It's Your Call: What’s up with that?
by Deborah Dorsett
Originally published in U.S. Industry Today,
November, 2007.
Reprinted with permission.
With their unique set of words, ideals and beliefs, Millennium Babies need a special hand to become the leaders of tomorrow.
The Millennial generation goes by a variety of names: Boomettes, Baby Boomer Babies, or Generation Y, but as the label implies, Millennials came of age at the turn of the 21st century. They’re sons and daughters of the Baby Boomers, but they don’t share much in common with Mom and Dad when it comes to their career and personal goals. Millennials aren’t so much about stock options and 401(k) plans as they are about flexible work hours, creativity, fun in the workplace and meaningful work that makes a difference in the world. For example, 62 percent of Millennials who were surveyed in a 2007 Deloitte & Touche USA poll said they would prefer to work for a company that lets them volunteer their work skills at non-profit organizations. Scott Patten, Vice President of Talent Services with Minneapolis-based Marketing Architects, Inc., has similar observations. “With Millennials, the concept of sitting at that desk for 40 hours and doing that job for 40 years doesn’t sound very sexy or appealing.”
What makes the Millennials unique? This generation grew up with the Internet and cell phones (which are for text messaging, not talking). From birth, they’ve had strong parental involvement, whether it was being driven to the playgroup or the soccer game. As a result, they expect strong, active leadership in the workplace. In addition, they’re used to living very publicly through forums like MySpace and Facebook, yet they possess an inner self that may be hard to discover because of their lack of traditional interpersonal skills. Having grown up in the short-cut world of chat room acronyms, they may struggle connecting with bosses and coworkers at the water cooler or with clients over a sales lunch.
Similarly, Patten finds Millennials can lack subtlety in their interpersonal communication. “Their customer service skills aren’t necessarily very good. That’s where we need to spend a little more time: fundamental sales skills, fundamental social skills. And it takes a little longer to teach them negotiation than it does the older generations. The younger generation asks, well, why don’t you get it? How come you don’t understand that?”
Lastly, the Millennials have been ranked, scored, graded and quantified more than any other generation to date, scrapping for every award and honor to ensure entry into the best colleges and access to the best internships. Consequently, they don’t fear challenges, and they don’t want to take the traditional route to career rewards. A recent article in the New York Times quoted one Generation Y expert as saying, “They have climbed Everest and excavated Machu Picchu, but they have never had the experience of showing up for work at 9 a.m.” Adds Patten, “The Millennials are used to winning a lot. They now have graduation ceremonies from kindergarten. It used to be that you graduated after your senior year in high school, and now apparently you can graduate every year.”
Managers and Millennials
Managers can turn the Millennials into tomorrow’s captains of industry by first getting to know the person behind the resume, transcript, or more likely, the Web site. Multi-dimensional personality assessment tools can help identify the real person – the behavioral strengths, vulnerabilities, stress behaviors, motivators, preferred learning styles and most effective communication approaches.
Such tools can help both managers and employees understand the employees’ gifts (their natural personality strengths and survival skills) and their talents (those skills developed over time and through practice or education), which together make up the employees’ unique abilities. All employees possess unique abilities — it’s up to the employer and employees to identify what they are and how the employees can best utilize them for the benefit of the organization. “Instead of putting you into a cube or a corner office somewhere and for the next 20 years doing your due diligence, we use personality assessment to find that place where you’re going to be at your optimal level,” says Patten.
Mentoring Millennials
Next comes the crucial step: mentoring. Leaders are developed largely by watching the older generation work. Leadership development is an intentional process, not a one-time event or a chance occurrence. Millennium babies have potential but need education, support, feedback and the opportunity to develop into leaders in the organization. Employers need to create a culture of mentoring, in which assisting new and developing leaders is as natural as breathing. The best way to accomplish this is to build mentoring into job descriptions and tie mentoring success to evaluations and pay raises.
Mentors identify promising Millennial leaders by their technical competency. Early in their careers, job success tends to be based 80 percent on technical ability and just 20 percent on relationship skills. Later in their careers, when the Millennials assume senior leadership roles, success will be based just 20 percent on technical ability and 80 percent on relationship skills. Because Millennium babies are likely to possess strong technical skills, developing relationship skills is key in the mentoring process. Young professionals need to determine if they have strong relationship skills and decide how to improve them if they don’t.
Employees play a role in mentor selection as well. Millennials should identify coworkers who have personality skills they don’t have or those with similar personality profiles who have been successful at developing their strengths and improving their weaknesses. Mentors can assist their protégés in developing leadership styles that make the most of their strengths and their unique abilities while working to improve their weaknesses.
Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders
Companies can’t develop tomorrow’s leaders with yesterday’s techniques. Getting the most of the Millennial generation will require employers to use new and innovative tools like multidimensional personality assessments and creative coaching and mentoring methods. By depicting behavior objectively, organizations can eliminate the roadblocks of style differences and stay focused on achieving results. As the Millennials enter the workforce, the best organizations will seek out these creative ways to harness the potential of the Boomettes.
About the Author
Deborah Dorsett is a Vice President and Executive Consultant with Personalysis Corporation, a management consulting firm located in Houston, Texas. Since 1975, Personalysis Corporation has worked with national and international companies to help them achieve higher productivity and performance. For more information, call (713) 784-4421 or go to www.Personalysis.com.