How to develop the talents of the millennial generation
LET'S PICTURE a day in your working life: How much time do you normally spend on your personal tasks and assignments? How much of your day is dedicated to developing your people?
Not surprisingly, in today’s hyper-competitive world, everyone is busy practically all the time in order to maintain an edge. Most executives have come to realise that talent development is critical for future organisational success and that it requires continuous support from the C-suite leaders, not from the human-resources function, yet many of us are still struggling to find ways to accommodate this vital agenda in our super-busy day.
Consequently, we still have to try our hardest to pursue the ultimate work-life balance, unless we start to develop and groom the new generation of workers.
As the so-called millennial generation, or Gen Y, is about to cover almost one-third of the total global workforce in the near future, developing new-generation talents is unavoidable.
APMGroup recently conducted a study to gather collective wisdom from various generations in order to find the best ways to manage this new generation of workers. The study found four fundamental points that need to be addressed for sustainable results.
The most critical groundwork is to cherish Gen Y people’s uniqueness and manage them the way they are. Being brought up in different environments, some members of Gen X may find it frustrating and annoying to manage the happy-go-lucky new-generation talents who want to advance their careers in an easy-peasy manner.
Instead of building your biases beforehand, I’d suggest seeking mutual comprehension by trying to understand why each generation is different, how they are similar, and what the effect of each generational environment has on performance.
My advice is to provide Gen Y with the opportunities to explore what kinds of jobs are available in the organisation before actually agreeing on their career wish. This way, the boss could also support their career advancement by offering chances to shine while building multiple capabilities at the same time.
The second vital thing is communication. Constant listening, dialoguing, and frequent checking-in with openness will help both parties understand more about one another’s thoughts, opinions, needs and required support.
In reality, genuinely fine-tuning the relationships between Gen Y and the other generations in the organisation might not be easy acquired in the short term; hence patience is indispensable. However, it is worth noting that communication must be done continually, clearly and equally. That is, make it two-way, as the top-down approach does not work any more, particularly for Gen Y.
Next is motivating and giving constructive feedback. We have all heard the saying “People quit their managers, not the organisations.” It is safe to say that this adage is still very valid and universal, as it still remains one of the top reasons companies cannot seem to retain their talents.
For the new generation, the job itself is one of the most important factors in staying with an employer. The truth is that Gen Y is keen to have meaningful jobs. Therefore, the sooner they realise what’s in the job that benefits them and their careers and how they can contribute to the organisation’s success, the faster they will feel engaged and dedicated to the organisation.
Moreover, Gen Y people tend to be independent in managing their own work; thus they appreciate freedom to initiate ideas and perform their own tasks. In this sense, to help them pursue their desired career goal, recognition and feedback are extremely valuable. Therefore, the bosses have to provide regular constructive feedback and coaching for them.
The final fundamental is leveraging diversity. Certainly, we cannot work alone in today’s workplace. A combination of skills and perspectives is a must for an organisation to survive in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. Even when most people find Gen Y the most challenging to work with, their uniqueness could be a good team ingredient to mix with others who also have their assets and their own styles.
Helping them to blend in with |others to bridge generational gaps |will surely help boost a positive |environment that affects everyone’s motivation to work together productively.
Simply put, even when you have eight hours a day for five days a week like other leaders in the world, you can still do more to help your organisation develop stronger troops of talent by focusing on cultivating and grooming the millennial workforce through the above four approaches.
Sure, it will require some time to make it happen, but wouldn’t it be better to start today?
Pacharin Ongarthachat is the principal consultant of APMGroup’s strategic people and culture transformation business unit. She can be reached at [email protected] or https://www.facebook.com/apmgroupthai.
