Something has changed in the workplace.
Stress, strain and overwhelm seem abundant. Ease and joy in the work are less evident than they once were. Departmental citizenship—the willingness to step in, volunteer, or contribute beyond the immediate requirements of a job—appears to be fading. Communication has become harder, particularly when difficult issues require thoughtful resolution. Reactivity, misunderstanding and disconnection can feel like the norm. And everyone seems too busy or too tired to socialize, connect or simply spend time together.
For leaders, it is tempting to look at these changes and conclude that the problem is a declining work ethic. The generational gap is an easy explanation: People don’t work the way we used to. But that explanation is too simple—and, in many cases, simply inaccurate.
Younger employees often view work and life through a different contextual lens than the generations before them. They may agree with what needs to happen but question how it is communicated or executed, particularly when decisions affect their lives. They want transparency, context and authenticity about the “why” behind requests, changes and policies. And, where feasible, they expect to have a voice in decisions that affect them.
That does not mean leaders need to agree with every expectation or behavior. It does mean we need to understand where those expectations come from.
How Did We Get Here?
The generational differences are real. Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z have been shaped by very different social, economic and technological environments, and those experiences influence how each generation thinks about authority, work, collaboration, loyalty, flexibility and authenticity.
But generation is only part of the story.
COVID permanently changed many of our assumptions about where and how work gets done. Work-from-home practices became embedded in the way many people organize their lives, with work habits increasingly managed around personal priorities. At the same time, rapid economic, political and technological change has accelerated disengagement and pushed people toward smaller circles of connection and belonging rather than a connection to the larger organization.
The loss of in-person interaction has had another consequence that is easy to underestimate: we have lost some of the everyday human connection that makes collaboration work.
Hallway conversations have become emails. Meetings are often filled with multitasking. Informal moments of connection have diminished. And when we know less about the people around us, it becomes harder to extend the grace that is essential to healthy relationships.
Trust—the foundation of every relationship—has eroded. The result is dissatisfaction, disconnection and disengagement.
The good news is that this is fixable.
The harder news is that it will not fix itself.
The Leadership Shift
The work begins with a change in mindset: leaders must shift from judgment to curiosity.
This is not about excusing behavior or lowering standards. It is not about agreeing with every perspective or abandoning accountability. It is about becoming curious enough to understand the context behind what we are seeing.
A leader can say, “I don’t understand why this person doesn’t seem willing to go the extra mile.”
Or the leader can ask, “What do they believe ‘going above and beyond’ should look like?”
Those are very different questions. The first begins with a conclusion. The second opens a conversation.
Curiosity does not require agreement. It requires a willingness to understand.
And this is where leadership becomes especially important. Culture will not self-correct. If leaders want the culture to change, they have to lead the change. That means sustained attention to individuals and to the team, rather than hoping that time, another policy or another initiative will somehow restore connection.
It also means accepting a difficult truth: your team is not going to become more like you with more time. In fact, people generally become more like themselves with time.
If we want a different culture, we have to change how we lead.
So Where Do We Begin?
There is no quick fix.
The first step is to acknowledge that this is both your problem and not your problem. Every leader is experiencing some version of this challenge. The forces that have shaped today’s workplace are bigger than any one leader or organization.
But accepting responsibility for changing the direction is still a leader’s work.
Begin with grace. Before searching for concrete solutions, reintroduce some humanity into communication and relationships. Leaders and employees alike are navigating a workplace that has changed significantly.
Then begin deliberately.
- Assess your own capacity to lead a culture effort.
Culture work requires sustained attention. Ask yourself honestly: Can I commit to this for the next 12 months, perhaps longer? What is at stake if I don’t address these disconnects? Am I willing to change my own mindset? Is my calendar flexible enough to make room for this work? Who can support me?
These are not small questions. Culture cannot be repaired as an initiative that sits on the side of a leader’s already-full calendar.
- Bring people together for an honest conversation.
Begin with an in-person town hall focused specifically on culture. Be candid and transparent about what you are seeing and what you are concerned about. Give people time not only to hear the message, but to digest it, connect and talk with one another.
The goal is not to solve everything in one meeting. It is to signal that the leader sees what is happening—and is willing to engage with it.
- Find out what people are actually experiencing.
A culture survey can provide a useful starting point. Ask: What is it like to work here now? What is going well? What creates the greatest stress? How informed do people feel? How much do they want to know about what is happening within the company?
Listening before prescribing is one of the simplest ways to begin shifting from judgment to curiosity.
- Create opportunities for real conversation.
Consider inviting randomly selected employees to monthly lunches with you. Ask them to bring questions, comments and concerns. Then listen. Be open. Be honest. The purpose is not to defend the organization or explain away every concern. It is to understand what people are experiencing.
- Clarify the expectations that matter.
Once you have listened and gathered information, bring the team back together. Address the areas that need improvement. Be unapologetic about necessary changes, while also inviting employees to help redefine important concepts such as excellence, flexibility and accountability.
Clarity and connection are not opposites. In fact, they reinforce one another.
The Work Worth Doing
Is there an easier way?
Maybe. But I doubt it.
Repairing culture begins with rebuilding trust and respect in leadership, and that takes time and sustained attention. Every leader is dealing with forces that contributed to today’s workplace disconnection. But the leader’s job is not to solve all of those forces. The leader’s job is to accept responsibility for changing the direction.
The most powerful lever may be curiosity.
If you approach these challenges by defending the culture, defending past decisions or defending your own actions, it will be difficult to rebuild trust. But if you approach them with genuine curiosity—What are people experiencing? What have we stopped talking about? What assumptions are we making? What does this look like from their perspective?—you create the possibility of something different.
The work of leadership has changed.
The answer is not to make today’s employees more like yesterday’s employees. It is to understand the world they are navigating, reconnect people to one another, establish clear expectations and create the conditions in which trust can grow again.
That is hard work.
But so is everything worth fighting for.
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