I read an article this week about the growing reluctance of Gen-Z to make phone calls, particularly if the call meant having a tough conversation.
You can find it here: https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/workplace-warning-after-gen-z-admit-to-baulking-at-basic-task-up-to-you-to-fix-203759933.html
It goes on to quote research last year by Commonwealth Bank, which revealed four in 10 Gen-Z-ers would “ghost” someone to avoid having an awkward conversation over the phone. Imagine how high the stats would be if they’d added having difficult conversations in person.
[Ghosting, for anyone unfamiliar with the term, is suddenly cutting off all communication and avoiding contact with another person without any warning or explanation, and ignoring all subsequent attempts to communicate.]
According to my single friends, this is something now deemed almost acceptable in the dating world: don’t like someone or changed your mind about seeing them? Avoid the hard conversation or respect of actually telling them … just ignore and block (ghost) them instead. Easy! They’ll eventually go away. Or so the ghoster hopes.
I’ve also experienced it in the work environment, particularly as a self-employed person trying to generate new contacts and new business. Have you? And not from just Gen-Z-ers; from all generations right through to Boomers, people simply not returning calls or messages. Luckily, I learnt to embrace rejection at a young age. I plough on. But I question the thinking of people who think it’s fine to do this sort of thing. Many believe that someone who repeatedly ghosts at work will eventually destroy their business reputation. Time will tell, I guess.
Whilst my personal view is that ghosting shouldn’t exist at all in a decent society, I laugh at myself because there’s an element of “old man shouts at clouds” about that; ghosting exists, it’s growing and welcome to the modern world, buddy. But … can we make a difference when it comes to ghosting in the workplace? Yes, absolutely. How? As the manager/leader, you have a conversation (who would have thought?) with your team at the next staff meeting. Kick it off by saying:
LET’S TALK ABOUT GHOSTING
Then talk. Openly. Has anyone experienced this in their personal lives? Go from there. Oh look: smiles, laughter and uncomfortable shifting in seats all round. Then a simple reminder from you that, “This team doesn’t ghost people.” Once again you need to set the standard and champion it. Now if some of your people then admit they lack confidence in having tough conversations (with other staff members, clients, suppliers, or whoever) then of course you need to train them; give them the skills to handle tricky chats with confidence and ease.
It’s time for good managers to step up and ensure the ghosting virus doesn’t spread to the world of work. It starts with me. And with you.
Dare I say it … let’s have a chat.
