Managing millennials

Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995, have different aspirations. So, older managers (like us) may find it necessary to reshape their management style when handling millennials who report to them. This is received wisdom. Is this really true, or is it part of the hype around every new generation?

If you're older than 40, before you answer that question, think back to your early days in employment. Did you get the feeling that your manager understood your aspirations, or did you think he (usually he, in those days) didn't have a clue?

I remember, early in my career, telling the MD of the company where I worked, that the younger people aspired to get company cars. In those days, cars, especially company cars, were rare perks. The MD looked astonished. “This is the time for them,” he said, “to work hard and build their careers. The time to enjoy themselves and take it easy is after they have reached some measure of success.” While that was certainly the work ethic of my parents, was it the work ethic of my generation? Possibly not; we are not known as the “Me” generation for nothing.

In the same way, millennials expect something different from what we expected. Do they, like we used to, expect perks, high salaries, and are they willing to work cruel hours for them? Is their mantra, like ours, really “work hard and play hard”? Extrapolating our early careers onto younger people may be a mistake.

While some of them undoubtedly find this mantra resonates with them, at the risk of stereotyping, this is not the approach of starry-eyed young millennials who are joining companies today.

One of the standard questions in interviews is, “Why do you want to join this company?” The honest answers were, in my parents' generation, to get the best possible job. By the time the Me generation hit the work place, you'd hear more answers on the lines of, to build my career. Later still, it became, to build my skills and learn more. From millennials, the answer is, increasingly, because this company does things I believe in.

Research by Prof David B Montgomery of the Stanford Graduate School of Business shows that MBA graduates are willing to sacrifice almost 14% of their expected salary to join a company that shares their values of social responsibility. You can dispute the exact number, but it shows the direction to look at.

Where does this come from? My guess is that, over the years, not only has the curriculum of our schools and colleges brought forward the concept of sustainable development and social equity, but our young graduates have actually internalised it. While we wished for it, we never really believed that the world would change for the better in our lifetimes. Those of us who remained dreamers at age 30 were derided for being naive. Today, it's not naive, but responsible to recognise and create sustainability of operations; of the interests of stakeholders and not just shareholders; of seeing the world as one, and all of us as part.

So, if you are managing millennials, this is the way to connect. Young people entering the workforce today are still 'chasing the green', only this green is not money. Task orientation is undoubtedly still necessary for successful managers, but if you want to do a good job of managing people, there is no substitute to good, old-fashioned, caring.

If you care for them, and, believe me, you cannot fool all the people all the time on this one, they will respond to you equally. That means, above all, giving them a fair deal. Equal work for equal pay. Equal perks for equal work.

It also means that you put their needs first, not the company's rules. In turn, they will put the company's needs first, not their employment contract.

But that's not really new, is it? This is old-fashioned management at its best, as our best managers knew and we also know it well.

What the critical difference is, is that we were taught to put the managers' demands first, above the shareholders, and above the rest of society. After all, the customer may be king, and the shareholders could vote out the board, but none of us were ever promoted by a customer or got a raise from the shareholders. Millennials, in contrast, more than any other generation, put society first. Is the company really using technology for sustainable development? Is our supply chain actually removing child labour and adding marginal workers? Are we creating value for the next generation? Are the company's customers (most of whom are family or friends of some millennial) really happy?

With the advent of Internet 2.0, millennials know how to ferret out the truth on these issues. They may well be naive, they may not see the whole picture yet, but they have the pulse of the people better than most people in our generation.

Keep that in mind, and be true to your values, and theirs, and you will have a winning formula.

Managing millennials involves good, old-fashioned management of the best kind, and, in addition, a true focus on shared values, things like sustainable development, energy savings, community building, innovation, and customer focus. If your company and your management style resonates with these, millennials are a joy to manage.

8 Aug 2011