SHRM26 Debrief · Modern Employee Experience · #1846

Coaching Through the “Surprise Moments”: Tools for Supervisors Supporting Early-Career Employees

with Dylan Russell

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~76 min, distilled

onboardingGen Z in the workplacesense-making theory

"Managers are far better at comforting people than explaining the organization. It is the same skill."

What it was about

Newcomers, especially Gen Z, disengage not because of generational flaws but because they're rationally sense-making their way through organizational surprises with no managerial context. Supervisors can intervene in these small, high-leverage moments to keep expectations aligned with reality, especially by translating the institution's own unwritten rules instead of leaving them unexplained.

By the numbers

75%

of Gen Z employees report feeling lonely in the workplace — the highest number recorded since tracking began

40%

of managers' time spent on immediate problems and administrative tasks

three months and six months

study checkpoints for tracking newcomer surprises before entry, at 3 months, and at 6 months — by 6 months most newcomers have reached a 'sink or swim' verdict on the organization

Key notes

Reframe newcomer anxiety or poor performance as 'sense-making': a rational process of interpreting surprises with no managerial context, rather than a generational deficiency.
Use the four-part response framework when a newcomer hits a surprise: validate the reaction, clarify the work/standard, coach the next move, and translate how the institution actually works and why.
Prioritize translating institutional/organizational surprises (unwritten rules, politics, 'that's just how we do it') since these get resolved least often, even though managers are already skilled at translating outside politics.

The contrarian takeThe speaker argues Gen Z 'unpreparedness' isn't a generational character flaw. It's simply less professional experience due to COVID-19 disruption, and every prior generation, including millennials, faced the same negative stereotyping when entering the workforce. Blaming newcomers is largely a management failure, not a workforce failure.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

After your next 1:1 surprise or correction with a newcomer, ask: 'What's your take on what happened?' then 'What would help make it clearer?'

Say this in your next leadership meeting

Gen Z disengagement isn't a generational flaw. It's newcomers rationally sense-making surprises we never explained — our job is to translate the unwritten rules.

Watch out for

Leaving organizational rules unexplained with phrases like 'that's just how it is,' 'there's an order to things,' or 'you'll understand later.'
Assigning generational stereotypes (e.g., Gen Z is 'lazy' or 'entitled') to what is actually a rational sense-making response to a lack of context.
Failing to close the loop after an emotional overreaction (e.g., a supervisor snapping at a newcomer) — waiting too long, or never explaining the real reason behind the reaction.

Fun fact · Dylan Russell

He co-founded Lead for America, the nation's largest local government fellowship program.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperOnboard to Engage: Four Critical Questions to Ask Your New HireGives supervisors four concrete onboarding questions to ask before the surprises even happen.⇄ The counterpointWhat You Need to Know about Neurodiversity in the WorkplaceComplicates the framing: some struggles are wiring differences needing accommodation, not just missing context.✦ The unexpected oneThe Benefit That Quietly Shapes How Work Gets DoneSame lesson in a different wrapper: the invisible thing you never explain is quietly shaping outcomes.