Managing Millennials Part 1
The New Immigrants
Our news media surrounds us with a cacophony of vitriol and rancor, but there is one place where human beings are still generally civil and held to account when their behavior is hateful or discriminatory: the working environment of a large corporation.
A corporate office is largely devoid of open trolling or antagonism because legal and human resource departments enforce rules of civility. Even those in the highest positions have been subject to this discipline, as evidenced by the recent removals of CEOs and high ranking executives at companies like Uber and Fox News (file that last one under “irony”).
Yet in every era there is always an unprotected class, a group new to the culture that isn’t properly understood, that is held in disdain and contempt, and routinely and openly reduced to bitter caricature by those in the establishment.
Who is this group today?
Millennials.
Descriptions I’ve heard aloud in meetings and hallways include: “They don’t understand work.” “They’re unbelievably lazy.” “It’s like they don’t care at all.” “They expect the world handed to them on a plate.” “I think they’re very nice and all, but it’s just their attitude I can’t stand.” “I f — ing hate them all.”
Just imagine someone targeting any group based on race, gender or sexual preference with such harsh generalizations. They would likely get fired. (At least they would where I work.) But HR and legal departments have nothing to say about this verbal abuse because, well…they’re mostly in agreement with it.
The joke that would piss off my colleagues who made these statements? Millennials are completely aware of how they’re viewed, and they don’t really care.
I know this to be true because I manage Millennials. Not only do I enjoy working with them, I talk to them, and I actually think of them as human.
Insularity (Open over Closed)
One of the comments I hear managers make about Millennials is that they seem disconnected, and act as if they don’t care.
I think many Millennials might agree. The often feel disconnected and don’t care — unless you give them something to care about.
One Millennial colleague explained to me that she feels frustrated because she operates in a strict hierarchy with limited access to information and knowledge about the overall process. The older she’s gotten, the less empowered she feels in the working world.
“I spend a lot of my time with people who hand me instructions for a facet of something and never any explanation about how what I’m doing connects to the bigger picture” she said. “Hierarchy isolates people, whereas open organizations allow access to ideas for anyone. More information energizes me and gives me more chances to contribute something valuable.”
Another colleague echoed a similar theme about isolation. “We don’t often ask for help because there’s really no external signal we can get it. So we spend time working, wondering if our output is good or bad, or really if it matters at all.”
This psychology makes total sense. This is the first generation to grow up with the social web. Despite the internet’s reputation for being a black hole of trolls, it’s also filled with millions who freely share information about everything from culture to relationships to finance to healthcare to how-to-make anything. Millennials have grown up expecting instant access to the information they need, and the authority to share their thoughts with anyone in the world.
One colleague remarked, “Feedback, clear and honest, good or bad, matters a lot. But often it’s given in a kind of condescending way, like, ‘you keep at it young man and you’ll move up.’ Keep at what? Move up to what? A lot of what the overall value of the model we’re working in is just assumed to be obvious — but it’s not. Transparency about the model is crucial.”
I’m going to tell a story about how I learned the value of transparency from a great partner — my wife.
When our daughter Isabel was born, Karin began speaking to her as if she could understand complex sentences from day one. I thought she was nuts. I’d be carrying Isabel strapped to my chest in some store or restaurant while my wife explained things in detail to our daughter, but without babytalk; Karin always used a respectful tone that implied Isabel was an equal who could understand every word. She described what specific rooms were for and why they were arranged a certain way, who the people were, their jobs or roles, and everything that would happen there. I confess I suppressed a few eye-rolls while my lovable blob of protoplasm looked at everything with wide, seemingly incoherent eyes.
I soon realized that my wife is a genius.
What was obvious to everyone was a complete mystery to Isabel. True, she would learn by observation in every circumstance, but she’d never get the big picture from observation alone. She’d understand the fragments of what was supposed to happen, but not why it happened.
When Isabel understood why things existed, it was astonishing how quickly she learned to become a valuable part of them. And because she was addressed as if she was capable of understanding and engaging maturely, she assumed that was how she should act.
I took a couple big lessons from this.
First: flatten the hierarchy. Treat Millennials as colleagues with equal human standing who just need information to advance their skills so they can increase their share of value in the group.
Second: never assume anyone understands why we’re doing anything. When I begin a project or onboard a team member to a process I explain the fundamentals first:
- The reason our company is interacting with a client or a department
- How our group and other partners in the process are rewarded or at risk
- The actions that can be used as levers to help everyone become more successful
If a Millennial seems disengaged I don’t isolate them, I connect them and give them more responsibility. It’s counter intuitive, but I’ve found these steps a powerful strategy:
- Provide a clear explanation of a project, and the dynamics of all the collaborators
- List the new skills or credentials they will develop through the process
- Explain how this can be an opportunity to increase their salary (at this company or their next one)
- Give clear guidelines for success and provide a direct path for escalation
- Walk away
Really. Tell them you’re going to walk away, and leave them to it. I find, almost every time, that giving Millennials a large amount of independent responsibility energizes them. I make sure they know exactly what conditions they should escalate to me, and (this is crucial) I make damn sure I’m available whenever they need me.
This accelerates the rate I’m able to empower my team to take on more complex responsibilities, and enables me to work more independently myself.
At periodic check-ins we review processes and re-set goals accordingly. If there are areas that seem less active, I ask specifically if they need help. I offer candid feedback, especially where they can improve, and I always cite these potential improvements as gateways to serving their own interests. I’m direct about how much money promotions could mean and the list of qualified skills they’ll need to get them. I tell them if our company isn’t willing to provide advancement, they can always use the things I’m teaching them to move up by moving to another company. If they’re really integral, HR will make a counter-offer to keep them.
Another important thing is to gather feedback from collaborators in other offices, clients or partners. If I get good feedback, I go out of my way to share that more urgently than the negative. Positive reports on specific events, performance, or behavior are proof of value to a Millennial. This reinforces how they are connected and empowered to change their environment for the better, something they care deeply about.
You can read the second part of this series here.
Stuart Hynson Culpepper is a Group Director of Product and Experience for Havas NY, where he works at the intersection of media, digital interface and community.
