Management May 2024: First Generation Leadership Styles and Impact

“Both of my parents wore their sense of altruism, undying commitment, and unwavering devotion as a badge of honor — blissfully passing these values onto me in hopes that I would replicate their work ethic in my career.” - Bhavik R. Shah

First generation managers bring a unique perspective to their leadership style. Often, first gen leaders have learned most of their skills on-the-job or through extensive trial and error. Our leadership perspective is often formed by an amalgamation of relatable advice, compartmentalization and prioritization, and the independence of a group for whom conventional management techniques may not be most beneficial. In this Article, we unpack the first generation leadership mentality and how all generations can learn from the other’s leadership styles.

Taking Advice Which Resonates

For many young professionals, our parents or household adults gave us advice to assist in our career journey. While well-meaning and likely the same advice they received from their parents, this advice may or may not be applicable to corporate life. For example, first generation professionals today are more comfortable leaving a role that no longer meets their needs, while previous generations may suggest sticking with an employer out of a sense of loyalty. Additionally, the concept of subtlety in corporate communication may be hard to translate to those used to needing a heavier hand with coworkers. 

First generation leaders have the unique responsibility of parsing this advice to determine applicability to a corporate workplace, and perhaps reimagining the advice for different stakeholders. By taking the time to absorb and understand the motivations behind the advice, first generation leaders can leverage the past wisdom with modern standards of behavior.

Empathy First

Successful first generation leaders know that leading with empathy builds trust and fosters morale on their teams. Because they have experience balancing home and work responsibilities, they are more likely to be understanding and flexible when teammates are seeking work-life balance. They are also uniquely familiar with the potential conflict between one’s home obligations or expectations and those of the workplace. An empathetic leadership style allows the first generation leader to more carefully consider the needs of their teammates and enact a support plan that works best for the employee.

The Impact of First Generation Leadership

With the addition of new voices to the leadership table comes a variety of unique perspectives, including with regard to company culture and governance. There may also be a resurgence of new ideas related to financial priorities and employee engagement. 

First generation leaders may also more closely recognize the need for employee resource groups. This narrative from Bahvik R. Shah, Harvard Business Review, underscores the importance of amplifying all voices in a community setting: 

In a previous role, I acted as the business sponsor and supported the launch of a similar ERG with a six-month action plan. The first two months were to simply connect as a community — to decompress and speak about how our community is marginalized in particular ways. 

Further, how can these communities leverage their voices into company impact:

The third and fourth months were used to transition into strategy. We examined questions such as: How can we empower ourselves to ask for support? What specific actions do we need leadership to take for us to continuously feel empowered in order to bring value back to the organization? These conversations were often difficult, and sometimes quite emotionally draining because it required many of us to revisit how our immigrant guilt manifests itself in the workplace. This is why the business sponsor of any ERG should be well-equipped and skilled to facilitate these conversations.

Finally, recognize when senior leadership should be engaged to consider and enact community-thought-led initiatives.

Lastly, the fifth and sixth months were dedicated to building a case to senior leadership in the specific work practices that needed to be amended in order for us to feel valued, included, and guarded in the workplace, including a specific proposal with a coherent communication plan derived from the roundtable discussions. Each member of the ERG was invited to provide feedback and voted for the top concerns we wanted to address.

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Citations

1. Walz, Anthony. “Leading Across Generations: Adapting Leadership Styles for Silent Generation, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z Workers.” Leading Across Generations, 9 May 2023, www.linkedin.com/pulse/leading-across-generations-adapting-leadership-styles-anthony-walz/.

2. Cloud, Rosye Blancas. “First-Generation Leaders: The Untapped Potential Needed by Nonprofit Boards.” STRATA9, 14 Sept. 2023, www.strata9.com/post/first-generation-leaders-the-untapped-potential-needed-by-nonprofit-boards.

3. Green, Alison. “Advice for First-Generation College Students Adjusting to Professional Work Environments.” Ask a Manager, 24 Aug. 2023, www.askamanager.org/2023/08/advice-for-first-generation-college-students-adjusting-to-professional-work-environments.html.

4. Shah, Bhavik R. “Removing the Roadblocks That First-Generation Americans Face at Work.” Harvard Business Review, 5 July 2023, hbr.org/2023/07/removing-the-roadblocks-that-first-generation-americans-face-at-work.

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