Walk into any team meeting today, and beneath the smiles and Slack emojis, fault lines are quietly shifting. They aren’t just about communication preferences or digital fluency - they run deeper. They reflect fundamentally different views about what work is for, what leadership should mean, and what constitutes a fulfilling life.
These fractures now reach beyond the office. The same cracks dividing your teams are appearing in your markets, regulators, and communities. Expectations - about working hours, pay fairness, the purpose of business, and even the meaning of success - no longer run along predictable lines. Aligning values has become one of the hardest leadership tasks of our time.
Generations in divergence
Recent data paints a stark picture. Nearly three-quarters of the youngest working generation say they’d rather freelance than step into middle management. That preference signals not laziness but disillusionment - with bureaucracy, with hierarchy, and sometimes with the very concept of loyalty to one organisation.
Globally, young people are reporting higher levels of unhappiness than any other age group. Many prefer asynchronous communication, a quarter never answer the phone, and stark divides are emerging even within Generation Z - across gender, political, and cultural lines - about what success and equality really mean. The result? Teams that no longer share a single narrative about why work matters or how community is sustained within it.
What this means for SMEs
For small and medium-sized businesses - the backbone of most economies - this fragmentation creates both challenge and opportunity. Unlike global corporations, SMEs cannot afford internal misalignment. A small team with diverging expectations can lose focus quickly, eroding innovation and trust.
Yet SMEs also have an advantage: proximity. Leaders can sense cultural tension faster and respond with empathy, experimentation, and collaborative dialogue. The question becomes: how do you convert that proximity into cohesion?
Building bridges through dialogue
Traditional top-down culture initiatives or incentive schemes no longer reach the root of the issue. What’s needed now is a new form of dialogue - open, grounded, and sometimes uncomfortable - about values, purpose, and expectations. Leaders who can host these conversations thoughtfully are finding that engagement and trust rise even amid disagreement.
This is where peer group coaching can make a transformative difference. Joining discussions with fellow SME leaders from other industries creates a rare reflective space. It helps normalise the struggle, reveal blind spots, and generate fresh ways to rebuild cohesion across generational and cultural divides. Hearing how others are reimagining flexibility, career progression, or communication norms can spark ideas impossible to see from within your own company’s walls.
If your workforce feels more fragmented than before, you’re not alone - and that’s precisely why peer communities and cross-industry dialogue matter more than ever.
So here’s our challenge to you...
This week host one “values and expectations lab” with a cross section of your team, then commit to one visible change that reflects what you hear.
Ask three questions and listen more than you speak:
- “What makes work feel worth it for you here?”
- “Where do our ways of working feel unfair, unclear, or outdated?”
- “What is one small change that would improve trust across generations or roles?”