328: How to Effectively Manage Gen Z Employees at Work with Madeline Miller

October 15, 20243 min read

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Are Gen Zs really difficult to work with?

As more Gen Z employees enter and advance in the workforce, it’s crucial for business leaders to understand this generation’s unique experiences–shaped by remote work, self-directed learning, and the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

So, how should managers lead this new cohort? To help us navigate managing Gen Z and unlock their true potential, I spoke with today’s guest, Madeline Miller.

Madeline is making executive coaching more accessible and inclusive for Gen Z and Millennials through her Dream Career Accelerator coaching program. As a coach, Madeline is known for helping her clients build the strongest career foundation possible by aligning their work and values, increasing visibility and influence through effective communication, and dismantling limiting self-beliefs that lead to perfectionism, people-pleasing, or despondency.

In this episode, Madeline shares practical insights on how managers can step up to support their young team members in developing the skills they need to succeed. From redefining professionalism to fostering ownership and modeling effective communication, this episode is packed with actionable advice you won’t want to miss.

✨ Plus, in the extended episode available only to Podcast+ members, he offers practical advice on what to do when your team’s preferences don’t align with your leadership style.

Join the conversation now! Get FREE mini-episode guides with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Conversation Topics

  • (00:00) Introduction

  • (02:15) The challenges faced by today’s new workforce entrants 

  • (04:38) How Gen Z is adapting to remote work and self-sufficiency

  • (07:00) The importance of setting expectations in today’s remote work environment

  • (10:19) What does it mean to be professional?

  • (15:12) How managers can foster proactiveness and ownership in their teams

  • (18:49) Could your team’s lack of proactivity reflect your leadership style?

  • (23:52) Telling your team they’re empowered isn’t enough

  • (26:46) The 1st step to empowering Gen Z

  • (28:12) A great manager Madeline has worked for

  • (29:44) Keep up with Madeline

  • (30:25) [Extended Episode Only] How to role model and support your team members in becoming effective communicators.

  • (34:04) [Extended Episode Only] Applying the four communication styles in real-life scenarios

Additional Resources

✨Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamieks/ 

✨Visit my website for more: https://www.mamieks.com/ 

✨Level up your skills: https://themodernmanager.com/replaybundle 

✨Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7jhYz8b16g1SsLia4EhO5w?sub_confirmation= 

✨Read the full transcript here

Keep up with Madeline Miller

- Follow her on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok

- Visit her website for more information here

Guest Bonus: FREE Communications Style Tutorial and Worksheet

Madeline is providing a Free Communications Style Tutorial and Worksheet. The short video introduces the different communication styles and provides a short exercise you can do to reduce communicating poorly when under pressure.

👉 To get this guest bonus and many other member benefits, become a member of The Modern Manager Podcast+ Community: https://themodernmanager.com/more 


The Modern Manager is a leadership podcast for rockstar managers who want to create a working environment where people thrive and great work gets done.

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