“Entitled” is a descriptor associated in a negative manner with the Millennial Generation and in a recent faculty workshop, the term was offered to illustrate Gen Z as well, but Ryan Jenkins offers another perspective on this concept when posed with the question from leaders, “Why do I have to change?” Jenkins replies, “…it signals to me that they have become entitled to their position. Entitled to their way of doing things. Entitled to an immunity to change. Leaders must model the behavior that they wish others would adopt…A servant leader prioritizes the needs of customers, employees, and communities first. The question shifts from ‘why don’t they? to ‘why don’t I?’

So, why is it so hard for seasoned faculty to change their instructional strategies or classroom environments? How does an organization determine when changes are necessary for the health of the institution rather than making a change just to be doing something differently?

Personally, as an educator, it typically takes me about three times through content to find a natural rhythm with the material and to adjust the amount of information to digestible quantities. Once the presentation is honed to precision (a better term might be adequacy), I’m reluctant to continue tweaking the lesson. What’s the proverb, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And many semesters, there is no need to completely change material, but in the discipline of sport, changes happen seasonally and with technology emerging regularly, it is necessary to be aware of when change is needed.

Finding the balance between making updates and being faithful to successful strategies is a struggle, not only in higher education but in other organizations as well. Take an example from sport marketing, students can learn a great deal from successful promotions of years past that continue to be relevant today; however, there is also a need to understand trends and fads that often change with popular culture. It is vital that a sport organization know about its target market in order to discern wisely when the timing is optimal for a change. The same can be said of a college course, or at least to specific presentations, faculty must have a pulse on their students in order to best discern strategies that are in alignment with their target audience.

How are you connecting with your target audience? Jenkins shares, “It’s the responsibility of mature leaders to find ways to connect (not necessarily correct) with those that follow them. Those that are quick to label [other generations] as ‘entitled’ should be cautious that they may be using that comment to shift blame and as an excuse not to change. And in today’s exponential changing times, that’s one slippery slope to irrelevance.”

What Jenkins describes in his document 3 Ways to Strengthen Your Bench of Next Generation Leaders, is what should be mirrored in higher education, specifically Christian higher education. Jenkins outlines, from a secular perspective, what Jesus modeled 2000 years ago and that is the notion of servant leadership. Jesus had empathy for others and would place himself in the other person’s sandals. “Outstanding leaders learn to understand the other person’s thoughts, feelings, and aspirations” in order to best guide them with empathy. Attempting to find instructional strategies that will connect with the experiences of Gen Z will allow them to flourish and grow in their learning, not just of content, but in emerging as an adult as well.

After reading Burge’s Mapping Your Academic Career, I can see where faculty who fall into Cohorts 2 and 3 of their careers might find change even more daunting than a newer faculty member from Cohort 1. “Cohort 2 faculty run the risk of teaching from habit. Patterns set in the first five years then become the template used again and again. This is understandable because of the other demands we have-every course cannot be rewritten regularly. Here I am trying to explain a paradigm shift that is possible only when the content of a course is fully mastered. We can teach what matters instead of teaching everything. We can engage students rather than deliver information.”

In efforts to engage Gen Z, faculty may need to shake things up a bit and consider different instructional strategies which are effective in allowing students to learn the same material and master course objectives. I’m not suggesting that every class period become a model of fun and games, but it shouldn’t be too challenging to gamify content every once in a while. Consider the characteristics that have formed Gen Z and try to see your discipline from their point of view occasionally. Practice empathy as modeled by Jesus, the best teacher to ever walk this earth.

On the page entitled Engaging and Equipping Gen Z, you can find some strategies to implement in your courses and organizations. My hope is to continually add ideas from faculty and other professionals, such as some of the ideas shared aloud in the Union Fall Faculty Workshop. And now I pose the question to readers here, those in education and those who are not, what are some of the methods that have resonated with you when learning something new? Please share in the comments below or through email.