Understanding Today’s Millennial Leaders

Millennial leaders

So that Kid you used to send to run you errands for you, clean your compound, clean your car for some meager earnings is all now grown up. He is now ready to take on the world and you can tell by his polite and professional mannerisms, sharp suits and confident demeanor. Yes indeed it’s the world of millennial leaders , one of the largest living generation and they are taking the work force by a storm.

The demographic change of millenials taking over the workplace is evident in many sectors; in fact, it has been estimated that 75% of the workforce will be comprised of Millennial bosses within the next 10 years. As such, it is simply inevitable that your boss could be replaced by a fully digital, spry and highly-informed Millennial.

So, you get to the office one morning only to find that your boss is half your age, what do you do? How do you behave? How do you interact? Recently Fast Company partnered with career-development site the Muse to survey 155 millennial leaders to see how they manage, what they value, and how they plan to shape the future of business. So before you end up being on the wrong side of your millennial boss, here are some few pointers from the survey that you need to know and understand about them.

They are seriously committed to changing the world

According to research 53%of millennial leaders said they became entrepreneurs because they believe it is the best way to make a difference in the world. When asked how they intend to change the world or rather what fresh and new ideas they hope to bring to the table, almost half of the millennial bosses said that they would achieve it by providing a product or service that improves lives is the best way to execute a social mission. 20% hope to achieve world change by getting behind personal and employee volunteering.

They are embracing a different kind of Management

One of the biggest challenges that face millennial leaders is that they’re faced with figuring out the delicate task of how to manage older subordinates. Most of them work with not only older than them but also more educated and male (the ego aspect), or they had more years in the industry. They portray that general attitude of “You haven’t worked hard enough for this,’ because you are younger, less educated, or the ‘diversity hire,’ and therefore undeserving of your role as boss.”

This is the reason why over 65% of millennial leaders prefer managing other millennials, 20% prefer Gen Z and 11 % prefer Gen X.  However millennial leaders said don’t fear managing older staffers. Their advice to other bosses is to: Hire carefully, have everyone on the same page—and, of course, show respect to all.

Prefer their communication Up-close and personal

Many of these millennial leaders have been raised at the peak of the digital revolution and the IOT. That’s why they are always communicating on their phones (which happen to irk the older generations). When it comes to conveying info to employees, these leaders said they like to keep things personal. The survey showed that 55% prefer small group conversations,23% – company meetings, 10% – email services, 7-%video conferencing while only 5% of them via phone. One of prominent leaders actually advises his peer bosses “You walk up to them and let them know what’s going on or what you expect. People don’t like meetings, and nobody takes emails seriously”

They want to fix their elders mistakes

The survey showed that 60% of millennial leaders consider effective financial management as the only thing that the older generation did right. They aren’t impressed by older business leaders—especially because of the diversity failings that keep making headlines today. This is especially on the elder leaders prior efforts to sort issues of racial diversity, gender diversity and work-life balance.

Talk Politics and some even take strong political stands

Millennials don’t worry about political dialogues and debates in the workplace: The survey shows that 67% said civil political conversations at work are OK, and 16% said they should be encouraged. Just 17% said they prefer a politics-free workplace. This millennial leaders live at a time where getting involved in social and political issues is considered the in thing, (Being Woke on Things). They love it, they enjoy and they revel in it.

 

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