Stellar Gen Zer Loves to Lead
After just one year into her career, Maleeha Ali-Eckler was promoted to a supervisory position. It took relentless commitment to learning, showing initiative, and self-reflection.
By Monica Dutcher
Talk to Maleeha Ali-Eckler for 30 seconds (one minute, tops) and you’ll want to be on her team. At a time when Gen Zers are broadly brushed as screen-obsessed, uber nonchalant, and tough to accommodate or relate to in the workplace, 24-year-old Maleeha is proof that digital natives certainly can manifest personality, energy, and a zest for people (yes, actual in-the-flesh humans!).
“I love people management, and I’m really good at developing people as individuals and as assets to the company,” expressed Maleeha, Technical Support Supervisor at HCSS in Sugar Land, Texas. “I’m interested in growth and development, and HCSS is the type of company that really drives career growth. The most rewarding thing to me is seeing my team succeed. I tell them, ‘Your successes are my successes and your failures are mine too, and I’m OK with that.’”
Within five days of graduating from the University of Houston in 2018 with a degree in management information systems, Maleeha started as an intern at HCSS, a developer of software products for contractors in primarily the heavy/highway and utility sectors. Just one year later, she was promoted to supervisor of six employees.
Gen Zers like Maleeha aren’t afraid to “stand their ground and be vocal,” to ask tough questions that require tough but real answers.
How does that happen? Well, being the number-one performing technician in her department helped. As did her insistence that her manager at the time, Patrick Babb, expose her to every opportunity to learn about the business, develop her leadership skills, and refine her own reactions to feedback.
HCSS, which offers ongoing leadership training to its employees, subscribes to The Collaborative Way, a model of “working together that harnesses the collective intelligence, imagination, and spirit of a company's workforce.” Interesting that “speaking straight” is the first tenet of The Collaborative Way that Maleeha lauded.
She emphasized that the most inspiring advice she received from Patrick was on the matter of transparency. “He said when you are transparent with your team, you get more buy-in and get the team doing what they need. They also need to know why they do what they do instead of just how.” She added that her generation is more aware of toxic workplaces and people ‘getting cancelled.’” Gen Zers aren’t afraid to “stand their ground and be vocal,” to ask tough questions that require tough but real answers.
An outgoing, passionate extrovert, Maleeha admits that it was hard to make the necessary adjustments to her brand of being vocal.
“I realized that being loud doesn’t make you right — it just means you’re loud,” she laughed.
“I would get defensive when people pointed out mistakes.” She recalled how Patrick explained to her how the ownership mindset, or being accountable, goes hand-in-hand with assuming positive intent. “I began to understand that my supervisors were coming to me from a place of love and mutual respect. I’m receiving this feedback because [management] knows I can be better. They are following up because they believe in me, which motivates me. It’s a shared-fate scenario.”
Now, as a young leader who aims to “coach with an open heart,” Maleeha encourages her team to remember three things: initiative, ownership mindset, and customer service. “I tell them, as long as you’re assuming positive intent, keeping your mind open, and having accountability, you will find most conversations are not accusatory. Listen generously, without pointing fingers. Make mistakes in your learning phase.”
Maleeha recalled a tech on her team who was struggling to understand the software. “He was so nervous and afraid to fail. I had to establish that it’s OK to make mistakes; I had to create a safe, open learning environment.” Another employee of hers struggled on phone calls. She focused on his training and now he has such a good customer service record that he is on track for advancement. In fact, three of Maleeha’s employees are nearing a promotion. That in itself says it all about her leadership capabilities. “I’ve learned that you can’t lead every single person the same way. I figure out the motivators for each individual person,” she said.
At just three years into her career, Maleeha is an inspiration to her peers, young women in infrastructure, and employers who may be doubtful of the future of recruiting in the wake of retiring Baby Boomers. So long as companies provide an environment for energies like Maleeha’s to thrive, the future of infrastructure is illuminated.
Extras
Maleeha’s top leadership reads: “You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader” and “Be Amazing or Go Home”
Her final thoughts on Gen Z:
“Social media makes you painfully aware of all that’s going on, including intense topics like global warming. It’s hard to be ignorant in this day and age. My peers value flexibility because we know that our lives are very valuable. That mentality helps you request more.”