10 Tips for Successfully Managing Millennials in Your Organization

Millennials have a reputation for being different (if not difficult) in the workplace. We take a look at how savvy managers can leverage the characteristic strengths of Millennials to help them achieve optimal results while avoiding the pitfalls and conflicts that can arise due to generational differences.

Meet the Millennials – the World's Most Populous Generation
They are the children of the Baby Boomers.

We've called them Gen Y, Echo Boomers, Generation Next, and Twenty-Somethings.

We've also labeled them as delicate snowflakes that melt under pressure, self-absorbed and self-entitled.

But what we should be calling them is Number One.

Did you realize Millennials now comprise the largest population segment in the US and the world?

The Millennial generation (born between 1983 and 2001) is 80 million strong, making them the largest US population segment – bigger than the generations that brought them into the world; the Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964), Generation X (born 1965-1982), and the Builders / Silent Generation (born 1925 – 1945).

The Millennial generation's dominant position extends worldwide, with almost 2 billion members living on the planet today, more than any other generational group.

Who Are the Millennials and What Sets Them Apart from other Generations?

The Builders / Silent Generation is defined by:

• The Great Depression
• WWII
• Radio and movies

Baby Boomers are defined by:

• The Vietnam War
• Civil Rights Movement
• Women's Lib
• TV and Rock and Roll

Gen Xers are defined by:

• Working moms
• Higher divorce rates
• The AIDS epidemic
• MTV and computer video games

Millennials have grown up in a world influenced by:

• Tragedies, such as the 911 terrorist act
• Technology like iPhones and iPads
• Developments in pop culture like YouTube vlogs and streaming music
• New social media platforms (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and instant messaging, etc.)

10 Tips for Successfully Managing Millennials in the Workplace

As a group, Millennials have many positive traits. They are more educated than earlier generations and certainly more tech savvy. They are also the most racially/ethnically diverse generation to date.

However, many managers find certain Millennial behaviors confounding in the workplace. Some of these may stem from the exceptionally close relationship many Millennials have with their parents (25% raised in single parent households) as well as the style of education many received, which emphasized working collaboratively in groups to solve problems.

In the following section, we'll look at ten different ways you can embrace the positive characteristics of Millennials (and minimize the negative ones) to successfully manage their career development and integrate them with other generations of workers.

1. Stop Resisting Change. Accept New Realities.
Tip 1 has more to do with addressing your own attitudes, assumptions, and mindset.

To manage Millennials successfully in the workplace, you will have to come to terms with the fact that times are changing.

It's happened before. If you are a Gen X or Baby Boomer manager, you might think back to a time when you thought workers older than yourself – especially those using paper reports, overhead projector slide foils or even slide-rules — were hopelessly outdated dinosaurs. Now it may your turn to be the "old fogey."
Resist the urge to say things like "We've always done it that way in the past."

Instead, work through the five stages of grief* you may be experiencing (about your own mortality perhaps!) and begin to accept new ways of working.

* The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance

You'll get more benefit from Millennial employees if you go with the grain and meet them at least halfway.

Try to see the world through the eyes of a Millennial. They grew up on Facebook, iPhones, and texting.

For example: If your call for an urgent team meeting meets with skepticism or indifference, consider that a Millennial might think the need for a face-to-face meeting is unnecessary when a group chat message sent to the team via Slack could give everyone an instant update.

2. Send the Right Message to Attract Millennial Job Candidates.

Creating the right positive message will help recruit Millennial employees. Keep in mind that traditional compensation packages and reward strategies will have to be adjusted in light of Millennials preferences for things like" life/work balance." For example, a Millennial may place more value working in a role that offers the possibility of "changing the world for the better" or "making a difference" over a position which benefits package touts long-term job security and steady advancement.

3. Managers Need to Manage Assignments in New Ways.

Many first-time managers of Millennials are startled by their relative indifference to maintaining traditional hierarchical roles in the workplace.

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This release was published on openPR.