Millennials in Leadership Positions

Does that title scare you or does it challenge you to look at how you are grooming younger mangers who are the future leaders of your organization?

Millennials make up a huge part of today’s workforce and therefore, they are moving into leadership roles already.  Many organizations are finding that developing new leaders in this generation has to be done in a different manner from how we’ve always done it.

We know that no new manager has all the skills necessary to be a good manager. Many managerial skills are learned on the job and through trial and error. Millennials tend to be supremely confident in their abilities to take on leadership roles. We need to provide opportunities for them to gain the knowledge and experience needed to supplement their strengths.

The Millennial generation’s leaders are facing a complex world that is dominated by technology and an ever-changing business environment.  According to an article in the January 2015 issue Workforce Magazine by Michael Watkins and PJ Neal titled Millennial in Training, the authors state that “(Millennials) experience as the first truly diverse and digital generation has prepared them well to lead the next generation.”

They give four key areas of focus for Millennial Leaders:

·       “Developing a Leadership mindset—moving from individual contributor to frontline manager can be a difficult change.  Millennial leaders need to make sure they understand how to build trust and credibility, leverage emotional intelligence and begin to think of themselves as a leader, not just a contributor.”

·       “Leading yourself—millennial leaders need to make sure they develop personal agility to survive in today’s environment. Focus on development areas, such as agility, time and stress management, and delegation skills.”

·       Leading others—two key areas for millennial leaders are accelerating talent development and developing high-performing teams. Focus o how to give feedback, be a coach, manage a team and effectively deal with team conflict.”

·       “Leading the business—millennial leaders need to successfully and effectively drive execution. They need to know how to create alignment with their team and effectively make decisions in a manner that results in their team members and stakeholders feel like they’ve been listened to.”

Our advice to you is to be thinking of how you are going to develop your next leaders so that we can tap into their strengths and help them and our organizations be as successful as possible!

Millennials—They‘re Changing the Way We Work!

Whether we like it or not, the Millennial generation is having a real impact on how work gets done in today’s increasingly complex and competitive workplaces.  The interesting thing to me is that I feel like I am re-living when Generation X first appeared on the scene.

I remember being at a meeting in Washington, DC where Bruce Tulgan was speaking on generations at work.  Bruce was a pioneer in this field and it was a really big deal to me to get to hear him in person. 

He talked about what this new generation wanted—things like more flexibility over when they worked, more feedback on the work they were doing, a chance to be recognized for good work…and more.  When he took questions, someone said, “They are asking for the same things we wanted but we were afraid to ask!”

Fast forward to Millennials and what we know of what they are looking for and it is similar to what I wanted when I started working many years ago and probably what you wanted and still want.

According to Joe Weinlick, vice president of marketing at Beyond.com, a job board and career advice job board and reported by SHRM.org, he says, “If we think about what Millennials care about (corporate culture, workplace flexibility, making a difference and being appreciated), they’re the same things that are important to everybody.”

This same article also quote research done by PwC which is based on 300 interviews, 300 focus groups and 44,000 surveys they conducted in partnership with the University of California’s Marshall School of Business and the London Business School.  PwC realized they better learn about this new generation because by 2016, it would comprise 80% of its workforce.

They found that competitive pay is important but equally important to this generation is flexibility, transparency, collaboration, recognition and management support.

So, when you know what is important to employees, the challenge is to give it to them within the framework of your culture and your business requirements.  Seems to me that providing the things that are important to Millennials (and everyone, for that matter) just will make an organization even stronger.

In the Moment

It was a great concert – everyone was enjoying the music, the mood and the experience.  There was an excitement that you could feel.  Yet I observed something that I thought was odd – not distracting, just odd.  Two men sitting in the row behind me were discussing an entirely different band and experience.  It struck me that they were totally unaware of where they were and what was going on around them.

When I mentioned it to a young colleague, her comment was that “They weren’t present in the moment.”  That was it, I thought.  And why spend the money when you are not going to be part of the experience.  My colleague (who is younger in age but not necessarily younger in wisdom) quipped that she worried about her generation – that they appeared to be more tethered to their devices and not taking advantage of relationships and experiences.

A recent discussion came around to a similar topic – and the question was posed: “Were the younger generations disengaged?  One of the participants was adamant that they (referring primarily to teenagers) were more connected than previous generations.  They had wide networks that they “communicate with”.  Are they really communicating or merely exchanging bits of information I wondered?

I attended a presentation this year about improvisation – and how to cultivate and practice spontaneity in organizations.  The speaker’s premise was that leaders and improvisers share three qualities:  presence, acceptance and trust.

• Presence – the ability to be here and now and focus one’s thinking in order to move toward a goal.
• Acceptance – the ability to deal with reality as it is rather than as we’d like it to be.
• Trust –  the ability to suspend judgment while remaining open to unforeseen outcomes

He got my attention at “presence” – the ability to be here and now.  He engaged us in a series of exercises so we could practice and strengthen our ability to be spontaneous.  He encouraged us to draw from the environment – the room where we were sitting – for cues.  For me, the physical environment (positive or negative) is all part of the experience.  It helps to engage me. I strive to be keenly aware of what’s going on around me.  I don’t want to miss anything.    Too often what I observe is people looking down, missing everything.

The quality of any experience is influenced by so many factors.   Think of a good conversation which is enhanced by the people present and participating in it – their antics, body language and passion.  It’s so much more than information exchange – it’s true communication.

Take the time to look up from that devise.  Look around you.  Get involved and engaged.  Don’t just smell the roses; take the time to look at them.  Be present and draw from the environment.  It may lead you closer to that goal.