Passing on ITIL knowledge needs a new approach for Gen Z

Anton Genchev - Delivery Manager at DraftKings Inc., ITIL 4 Master, ITIL Ambassador, PRINCE2 Project Management, trainer of ITIL, Scrum, and Agile, and PhD student at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

I fell in love with ITIL back in 2014 when I was working at HP. I valued the structure it provided to projects, the continuity it brought to the organization, and its ability to ensure everyone knew why we were doing something.

Fast forward to today, and I share this love with peers at DraftKings Inc. However, passing on my knowledge isn’t new. Over the years, I have helped some 650 people gain their ITIL certifications.

For anyone who wants to share their knowledge, teaching is a great way to test their understanding. Students will challenge you and really make you think about the answer you give, reinforcing not just the how but also the why.

For Gen Z professionals, who thrive on interaction, instant feedback, and relevance, ITIL learning must connect theory to real-life experience - it’s vital they recognize how ITIL remains more relevant than ever to digital challenges.

Making ITIL meaningful to the workplace

In a recent LinkedIn post, I suggested that ITIL provides a level of enlightenment for learners that enables them to be more than just someone with a certification. Instead, they are invisible architects of uptime, guardians of service level agreements, bringers of harmony to disorder, and light to service chaos.

This is why sharing my career experiences with learners helps bring the principles of ITIL to life. It draws out the focus on value that the end customer - internal or external - will gain and brings home the point that everyone involved should have a universal view of the outcomes desired. There’s no room for guessing the direction you will go.

So, as a trainer, I tailor the learning to the audience. Be it engineering, sales or IT, it’s important to step into their worlds and link the course material to their working life experience.

However, I’ve adapted my teaching approach in recent years to reflect changes in learning styles and such a broad spectrum of jobs. And this means making ITIL more relatable to learners by applying its concepts to their everyday lives and ingraining ITIL principles via cultural references and blockbuster movies:

 Silver screen lessons for ITIL learners
When demonstrating ITIL concepts in a meaningful and accessible way, it might surprise you that I’ve found Gladiator, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings helpful in this respect. It makes lessons more entertaining, and there are lots of examples of the principles in action, from outcomes and outputs to events and incidents.

 From Ikea to ITIL
I also use other relatable references from people’s lives as consumers. For instance, I often get them to think about what they see, hear and feel when they walk through Ikea. From store layouts to the way products are grouped in the warehouse, there’s an ‘Ikea way’ that people can identify and describe. By using a familiar example like this, I can more easily illustrate a point of ‘product’ and ‘service’ from ITIL in a context that most people understand.

 Love McDonald's, Love ITIL…
In a similar way, I get students to reflect on their experience of walking into a McDonald's when describing the difference between ‘outputs’ and ‘outcomes’. No matter whether they are in Bulgaria, Australia or Singapore, they can expect a consistent experience. And what better way to demonstrate the ITIL approach of delivering end-to-end product and service management - from demand to value?

Using gamification to test knowledge is absorbed

Getting students through their exams is a priority for me, and I dedicate lessons to ensuring people learn not just the principles but have a good knowledge as to ‘why’ it is so important to be customer-oriented and to deliver value. In my opinion, the best practitioners and the most successful projects have this ethos running through them.

I think it underpins the ITIL guiding principle of collaborate and promote visibility. After all, ITIL is a common language that helps people in an organization, and across the world, communicate consistently and without ambiguity.

But to ensure new ITIL practitioners are following the guidance consistently, and talking the same language, I add gamification into the mix. It’s a useful way to test whether the lesson material has landed with students. This can include timed, multiple-choice quizzes in a ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ style for topics where there is a clear right and wrong answer.

It’s so helpful for finding out how much of the lesson has been retained and understood. So, for example, if 40% select one answer choice, and 60% another, then it provokes a good discussion about reasoning and uncovers gaps in knowledge.

I’ve coupled this technique with asking ‘What questions do you have?’ rather than, ‘Do you have a question?’. It creates a more equal footing for learning, and people are more comfortable volunteering their thoughts.

Taking an original approach helps inspire continuous improvement

My approach brings a different form of perspective and helps people start to understand what good service management looks like and why it matters. Above all, I think this style of teaching will help younger students recognize the value and importance of continual improvement, not just for companies but for themselves, too.

I’d like to think my students will leave with the approach that they should never settle in their learning, and continue to explore education, the opportunities it provides, and constantly look for ways to apply what they learn.

That’s why I also believe it’s vital that, as a community of ITIL professionals, we are available to ask questions outside of the classroom and continually share our experiences with the new generation of workers. After all, if you were lucky enough to have people who did that for you, why would you not do the same?

Start your own ITIL journey today and discover how you can help build a smarter, more connected future for IT service management at ITIL.com.