Managing Millennials For Dummies. Arbit Debra

Gen Z (another name for Gen Edge) is the most ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history, composed of 47 percent ethnic minorities (Forbes, 2016).

      ❯❯ Their attention span is estimated at just 8 seconds, compared to 12 seconds for Millennials (Forbes, 2016).

The Millennial management challenge

      If you are an Xer struggling to manage the Millennial generation, have hope. You’ll likely have an easier time managing Generation Edge because they’re going to be similar to your kids. Also keep in mind that Millennials will be managing a lot of this generation, and they’re going to be in for a bit of a rude awakening when they realize that they’re so unlike the younger generation. Managing across generations will continue to be a challenge for Millennials. So, you, as their manager, are going to be tasked with getting everyone properly trained to manage across the generations, even if the manager is a newbie.

      Getting Grounded in Millennials 101

      Welcome to your first lesson on Millennials, the generation that likely resulted in you picking up this book to help you navigate any pent-up generational frustrations. We know that Millennials can be a challenging, complex, even sensitive subject, and we aim to be the professors who drive you to think differently. This is Millennials 101, after all, and our mission is to give you “Understanding Millennials” CliffsNotes so you can better understand the later courses (or sections of the book). For this course, we start with the basics.

      Our objectives are as follows:

      ❯❯ To give you a cursory understanding of Millennials

      ❯❯ To aid in your ability to bust stereotypes about the youngest generation at work

      ❯❯ To highlight the need-to-know information about Millennials

      To prepare for this course, start viewing the world through the eyes of Millennials. When you do, imagine the following:

      ❯❯ You have never known a world without the Internet. Whether at school computers or work computers, you learned how to master the search line and chat box from a young age. Since then, tech upgrades have been the norm. Your world is in a constant upgrade cycle.

      ❯❯ You received participation awards and trophies from a young age and now everyone makes fun of you about that. But you didn’t give them to yourself. And why should you feel ashamed for the celebratory fifth-place ribbon you got in pre-ballet at age 4?

      ❯❯ Your teen years were marked with homeland violence, whether watching 9/11 in eighth-grade homeroom or empathizing with every national and international shooting, riot, or terrorist attack since then.

      ❯❯ You want to work hard, but everyone claims you’re lazy. No matter what you do or say, most leaders and older adults have a Millennial lens on when they speak and work with you that is less rose-colored and more of a brown hue.

      Can you see it? Are you truly imagining growing up in a world like the one we just described, while at the same time facing the harsh stereotypes of the other generations? If you have your Millennial lens firmly fastened, read on.

Identifying common traits

      The Millennial generation, just like Boomers and Xers, has a long list of traits associated with them. In the nature of KISS (keep it simple, stupid), these are the traits most commonly associated with the generation born between 1980 and 1995. Note: We don’t think you’re stupid.

Collaborative

      Millennials grew up with “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” posters in every classroom and teachers encouraging a group mentality to do great work. Social networking fostered informal group gatherings.

      ❯❯ How it manifests: Open workspaces, whiteboard walls, brainstorming sessions, working together in one room even if they’re working on different things, regular check-ins, and valuing team goals and team decisions over those of individuals.

      ❯❯ How others view it negatively: Other generations can view Millennials as needy, uncomfortable working independently (or unable to do so), constantly distracted, or unfocused.

Tech savvy

      Millennials can’t remember a time without technological influence. Even if their computer or video game hours were limited, they still had time dictated by how many hours they could spend with a screen. They were the first generation to use the Internet when it went social and the first to get cellphones, and later smartphones, in their youth.

      ❯❯ How it manifests: Striving to use the latest digital devices; seeking tech solutions to streamline work; finding more comfort in text or instant message communication than the phone; and demanding upgrades in their work lives and personal lives, whether in the form of promotion, workspace, or process and procedure.

      ❯❯ How others view it negatively: Other generations can view Millennials as distracted, Facebook-obsessed, or unable to have a face-to-face conversation. They can also be intimidated by Millennials’ forceful request to use tech platforms that make other generations feel isolated, archaic, or uncomfortable.

Adaptable

      Technology upgrades serve(d) as a catalyst for change. Since Millennials’ whole world growing up was constantly changing, they learned to be malleable with any future shift. To Millennials, change and disruption – in a broad sense – are critical to success.

      ❯❯ How it manifests: When change occurs at work, they are the most comfortable. In fact, most times, they embrace it or seek to make it happen themselves. In the social world, they are progressive like any young generation before them and fight for progressive societal changes.

      ❯❯ How others view it negatively: They have no loyalty to structure or tradition if they can so easily adapt to a new environment. Adapting is good, but demanding that others adapt at the same pace is not.

Identifying common values

      Exploring what Millennials value (outside of family, friends, and fortune) can give you extra credit in your Millennial education. For any generation, values drive decision-making. For Millennials, the following three values drive it the most.

Purpose

      Most Millennials believe that if you aren’t working to make the world a better place, then you aren’t an exceptional global citizen. Their parents told them to follow their passions, and the media highlighted what happens when your decisions aren’t motivated by those passions (corruption, lies, the disasters of Wall Street and big business, and so on). In purchases they make and places they work, they want to know that their decisions serve a higher purpose – not in a religious sense, but in a “make the world better for those who live in it” sense.

Authenticity

      To gain respect with a Millennial, the worst thing to do is construct a façade of non-truths. What were pillars of business etiquette to one generation (three-piece suits, politically correct language, and hiding in an ivory tower) now alienate another generation. Given the media’s outreach and social media’s exposure of issues and psyches, the world is too transparent to hide behind a suit and tie.

Choice

      The rise of customizable everything, from phone cases to sneakers to design-your-major undergrad programs, has instilled in Millennials the justified desire to choose their career paths, office environments, and work environment.

Gaining insight into what Millennials think of themselves

      We’re going to let you in on a not-so-secret secret: Millennials hate being called Millennials. In 2015, Pew Research Center asked each generation how they felt about themselves. The result: Millennials were the least proud of belonging to their generation, with 60 percent not considering themselves part of the generation. You may wonder why, but ask yourself who would want to see themselves as a generation that is self-absorbed, wasteful, and greedy? (FYI, those were the top traits they used to describe themselves in the survey.)

      This is just one survey, so if you’re wanting to challenge the report’s findings, we’re with you. It’s much more complex than one study.