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Leadership and the Millennials

by Art Petty

Show the 60 Minutes segment “The Millennials Are Coming” to a class of MBA students, the majority of whom are part of the Millennial generation born between 1980 and 1995, and expect some fireworks. Mix in the article featured in an October 2008 issue of The Wall Street Journal, “The Trophy Kids Go to Work,” and get set for strong reactions and a rollicking discussion.

I’ve conducted this discussion several times in the workforce and in MBA classes at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and I’ve worked with these young professionals, and frankly, I am impressed.

While the two news segments are right on one point, the Millennials are here, I offer fair warning to leaders everywhere not to discount or underestimate these talented and technologically savvy new members of the workforce.

The complaints about the younger generation are cliché and include concerns about their alleged unwillingness to work hard and pay their dues, along with their unrealistic expectations about career progression, work environment and work-life balance. These are the same universal complaints that every generation of elders shares about the up-and-coming crop of young workers. Given time, the concerns fade for a few years until the generations shift once again.

The news reports certainly feed the stereotypes of the younger generation, with scenes of office partying, endless texting, and interviews with young workers expressing their expectations of running departments, divisions and companies sooner rather than later.

While there are elements of truth in some descriptions of the behaviors and expectations of the Millennials, concentrating on these points will blind leaders to their true potential.

Consider these three major advantages that this generation has over others:

1. This is a technologically savvy generation, in an era when technology is the tool of competition and technological drivers are constantly reshaping how and where we do just about everything.
2. The Millennial generation grew up with texting and instant messaging, and ubiquitous use of the Web at a point in time when businesses are just discovering and beginning to harness the power of social networks.
3. Those of us who came of age while the world was truly becoming a global marketplace still relate to a style of conducting and running businesses that will never return. This new generation grew up and developed socialization and communication skills with tools and technologies that the more experienced among us still find remarkable and even a bit frightening.

And while there are other differences and nuances, these three points speak to the key issue that the world of work has changed. What you and I knew and grew up with is gone. Old command-and-control styles of leadership are dying just as the old methods of how work was done are giving way to new, collaborative, cross-functional, cross-cultural and global approaches. Work is increasingly executed in projects where boundaries are irrelevant and where teams develop spontaneously to solve a problem and then disband to move on to the next opportunity.

The implications of this new world and this new generation in the workforce are profound for us as leaders. While there is much to offer and learn from the younger professionals, they also have much to learn from us, and this convergence is where effective leaders must focus their leadership efforts.

For leaders who have the privilege of ushering the new generation into the workforce, here are some simple guidelines to follow:

• Recognize immediately that traditional approaches to leading, communicating and delegating are likely to be met with passive or active resistance by Gen Y. As a leader, it’s time for you to adapt your style by offering ideas and inviting feedback instead of issuing commands.
  
  Emphasize group work and encourage brainstorming. Forget the “we’ve always done it this way” approach and encourage individuals and teams to find new and improved ways to conduct the work of your business.
• Don’t become preoccupied with the stereotypes you hear about this generation. If you do, you’ll miss out on discovering the intellect, fire, creativity, passion and skill of these critical new workers.
• You can’t change the fact that many from this generation grew up in environments rich in praise and short on criticism. Learn to use effective positive feedback and use it liberally, although never disingenuously. Metaphorically speaking, stock up on trophies and dispense them often.
• Speaking of feedback, seek to strengthen your coaching habits considerably. This generation relates to coaching with context. They respond effectively to developmental suggestions when they are tangible and where they clearly will help them excel.
• Leverage the presence of multiple generations in the workforce as part of strengthening your learning culture. Create unique mentoring relationships where experienced professionals help younger colleagues learn the ropes and where your Millennials help more experienced colleagues master the latest social networking applications.
• Your new colleagues want rewarding work and ample opportunities. Talk frequently with them about what they want to do and where they see themselves contributing in the future. Back up this talk with fresh assignments that help to develop and hone their skills.

The Millennials in action
I’ve adapted my own behaviors to reflect the guidance above when working with younger professionals in the MBA environment, and the results have exceeded my expectations. In particular, an approach that minimizes the all-too-abused lecture format in favor of active projects and group problem-solving activities works tremendously well. I let students define the discussion content—within the boundaries of the content that we are studying—and I let groups organize to deal with cases and work on larger projects. I work with the groups, offering ideas and raising questions to consider, but I leave them alone to create their own solutions. The results have impressed me with their quality, completeness and creativity.

From a corporate perspective, a senior software team leader complained to me about what he perceived as a lack of initiative on the part of his new crop of recent college graduate hires. This manager was known for a more autocratic approach to leading and, after watching him in action, I encouraged him to adapt his style and incorporate more group work, and provide more latitude for the development and implementation of new ideas and work processes. A few months later, he reported back that once he had relaxed a bit and started leading like a coach and not like a general, the entire work environment improved. Although he still struggled a bit with the need to constantly coach as well as to look the other way on the omnipresent texting and multitasking, he indicated that he was now excited about the potential of his new colleagues.

The bottom line on leading the Millennials
If you want to tap into the remarkable creativity, passion and technological know-how of this generation, you are going to have to adapt as a leader. This doesn’t mean that you compromise values or sacrifice accountability. It does mean that you need to be smart enough to create an environment where all of your team members are challenged, respected, coached and supported.

While every generation offers hope and renewal, this one is here just in time to jump in and help clean up the mess we’ve made, and maybe, just maybe, they will have the fortitude and courage to make the improvements that we as leaders have been too busy and too irresolute to make ourselves.

Enjoy the privilege of leadership and the exciting opportunities this fresh generation brings to your organization.

Art Petty is the founder and principal at Strategy & Management-Innovations LLC, a leadership development and strategy consulting practice, as well as the co-author of the book Practical Lessons in Leadership—A Guidebook for Aspiring and Experienced Leaders. Art writes the management blog Management Excellence and serves as an adjunct faculty member in the MBA program at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Contact him at .