Managing Millennials

You often hear the term ” millennials ” when managing millennials in today’s working environment. Let’s start by understanding what a “millennial” actually means. Millennials are used to describe a group of people who were born around the turn of the millennium.

This group grew up with the internet, satellite TV, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber, WhatsApp, and so on. They have been exposed to global communication and online platforms from a very young age. They probably received their first cell phone before they mastered riding a bike or fishing. But if they wanted to, they could probably teach themselves to ride a bike using YouTube in one afternoon.

They have friends all over the world and can communicate with these friends at any time of the day from any location and on multiple devices. Knowing at their fingertips, they can research a topic to the nth degree and get different views from experts worldwide.

This environment that millennials have grown up in has created a culture where people make their own decisions backed by research. They don’t like to be micro-managed or told what to do. They also don’t like to be limited by location, sector, or rules that do not add value to their lives. They probably cannot understand why people travel to work every day in traffic, sit in meetings and then travel back in traffic. Working hours make no sense to them as they want to work when they feel like it and not when you tell them to work.

In contrast with this culture, many older employees are used to a very rigid work environment. You do not move up in the company ranks before you have the right amount of experience working under somebody with many years of experience in a certain field. Working hours are strictly from 7 am to 5 pm, and when you need to leave, you must jump through hoops to get approval from your seniors. The more hours you spend at work, the harder you work and the more value you add to the company. Nothing should change without a very formal change management process, and top-level management should make most decisions.

When these two cultures are combined, you get something similar to the Big Bang. The older employees get frustrated with the millennials who do not want to work, and the millennials get frustrated with the older crowd who work the whole time and achieve nothing.

Although both these cultures have merit to a certain extent,, and one can argue for both cases, the reality is that millennials are here to stay. They will be the majority of the workforce in the coming years, make most of the major decisions, and lead us into the future.

Companies need to adapt to survive. Employing millennials is no different than adding new technology to your company. You have to understand how the system works, and once you get the hang of it, you will get far better results than ever before.

Organisations need to start focusing on outcomes and results rather than micro-managing millennials the way they get results. If your millennial wants to work from Kilimanjaro for the week and commits to still producing what you need from them, let them.

When you have a new employee to onboard or a complex problem to solve, don’t tell the millennial how to figure it out or give them a step-by-step guide on how your company does things. Ask them for the answer to the problem and leave them to explore the way they feel most comfortable obtaining the information they need to give you the answer.

This does not eliminate the need for mentoring young employees and managing their performance. You will still find that the employees ask you for certain guidance, but it’s an informed discussion in which the millennial has already explored other avenues. Millennials will make a lot of mistakes, but they will learn from each one. It’s your responsibility to catch them when they fall and to let them know it’s okay to make mistakes.

Another very important lesson that millennials need to understand is that they can get the work done in any way they want, but it’s their responsibility to get the work done and up to standard. They should take full accountability for their work and not make excuses for not doing it or the quality not up to standard.

Like any trust relationship, the one with your millennial workforce will take time to build. It also requires give-and-take from both sides to make it work. This trust relationship should be cherished and protected by both parties, as it’s very difficult to repair once it’s broken.

Communication is probably the most important part of any business. This is also the part where most companies battle. A workforce with a mixed culture needs a lot of hard work. Like anything in life, you need to read your customer. When you want to communicate with millennials, please don’t set up formal meetings with formal communication channels and next steps. They probably won’t even pitch for the meeting, and you will feel very sorry for yourself. Phoning millennials every few minutes or hours to discover what’s happening will frustrate them as they must leave what they are busy with to communicate with you. The best way to communicate with millennials is to use the platforms they are used to. Millennials have way better communication channels than any of the older generations combined. They know about something in real-time and can act and respond immediately. By using WhatsApp, for instance, you can ask a millennial or a group of millennials a question, and they can respond when they are ready. If it’s urgent and you indicate that to them, you could have the response to your question in a few seconds.

Setting up communication groups that focus on certain areas of your business and adding the relevant people to the group is a great tool for managing millennials. They will be responsive, and you will get the interaction you need to manage them. At the turn of the millennium, e-mails were the new way of communication, and everybody was e-mailing each other each time they wanted to communicate.

Although e-mails are still widely used and relevant, millennials tend to use e-mails for formal communication and to transmit large amounts of data, but they also use other platforms like Whatsapp, Slack, or WeChat to communicate with each other daily.

When an important topic needs a face-to-face discussion, video call facilities work very well and appeal to millennials’ urge to use technology to make their lives easier. Google Hangouts or Skype work very well and can also be set up for use on a smartphone.

Motivation is a major driver for millennials; they will probably not even execute a task if you cannot motivate them. There are many ways of motivating people, but the major way to motivate millennials is to remove their shackles and let them grow. Let them develop and take as much responsibility as they feel comfortable with. Don’t confine them into boxes and years of experience; measure their performance and output. When you have millennials that perform, add fuel to the fire and support them to grow as quickly as possible.

Management is an iterative process. It’s not to say you will hit the spot from day one or that your first management style will work. However, if you continually get feedback from your millennial workforce and listen to their needs, you can build a strong relationship with them and manage them to perform for many years to come.

Read more on EPCM’s Culture.