The youngest staff in your business can be the biggest leadership resource you never knew you had, according to a groundbreaking study by the New Zealand Leadership Institute.
Young people are potential powerhouses of change, the study has found, but in commerce they are routinely under-utilised, not respected and overlooked.
The study, from the Institute based at the University of Auckland's Business School, has researched the leadership qualities of youth - in this case 19- and 20-year-old university students - and will track them into the workforce, according to the Institute's Research Director, Associate Professor Brigid Carroll.
It has found so far that New Zealand organisations wanting to see the future early and connect with what's happening in the world need to look to youth, who can unleash powerful creativity and appetite for change.
Associate Professor Carroll said the study involved students in the three youth leadership programmes at the university. The qualitative research, involving about 30 per cent of the students, showed a wholesale change in attitude is needed - by companies as well as by many of the students themselves - when it comes to youth leadership.
"A study in the US, where they are pouring a lot of time and money into this subject, suggests young people can be up to three years ahead of 'adults' in detecting new trends and meaningful change," says Carroll.
"Some of the examples are issues like cyber-bullying, sexting and Tinder. Young people knew cyber-bullying was a big deal long before it made its presence known to the rest of society, same with sexting.
"As for Tinder, well, young people were using it years ago and it is a whole new way of forming relationships with other people. You can see how that is huge for business, vital. So this is about developing the capacity of youth to lead - particularly in these new spaces where they are far more expert than older people."
The Business School also undertook the research to see if they needed to add elements to their leadership courses.
"In the US, they have huge programmes of youth leadership involving a lot of psychological elements designed to grow maturity and adult-like qualities in youth. We are looking at helping youth to negotiate power dynamics, navigate uncertainty, facilitate critical reflection with others and mobilise others.
"We hope then youth will see leadership as something they have a mandate to do while young, even if they don't have formal positions or roles. At the moment, we don't know enough about what youth can really do when accepted as our partners in leadership."
Carroll says the study will continue to track the students involved as they enter the workforce; it will map out their path towards leadership and experience the obstacles involved.
Many young people didn't understand they were an employment force in society: "You see it in IT a bit, and advertising and social enterprise - anywhere where youth enter wholesale into an industry and are given leadership, power and a voice. Yet students are being sent, and are accepting, signals that say leadership will be an option when they 'grow up'.
Some New Zealand companies are taking notice - Carroll cites Vodafone as an organisation that has promoted staff in their 20s to the top executive table.
"People work for years in an organisation and struggle with change, yet have potential powerhouses of change who are being treated as if they are in a 10-year waiting list to speak. If young people spot change three years earlier than we do, business must follow their lead.
"This research is about how organisations can unleash that in these really vibrant years, instead of selling leadership as something that happens as you mature, which can mean 'when you come to look like we do'."
Empowering youth leaders won't endanger 50-year-old executives who may be a bit nervous about their future with a company: "We are not saying we need youth leaders in isolation - but we need to know how to honour them, recognise them, utilise them, work with them and vice versa."