Top Tip #1 Think about how you delegate and make requests…
Most Generation Y employees have grown up in an environment where they have been consulted and given choices by their mentor parents and teachers.
Rather than ‘telling’, try re-phrasing ‘orders’ as questions or asking for their opinion where appropriate.
However, keep in mind that just because you asked for an opinion it doesn’t mean that you have to take it.
Generation Y will appreciate that they were consulted and look to you as a mentor when you explain why their suggestion might not work and explore other alternatives.
Top Tip #2 Giving regular feedback and mentoring is essential…
Generation Y look to their managers for guidance on how to do specific tasks. However, they also expect to be mentored to grow as individuals. Try not to see this as a burden.
A few words of advice or regular constructive feedback, on how they can improve their performance, will result in loyalty amongst a demographic well known for their proclivity to up and leave. Little and often is preferred by Gen Y rather than the formal once a year review.
Top Tip #3 Corporate social responsibility!…
Generation Y have been raised in a world that is increasingly socially aware, with causes such as recycling, saving paper and electricity, fair trading, community investment and pollution control, making many more savvy and conscience driven.
Generation Y prefers to join an organisation whose business and social values closely align with their own.
Promoting your corporate social responsibility agenda, publicising organisational values, or getting involved in a sponsored team event is a great way of finding common ground.
Top Tip #4 Have you considered the benefits of social media?…
Generation Y are the only generation who have had constant access to a broad range of different technologies and many own their own iphone, laptop and in some case an ipad too.
Gen Y can become demotivated if working in an organisation where they only have access to technology that is inferior to that which they use at home.
Most Gen Ys see the commercial benefit of using social media as a way of communicating with the rest of the world.
Depending on your business sector (we acknowledge that some sectors don’t lend themselves well to the use of social media) start listening to their ideas and actively seek suggestions for a better use of technology to enhance business success.
Top Tip #5 Be open to new ideas!…
Generation Y are both single minded and collaboratively driven.
They use social media to state their opinions, but also to collaborate and contribute to groups with common interests.
They are less competitive and more willing to help a peer along with the journey. Generation Y think innovatively.
This makes them a good candidate for contributing to creative thinking activity and working within the team, or individually, to explore new ways of working. Encourage and acknowledge their contributions with an open mind.
What next?
From the comprehensive, modular 7 Steps to Modern Management development programme to the 1-day Managing Millennials programme, our in-house Management & Leadership training focuses on giving your leaders practical modern management skills.
Give us a call to discuss how we can approach your development project in a way that meets your business objectives, within budget! +44 (0)1527 595955