In many UK organisations, particularly those with an ageing workforce, an important question is being discussed:

How do we help graduates and younger employees become high-performing professionals—and eventually the capable leaders the organisation will need?

Most people around the table want the same outcome. They want talented younger employees to develop confidence, judgement, resilience and a strong work ethic. They want knowledge to pass successfully from one generation to the next. They want the organisation to continue performing long after today’s experienced leaders have retired.

The difficulty is that people can have very different views about how to achieve it.

Two perspectives, one shared ambition

People and HR teams may emphasise inclusion, wellbeing, work–life balance, psychological safety and supportive leadership. They may encourage managers to coach rather than tell, avoid micromanagement and recognise that people do their best work when they feel respected and able to speak openly.

Experienced senior managers—perhaps engineers, technical specialists or operational leaders—may see things differently. Many built their careers by going the extra mile, working evenings or weekends when necessary and completing studies alongside demanding jobs. They were often given clear instructions, expected to cope under pressure and told directly when they made a mistake.

They may believe those experiences made them stronger.

They also know that their success has never depended on technical knowledge alone. Over time, they developed commercial awareness, financial understanding, customer relationships, sales skills, sound judgement and the ability to get things done. In many cases, the organisation has succeeded because people were willing to take ownership and contribute beyond the narrow boundaries of a job description.

It is understandable that these leaders do not want the next generation to miss the experiences that helped them grow.

Equally, it is understandable that People teams do not want commitment to be confused with exhaustion, or resilience to mean tolerating poor management. Working excessive hours is not the only evidence of ambition, and attending work while unwell is not necessarily a sign of high performance.

Neither perspective should simply be dismissed. Both contain experience, values and legitimate concerns. Both groups ultimately want capable people and a successful organisation.

The problem begins when each side listens only to defend its own position.

Start by listening to understand

Before trying to agree a solution, it helps to uncover what sits underneath each viewpoint.

When an experienced leader says, “Young people don’t have the same work ethic”, what have they actually noticed? Is it reluctance to work additional hours, or is it a lack of ownership, curiosity or follow-through? Are expectations clear? Do younger colleagues understand the commercial consequences when work is delayed or incomplete?

When a People professional challenges long hours or a directive management style, what risk are they trying to prevent? Is it burnout, avoidable turnover, exclusion or a culture in which people are frightened to ask questions and therefore hide mistakes?

Useful questions include:

• What does high performance mean to each of us?
• Which behaviours do we need more of—and why?
• What are we worried might happen if the other viewpoint dominates?
• Which parts of our own early careers genuinely helped us develop?
• Which experiences would we not want a new employee to have today?
• What do younger colleagues say helps or prevents them from doing their best work?

This is not about deciding which generation is right. It is about separating the outcomes the organisation needs from habits that may no longer be the best way to achieve them.

Purpose can unlock discretionary effort

I recently heard this debate play out in a boardroom. The most useful shift came when the conversation moved away from:

“How do we make young people put more hours in?”

and towards:

“How do we find out what they care about and connect them with work that has meaning and value?”

When people understand why something matters, can see who benefits and feel that their contribution is valued, effort often follows naturally. They are more likely to become curious, volunteer ideas, persist when work becomes difficult and invest energy in learning.

That does not mean every task must be exciting. Every role contains routine work, deadlines and occasions when extra effort is needed. Purpose is not about making work endlessly enjoyable. It is about helping people see the connection between what they are doing, the organisation’s goals and the contribution they personally want to make.

The aim is not to pressure people into sacrificing their wellbeing. It is to create the conditions in which they want to stretch themselves because they can see the value of doing so.

What can leaders do to help people care?

1. Ask what they want to make happen

Do not assume you know what motivates someone because of their age or career stage. Ask:

• What kind of difference would you like your work to make?
• Which problems are you most interested in solving?
• What would you like to be known for in two or three years?
• Which skills or experiences would make you feel that you were progressing?
• What type of responsibility would stretch you in a positive way?

Listen for individual motivation rather than trying to manufacture enthusiasm.

2. Connect tasks with their wider impact

Explain why the work matters. Show how a technical decision affects a customer, colleague, community, budget or future opportunity. Let younger employees see the commercial and human consequences of good—and poor—work.

This wider context is how technical employees begin to develop the commercial awareness and organisational judgement that senior leaders value.

3. Give real responsibility, with appropriate support

People grow when they are trusted with meaningful work, not when they are protected from every risk. Give them ownership of a defined outcome, agree the boundaries and make clear when they should ask for help.

Support does not mean removing challenge. Coaching does not mean withholding direction when direction is genuinely needed. Effective leadership flexes: sometimes asking questions, sometimes teaching, sometimes giving clear instruction and sometimes stepping back.

4. Create opportunities for two-way learning

Experienced colleagues hold valuable organisational memory, professional judgement, relationships and technical expertise. Younger colleagues may bring different customer insights, digital confidence, fresh questions and new expectations of work.

Shadowing, mentoring, reverse mentoring and mixed-generation project groups can allow knowledge to travel in both directions. The experienced leader is not the only teacher, and the younger colleague is not the only learner.

5. Make standards explicit

“Go the extra mile” can mean very different things to different people. Replace vague expectations with clear agreements:

• What does a good outcome look like?
• What quality, timescale and budget are required?
• Which behaviours demonstrate ownership and commitment?
• When might additional effort genuinely be necessary?
• How will that effort be recognised, recovered or balanced?

High support without clear standards can create drift. High standards without support can create fear or burnout. High performance needs both.

6. Treat mistakes as a source of accountability and growth

Psychological safety does not mean pretending mistakes do not matter. People need honest feedback, an understanding of the consequences and responsibility for putting things right.

The difference is in how that feedback is delivered. Humiliation and blame can make people hide future mistakes. Clear, timely feedback—combined with reflection and action—helps people develop judgement and resilience.

Ask: What happened? What was the impact? What will you do differently? What support or knowledge do you need? How will we know the lesson has been applied?

7. Keep reviewing progress

Motivation and development are not one-off conversations. Agree regular check-ins to review:

• What outcomes have been achieved?
• What has the individual learnt?
• Where have they shown initiative or ownership?
• What feedback have customers and colleagues provided?
• What is getting in the way?
• What is the next stretch opportunity?
• Are our ways of working demonstrating both commitment and balance?

This allows leaders to recognise progress while addressing gaps early and honestly.

Measure outcomes, not hours

Hours can be easy to see, which is why they are often mistaken for commitment. But time spent is not the same as value created.

A better performance conversation considers:

• quality and reliability of delivery;
• progress against agreed objectives;
• customer or stakeholder impact;
• commercial awareness;
• ownership and follow-through;
• collaboration and knowledge sharing;
• learning, adaptability and application of feedback;
• contribution to the team’s success; and
• responsible management of time, energy and risk.

There will be moments when people need to work beyond their normal hours. High-performing cultures do not deny this reality. But neither do they make chronic overwork the entry price for being seen as committed.

The question should not be, “Who stayed latest?” It should be, “What did we need to achieve, how well did we achieve it and can we sustain this level of performance?”

Moving forward together

Organisations do not need to choose between an old-fashioned culture of endurance and a culture that avoids challenge.

They can build something better: a culture with high expectations and humanity; honest feedback and psychological safety; personal responsibility and supportive leadership; commitment and balance.

The starting point is a better conversation—one in which experienced leaders, People teams and younger employees listen to understand rather than to win.

When everyone reconnects with the shared goal, the apparent conflict becomes a design question:

How do we create work that people care about, make expectations clear, support people to grow and measure the outcomes that genuinely matter?

That is how organisations protect the wisdom of an experienced workforce while developing the confident, rounded and capable leaders they will need next.

Destinations Coaching supports organisations to strengthen leadership, improve workplace conversations and create purposeful, high-performing cultures. To explore how coaching, facilitation or leadership development could support your organisation, please get in touch.