. “The program made me see my strengths and improve what was needed, learning to communicate assertively and make decisions so that I could lead others. They were always here for me helping me, developing emotional intelligence and empathy, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity”, he celebrates.

A good leader is someone who inspires and transforms. Someone who does not perform such functions only in the bureaucratic sense, but who truly engages in the cause, connecting, emotionally, with these professionals, creating and fostering this career growth. After all, without people, no business works.

Working with leadership is complex, and many companies do not give due importance to this construction. This should be a continuous and anticipated development, closely monitoring the work of each, looking at results and trends of improvements before a lifelongIt is a dynamic process where uncertainty is the only certainty, and flexibility and dynamics are essential tools for building great leaders.