Leadership Lessons Blog

Managing Millennials

  

  

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What is a Millennial?  Simply put, these are the folks in our workplace that were born between 1978 and 1997.  These are the folks that were HIGHLY influenced by the world of technology.  Today's younger worker is the first generation to grow up surrounded by digital technology and they can't imagine a world without it! 

Millennials don't want to be TOLD what to do.  They pride themselves in invention.  They communicate in chat rooms and on FaceBook with ease.  They collaborate, make plans that involve many people in a matter of seconds and they prefer "sound bites" to lectures.  They want things to be done quickly and efficiently and don't have patience for a lot of rework. 

As managers what do we need to do to manage Millennials effectively?  If we want to be a company that keeps the best and the brightest then these are the characteristics that we need to value:  confidence, creativity, and independence.  It is due to these qualities that we find ourselves needing to manage differently. 

Millennials crave constant feedback.  They have seen what happened to their baby boomer parents and they demand work/life balance and strong workplace relationships.  Business leaders need to take a strong look at their company values and how they approach management and begin to alter the environment to meet the needs of these young workers. 

The trick here is balance!  Don't forget that you have older workers as well.  These workers need to be educated about what to expect from their younger colleagues.  We need to make room in our company vaults for the use of FaceBook, Twitter and other social network sites during the work day.  The net is the key to their success.  If we block access, we block creativity and we block freedom.  We run the risk of unhappy workers. 

We used to call them coffee breaks...now we need to make room for "virtual breaks!"  The younger worker needs time during the day to connect.  Sure, we need to monitor use of social networks during the workday, but research of the younger worker has shown that by allowing them the freedom to "virtually break," we create a more focused work team. 

Think about how social networks have changed how we do our jobs.  Virtually every company uses social networks to profile and hunt for job candidates.  Studies indicate that more than 40% of employers use social networking sties to examine the profiles of job candidates.

Best-selling author Don Tapscott says, "The old HR model--recruit, train, supervise and retain--should be shelved.  Instead, companies should adopt a new model--initiate, engage, collaborate and evolve.  Employers have many ways to make themselves attractive to a potential Net Gen employee:  customize job descriptions, use game0based training to train employees for short-term projects, and keep in touch with former employees to find new people and get new ideas."  "My research has shown that companies that selectively and effectively embrace Net Gen norms perform better than those that don't.