As millennials ascend into management positions they’ll become leaders in your business. This makes it imperative to do everything possible to engage and retain good millennials.
In the first part of this generational series we learnt much about what makes millennials tick – their needs, expectations, attitudes, ambitions, ideals, values, and their view of the future, all of which are very different to those of your employees.
Tips for your management style and attitude
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Lead by example. Actively embody the traits and values you want your staff to emulate and give them reasons to be loyal.
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Be genuine, authentic, collaborative, inclusive, aware and decisive.
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Seek a role model to become your mentor, someone you respect, trust and want to follow, and who can guide your career wisely.
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Be an exceptional listener.
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Be an advocate for your team.
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Share your vision and show optimism for the future.
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Avoid taking divisive positions.
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Explore all avenues to allow them to build relationships, having meaningful work, and make a difference.
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Acknowledge and recognise their achievements and contributions.
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Communicate openly and transparently and be clear about your expectations.
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Look for the individual ‘greatness’ – it’s in everyone.
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Embrace and respect the diversity among generations in your team and show it.
It’s definitely time to rethink your workforce management strategy if you want to engage your millennial employees.
Productive processes and practices for workplace leadership
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Create a culture where ‘working together’ is non-negotiable. Make it respectful, open and inclusive, where all of the team can share who they are without fear of being judged.
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Aim for gradual change rather than radical transformation.
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Be accepting and supportive of flexible work arrangements.
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Create career paths with a timeframe short enough for them to envision. Give everyone an opportunity to grow and reward small successes along the way.
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Describe the result you’re looking for and then let them work out how to get there.
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Find ways for them to share responsibilities.
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Foster new skill sets and develop opportunities for the career development of individual team members.
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Give them exposure to different parts of the business, and help them build relationships with other employees.
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Give them benefits and perks that directly impact their lives and the lives of their family members.
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Give them meaningful projects where they can work in teams and solve problems collaboratively.
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Show them how they can make a difference.
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Hold them accountable for mistakes and praise them for success.
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Integrate technology into the workplace wherever possible and give them the best tools for collaboration and execution.
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Promote the ethical ways that your company contributes to society. Start this at the recruitment stage.
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Provide a relaxed, informal workplace.
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Provide helpful connections, coaching and mentoring.
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Provide training and learning opportunities.
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Provide tuition reimbursement and employee training.
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Limit meetings to when there’s a real need.
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Respect individual autonomy. Allow them to be self-sufficient and independent.
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Shorten the feedback loop. Do reviews at least quarterly.
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Communicate by email, instant messages, stand-up meetings or corporate broadcasts.
Ways to improve your millennial leadership
- Identify local opportunities that are ‘good causes’ and involve them where possible with work projects.
- Remember that there are both challenges and opportunities with the milliennial generation, and it is your job to make the most of both aspects.
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Open up the office to allow for open collaboration, sharing of information and contribution to decision-making.
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Assign work to teams and have them present the finished product to the entire department. This encourages teamwork and allows everyone to be across projects.
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Consider compensation, benefits and incentives from the millennials’ perspective, based on what motivates them.
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Fuel the high expectations of ambitious millennials with special assignments outside their job descriptions.
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Consider putting them on a task force to solve a problem or involve them in your company’s social media.
A millennial’s take on the negative stereotyping of the generation
Sam Kelly – Marketing Manager – Projects and Innovation, Australian Business Solutions Group
“Gen Ys and millennials (of which I am one) often get a bad rap and quite frankly I’m sick of it! Branded as technology-obsessed and constantly connected, this generation have become easy prey for social commentators in their bid for five minutes of fame. So let me try to debunk one of the myths constantly being bandied around: Millennials Are Constantly Connected.
The theory of constant connectivity is nothing new but the channel and format may be. Society has always craved the need to communicate and consume content as frequently as possible. For much of the last century, newspapers were the primary source of news and opinions, in the 60’s there was radio, in the 70’s there was television, in the 80’s there was the phone and in the 90’s there was SMS and the internet. Now in the 2000s we have the ability to communicate, consume content, run a business, shop and date from the palm of our hand!
The concept is not new, it’s just as a society we’re getting better at it. The smart phone to millennials (and dare I say most people now) is our newspaper, radio, Walkman, shopping mall, cinema, accountant, bank manager, train timetable, gaming console and TV of yesteryear all bundled into one. When you think of it like that, you can better understand the significant time we invest in our devices.
‘Dear Mum and Dad when you see me glued to my phone I’m not just wasting time!’
This trend isn’t something that you can solely attribute to us millennials or Gen Y’s either… Like it or not, it’s the way of the world and not keeping up is at your own peril. While the world pushes us to keep up with technology, it’s also important to remember the value of face-to-face interaction, personal empathy and a smile.”