Millennials are the generation following Generation X and are the largest growing population within your workforce. With such different attitudes to working than the previous generation, how are you managing your millennial workforce and what shifts will your business need to make?
Our ability to perform is dependent on our skill set, our direction and our motivation. Without motivation, our skill set will not be utilised and we will not reach our destination.
Motivation is therefore fundamental in realising our potential. By understanding more fully what drives you, and others to act in a certain way, you can unlock your potential and help you and your team perform.
Last year I was introduced to Motivational Maps, a self-perception inventory which maps out your motivation based on 9 different parts. I had a spike in my ‘searcher’ motivator — a growth motivator driven by being purposeful, feedback orientated and quality critical.
It seems I am typical of a millennial.
According to Unlocking Millennial Talent 2015, a white paper by The Center for Generational Kinetics and Barnum Financial Group, 60% of Millennials said a sense of purpose is part of the reason they chose to work at their current employer.
My Motivational Map showed my second motivator was ‘defender’ — driven by continuity and loyalty with a need for clear and regular feedback.
This is not that surprising to me, but possibly is for generations before. Having grown up in economic recession, we are going to be the first generation to be poorer than our predecessors. We have had to respond to the uncertainty that has come with the recent political shifts. This is happening as we start our careers and advancements in technology are putting our jobs at risk in the future.
The jobs we will be doing at 35 haven’t even been invented yet.
Closer to home, our Generation X parents coated us in positive reinforcement, even when things weren’t going our way. This has meant that often us millennials find negative feedback hard to swallow. Our need for continual development means that we want constructive criticism to grow and be given the opportunity to feel valued as individuals.
Understanding their motivation through Motivational Maps or more formally as part of their development will help you adapt to their individual needs. Here are four good ideas for managing millennials:
Retaining Millennials
Implementing some of the strategies above will go someway to improve loyalty and increase retention rates amongst millennials. Overall retention rates are likely to be lower than previous generations and so building this into your long-term plans is essential.
Alembic Strategy use Motivational Maps as a diagnostic tool to help you understand your own, and others motivation. This increased self awareness can be used to create strategies to maximise potential and improve motivation.
Get in touch with me at roseanna.farish@alembicstrategy.com to find out how Alembic Strategy can help with your growing workforce.
Sources:
2. The Center for Generational Kinetics and Barnum Financial Group
3. Deloitte ‘Millennial Survey Survey 2017’
4. PwC report ‘Millennials at Work’