The Generation of Doers
Our team is made up of mainly millennials including me, we were raised in a world surrounded by technology, we grew up using computers and cell phones. The media depicts our generation as self-entitled, lacking loyalty, lazy, insecure, and that we need constant recognition and feedback. I can easily debunk these myths.
On the ground in the workplace, the traditionalists have all but retired, Baby Boomers are working towards retirement, Generation X are slowly replacing the Baby Boomers in leadership roles, and those on the ground getting work done are the millennials – yes us, the doers.
With millennials being the bulk of the doers on the ground getting work done, being able to effectively lead and engage them is key to the success of any growing business.
So being a millennial myself, and leading millennials in my team, I thought I would offer some insight into how to keep us, the millennial generation engaged:
We want to work somewhere where culture is prioritised, and where everyone enjoys where they work and what they do. Having fun at work is important to us, life is too short to be in a position that we don’t enjoy – check out our earlier article on how to build your workplace culture.
We appreciate open and honest communication, and like to voice our opinion, and for this to be genuinely heard and considered. We need regular and honest feedback to help develop us – I recommend investing in a performance tool like Weekly 10 whereby your millennials can receive regular weekly feedback and recognition, as well as 360 feedback.
Work life balance and flexibility is expected, we want to be able to have some control over our working weeks, whether that be our hours, work location or both. Rather than the old theory of ‘bums in seats’ gets work done, we are of the view that it comes down to your outputs and outcomes, rather than the number of hours you were at work – prioritise a genuine flexible working policy, whether that be the ability to finish early to run off to a yoga class, or simply the ability to work from home on the odd occasion.
We want mentoring and for someone to believe, invest and support our development. We are driven, and need to be working towards a direction, so having a leader that genuinely prioritises our development is important to us – introduce a mentoring and development programme rather than bogging your leadership and management team down with mentoring, that you pass this onto your intermediate level leaders. A simple coffee catch up every fortnight between mentee and mentor, can provide useful insight into things happening on the ground level.
We want to understand and be behind the bigger picture and direction the company is going in – this is as simple as sharing your vision, values and strategic plans with your team, and asking and genuinely considering their input.
We enjoy celebrating successes and wins, both big and small achievements in our books should be celebrated and recognised. We are not needy, but we do expect appreciation, a simple ‘thanks’ or ‘good work’ will go a long way and be remembered by us – workplace apps, such as Facebook Workplace, make it easy to do shout outs and achievement posts, recognising individual or team members for their achievements.
The short story is, that you need to recognise that the old traditional way of doing things, no longer works. The millennial generation really thrive on culture, they want to have fun at work, feel that they are working towards a purpose, are trusted by their employer to work flexibly and their achievements are celebrated – invest in these things, and I promise that you will reap the rewards of an engaged and happy workforce of millennials.
We can help you by building on your workplace culture and putting in place workplace policies to support you with leading an engaged team of millennials.
Paige Hellier
ER & Legal Consultant