In our strategy work, we often have the opportunity to hear from and interact with the next generation of architecture/engineering (AE) and environmental consulting industry leaders. For the purposes of this discussion, these emerging leader groups are comprised of about 10% Gen Z, 80% millennials, and 10% early Gen X.

In fact, we make a point in our strategy engagements to intentionally incorporate meaningful input from the folks “waiting in the wings” to take over their firms in the future. We’re big believers that you cannot start developing next-generation leaders too early. And where possible and practical, we encourage our clients to engage talent beyond the C-suite in visioning, ideation and business planning.

Lately, we’ve been hearing emerging leaders express some common themes in visioning and strategy discussions. Regardless of whether it’s a small or large firm, located in the South or the Midwest, a designer or environmental scientist, a multi-discipline generalist or a deep-dive technical expert, emerging leaders across the board are bringing these topics to the strategy discussion, and they want the boomer C-suite to take note.

Here are some of those themes with their potential strategic and cultural implications for your firm:

• Time is on my side: Emerging leaders will work long hours—in the office or remotely—when they need to. But with caveats. First, they need to see justification. Whereas 20 years ago if a manager indicated that it was all hands on deck for late nights and weekends to “get a project out the door,” pretty much everybody did so without comment. Not so today. Collaboration, consensus and culture have conspired to create a dynamic where managerial directions—especially around demands on the time of emerging leaders or their “fellow” employees—are frequently viewed instead as the start of a conversation about what they are willing to do and under what conditions, rather than an order to be followed. This can be a big frustration for boomer or Gen X firm managers who are conditioned to respond to direction immediately. Managing while frustrated is a recipe for wasted time and squandered opportunity. It also needlessly and slowly inserts tension into a firm’s culture. If this dynamic is at play in your firm, you need to prioritize ongoing meaningful dollar investments in coaching for your older managers. Of course, the dollar investment isn’t the challenge, and the real battle is getting these managers to actually spend the time to understand what has changed in employee attitudes since their glory days 20 years ago so that they can learn how to get the most out of a next generation that has a very different perspective on work.
• If I could turn back time: “You need me to work 50 hours next week? Sure. 60 hours? Great, I can do that for you. But let’s make sure we’re all on the same page that the following week, I’ll be working just 20 hours, right?” Again, always with the caveats. Call it what you like (we’ve heard “time averaging,” “hours smoothing,” and “week surfing”), but the concept of the 2,080-hour work year (I’ll save you doing the math, that’s 40 hours a week) is strong with these emerging leaders. We saw shades of this pre-pandemic. Back then, consultants were trying to push “work-life blending” (in other words, the 24-hour workday facilitated through technology) as a way to get more “employee engagement” out of the growing “work-life balance” movement. Pandemic hits in 2020. Industry utilization rates surge to record highs (this was the era of the ultimate work-life blending), and the awful effects of employee burnout showed up industry-wide with a vengeance in 2021. Since then, next-generation leaders have reframed their relationships with their work, their firms and their personal lives. And now firms stand at an inflection point. The industry’s business model prior to 2020 assumed a workforce that would—on-demand and for however long it would take—work 50-plus hours a week between “face time” in the office and logging on during vacations and after hours to “get the job done.” The next generation of industry leaders doesn’t necessarily see it that way. They have a very different vision for the business model when they take over. It’s one that assumes an employee will deliver “quality” time for the firm, not necessarily more time. We’ve had the opportunity to facilitate some pretty heated discussions around this topic in the first few weeks of 2024.
• Time in a bottle: You’ve identified these folks as emerging leaders because they are smart, hard-working and naturally look for ways to improve themselves and the firm. So, when they ask the question (and I’m paraphrasing here) “So why exactly do you want me to drive an hour into the office and an hour home—essentially wasting two hours—polluting the atmosphere to do work that I could be doing remotely?” beware if your response includes florid references to “collaboration,” “culture” or “innovation.” Not only do next-generation leaders place a high value on their time (and how they spend it—preferably not commuting for no good reason), but they also excel at getting the most out of a hybrid working environment. Again, this can be a frustration for current leaders and managers who demand that folks be in the office full time but are unable to convey why, nor are able to back their position up with data.
• My friend the robot: Finally, even though C-suites are still trying to find their feet with enterprise-wide policies for and deployments of artificial intelligence, next-generation leaders have fully embraced it. They and their teams are not only using it to deliver faster and better services to clients, but also to free up time in their own days through the creation of internal efficiencies. Their vision for their firms is one where AI is their co-pilot (AI pun intended) in creating a business model where the 40-hour week is a reality.

On the one hand, a boomer manager might think the unbridled optimism and self-confidence of these emerging leaders is what happens when you haven’t had a good old recession in 15 years and there’s a labor shortage. On the other hand, maybe this blend of optimism and self-confidence is exactly what’s needed to transform this industry for the better.

Original content can be found at Morrissey Goodale.

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