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July 9th, 2009
Boss Basics: You Don’t Need Special Training to Talk to Millennials
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: The Millennial generation (born 1980 or later) is no better or worse than any other generation that came before. Yes, they have their own unique generational issues, but in my close experience with them, Millennials reflect what you find in other generations and society as a whole—some are good, some average, some clueless.
In my personal experience with the Millennial generation—I hate the nonsensical and meaningless Generation Y tag that some use to describe them—I have found that there is no one way to characterize or manage them. The three Millennials that I am closely related to are as different as any three people you would find on a street corner. And the classroom of Millennials that I teach writing to each semester at a local university follows this same pattern.
In other words, there is no single way to manage or deal with the Millennial generation, just as there is no single way to manage any other generation that exists in today’s workplace. Any experienced executive should know this, and that’s why I am scratching my head at the huge industry that seems to be springing up around helping train managers to “deal” with Millennials.
Here’s one example, from The Washington Post: “High atop the august Tower Club in Fairfax County, overlooking the glass-and-steel edge city of Tysons Corner, business coach Anne Loehr is teaching 20 executives, mainly baby boomers, how to crack one of society’s most vexing workplace problems—how to deal with their youngest employees or clients.”
The Post story goes on to discuss how Loehr’s seminar helps managers and executives, at a cost of $25 each, to do a better job communicating with the Millennial generation. It also hints, somewhat skeptically, that this is more about making money than any real communications stumbling block that can only be solved by a paid consultant.
“The collective fretting over Generation Y—also known as the Millennials—has turned into an industry for entrepreneurs such as Loehr,” the Post story points out. “The former … hotel executive, based in Reston, VA, is a ‘leadership coach’ and generational guru, one of several who market themselves to corporations, the military, and federal and local governments as anthropologists interpreting today’s 70 million to 80 million 20-somethings or early 30-somethings.”
This makes me wonder: What is it about the Millennial generation that makes us unable to communicate with or understand them? Why do we now suddenly need paid consultants like Anne Loehr (who, as the Post points out, puts on “corporate seminars and one-on-one sessions that go for $500 to $2,500”) to figure out how to deal with younger workers? Is this something we really need and can’t figure out on our own without a pricey “leadership coach”?
You know the answer to that: It’s not, and we don’t. Good managers have ALWAYS had to figure out how to deal with a variety of different generations and personalities in the workplace.
The notion that the Millennial generation is so unique and different from generations before them is nonsense. They are different, yes, but so is every other generation, and it’s something that managers have dealt with long before pricey leadership coaches came along and decided we needed their services.
To me, this is just another way to bash the Millennial generation and prey on insecure (or clueless) managers and executives in order to squeeze a few dollars out of them.
Frankly, the whole notion of a management coach is a silly concept that we could do without, but that’s another gripe for another day. Still, I think you have to question your ability as a manager if you have to spend money for a “leadership coach” to teach you how to talk to a segment of your workforce.
If you can’t figure out how to manage Millennials, you have far bigger issues than any pricey leadership coach can help you with. It’s akin to flushing the money down the toilet and just about as useful too.
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I agree with you that there is no special skill required to deal with the Mellinnial generation. People are people and it does not matter which generation they belong to. A skilled and experienced manager should know how to deal with different personalities and generations.
In my experience, there are too many times when people are promoted to manager level because the company wants to keep people motivated and not necessarily when someone has excellent management skills. That is when the problems dealing with difficult people or different personalities start. Of course, the issue of managers not knowing how to deal with employees from different cultures is another topic. I have not seen too much focus on that as far as management training goes.
Posted by: Sadhna Cordell | July 14th, 2009 at 8:02 am
As a diversity professional, I’ve often wondered how much of our conversation around Millennials is a handy diversion around much tougher diversity conversations. It seems that talking about Millennial employees and Millennial cultural differences keep managers from talking about how to improve retention, engagement, advancement, and recruitment of women or minorities, which is still an ongoing issue in the United States.
Posted by: Klint C. Kendrick, MBA, SPHR | July 14th, 2009 at 8:49 am
While it’s true that general management skills and techniques are the central neeed for managing Millennials and all generations, there IS a difference between Millennials and former generations.
Never before in history was an ENTIRE generation raised with the belief that they could do anything, would be rewarded simply for showing up, and that the world fully, and rightfully, centered around them.
Bosses today are dealing with a narcissitic employee who was encouraged to try everything, but master nothing. These Millennials aren’t equipped to work, because many have never held part-time jobs.
Their expectations are lofty and they struggle to deal with criticism. Feedback needs to be continuous and specific. The average 20-something stays in a job for 1.3 years (Bureau of Labor and Statistics). This is not your father’s young employee.
I agree that the Millennial generation, like others, has a mix of personalities, some shattering the stereotype. But, as a whole, the stereotypes hold true.
Companies who see these differences and lead the way in understanding and capitalizing on them will attract and retain today’s best and brightest. Kudos to the companies willing to get the training. And kudos to those providing that training out of pure motives.
Posted by: Christine Meggison | July 14th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Perhaps this is just a creative way to get managers to come to training in how to deal with all types of people. It’s been my experience that many managers don’t know that they need help with people management skills - and any tactic it takes, diverisity related or not that will bring them to the table is ok by me.
Posted by: K Ross | July 14th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Yes! Millennials do not have attenae and several heads.
Read comments about the boomers from 40 years ago and comments about the millenials. It is difficult to tell the difference.
Millenials are doing what most people do when they are in their 20s. They are asserting and/or trying out their identities. They are experimenting. The fact that they are asking for things like regular feedback is not a bad thing -unless the manager is afraid to establish expectations and actually manage.
Posted by: David Berke | July 14th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Well said! As someone who works with people of all ages and has spent time researching these so-called Millennial issues, I’ve been similarly skeptical. The fact that consultants can sell this training says more about the insecurity of some managers than anything else. Does anyone with eyes really need to pay to be told that Millennials are more comfortable with technology and multi-tasking?
Posted by: kathy m. | July 14th, 2009 at 11:27 am
What’s a diversity professional and why do we need them? Seems to me they fall into the same category as a millennial leadership coach.
Posted by: Dr Jeffrey P | July 15th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I have to agree with Mr. Kendrick. Gen Y is a different breed of cat. There entry into the workplace has caused plenty of ripples and they haven’t even begun to have real impact. Is there attitude about work/life balance (among other items) and needing more feedback bad things? No. But to say Gen Y is the same as every other generation is to ignore the reality of the values and attitudes they bring to the workplace. Of course, the litmus test for how different Gen Y is from the other 3 generations in the workplace will be how they react to the aftermath of the recession.
Posted by: Paul Glover | July 15th, 2009 at 7:12 am