Leading Millennials: The Data Driven Essentials.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the 2016 Gallup Summit: How Millennials Want to Work and Live. The focus of the conference was presenting the results on their definitive and comprehensive study on the Millennial cohort and how they impact and shape their work space and life space. To say the least, it was an incredible conference and Gallup is the gold standard in such research. This got me thinking out loud that as older Millennials, Gen. X’ers, and Boomers, we have both the opportunity and obligation to lead this emerging cohort effectively.

So just to clarify, Millennials were born between1980 – 1996 and, according to Gallup, Millennials now comprise 38% of the workforce. The presenting issue, however, is that only 29% are engaged in their work which means that 71% are either not engaged or actively disengaged from their work! Keep in mind these statistics involve hundreds of thousands participants across just about every industry. Such statistics should serve as a wakeup call to those of us in more senior leadership roles.

The kicker is this. Such levels of disengagement are not necessarily the fault or reflect short comings of millennials! I believe it is a reflection of the fact this cohort wants something different in their careers (much the same we slightly older folks did when we started to enter the work place!). So take a look at the list below of what millennials want in the work space and consider how you can adjust your leadership style to meeting Millennial preferences versus the other way around.

• Establishing a Sense of Purpose – Millennials want to know how their work matters and how it contributes to the betterment of society
• Role Development is key – Millennials want learning and professional development experiences so that they can be more effective contributors in the work place
• Coaching style supervision is desired – the old “command and control” management style is lost on millennials. Their want a leader who acts more like a career and life coach versus the uni-directional supervisor who just focuses on the immediate job performance. A simple scan of the management research and book tiles in recent years will support this assertion
• On Going and Frequent Feedback is essential – Millennials want frequent conversations about how they are performing versus waiting until the annual performance review. Keep in mind this does not mean they are always fishing for compliments. Millennials want AUTHENTIC feedback and relationships!
• Focus and Working to Strengths – Millennials want careers where they get to do what they do best! You role as a supervisor and leader is help them to find out what that is!
• They want a Life and not just a job – to a Millennial, work/life balance is a term that has little meaning to them since their work is NOT divorced from their life. Essentially it is one and the same thus the goal has become work/life integration.

Now you may be thinking, “Well that’s interesting but so what?” The fact is that Millennials are more likely to jump from one job to another more than any previous generation. The hard dollar impact of such movement costs the U.S. economy more than $30 Billion annually according to Gallup data!! That’s a billion with a big ‘ol “B”! The good news is that those millennials who experience strong and invested managers/leaders are less likely to jump jobs . . . as I have often said, “soft” skills (or lack thereof!) have hard dollar implications. Finally, the even better news is that much of the list above will have little direct financial costs to an organization! It just calls for a shift in emphasis and energy!

For more information about this report and all the other incredibly useful research the Gallup organization produces, visit www.gallup.com.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! In particular, I encourage you to visit THE STUDIO tab that highlights work that myself and two outstanding partners are doing in facilitating strong, multi-generational work places.

Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization (that Millennials clearly state they need!). Such an initiative would be critical in order to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

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