U.S. Army Soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division Artillery, participate in a 36-hour “This Is My Squad” competition intended to build strong and cohesive teams through tough and realistic training at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, July 28-29, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Scott)
What Soldiers Want
By Sgt. 1st Class Roland Hanks
U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence
“Since the Revolutionary War, NCOs [noncommissioned officers] have had the tasks of maintaining standards, training their teams, and leading soldiers. These primary duties remain the same, but NCOs have had to adapt as progression necessitated changes.” (Fails, 2004, p. 3)
With each new generation comes a new set of values, learning styles, and effective leadership principles. Post-millennials (also known as Generation Z or Gen Z), born from 1996 to the present, now constitute nearly 90% of the Army’s active duty junior enlisted and nearly 35% of all junior officers (Defense Manpower Data Center, 2018, p. 29). In order to provide Soldiers with their preferred leadership style, NCOs and leaders must know what is required of them to effectively lead this new generation.
To discover this insight, I conducted a study and interviewed 20 Gen Z junior enlisted Soldiers stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2020. The gender breakdown of my study was 65% male and 35% female. The racial and ethnic makeup was 25% African American, 10% Asian-Pacific Islander, 15% non-White Hispanic, and 50% White. In addition to helping NCOs adapt their leadership styles, this data will enable those who develop NCO training and leadership schools to inculcate meaningful change to the current design or curriculum.
Generation Z Characteristics
Gen Z is different from their predecessors in that they are the first generation to grow up with computers, smartphones, and the internet (Patel, 2017). Moore (2019) describes Gen Z as valuing interconnection, information, interaction and therefore want to know why they are doing something, why it is important, and why they cannot attempt to do something a new and different way. And Miller (2019) wrote Gen Z favors leadership styles that emphasize competitiveness, creativity, and the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
NCO Journal provides a forum and publishing opportunity for NCOs, by NCOs, for the open exchange of ideas and information in support of training, education and development.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/NCO-Journal/
