I Spent $28,000 Studying Millennials. Here’s What I Learned:

Millennials don’t struggle with commitment.

 What about commitment to an organisation? No, they’re okay.

What about commitment to an individual? A leader? A mentor? No, still okay.

What about commitment to a daily task? I promise you – Millennials are still committed.

 What Millennials do struggle with is this:

They struggle with being ignored for their work outputs.

They struggle with a lack of clear vision.

They struggle when their input is solicited, and then promptly ignored.

On the surface, that struggle can look like a lack of commitment. Because unlike previous generations who accepted that any job is a good job, Millennials are faster to talk, and then to walk, when nothing changes.

 So let me reassure you – If you acknowledge someone’s work, give clear vision, and genuinely work to action their input – Millennials (heck, any employee) will stay.

Millennials don’t struggle to listen to leadership.

If leaders also listen to them.

If leaders move beyond “it’s always been this way.”

If change is a reality and not just lip-service.

Millennials are passionate, hungry, motivated, innovative…and often cut off at the knees before they can get an idea out to senior leadership.

Would it hurt us to try something new? Maybe more importantly, how much would it hurt? Time? Money?
There is a figure. A cost.

This is why too often as senior leaders, we say “no” to new ideas. But what if we said “Yes”? What if we spent the money, and the time, and tried something new? It might be just the change we need.

Millennials don’t just want prizes for participation.

Millennials want impact.

They want results.

They want to make a difference.

Millennials want to see clearly, know deeply, and feel passionately about the impact of their hard work.

Maybe invest in telling your team the depth of impact, the strength of the result, and what a difference is actually being made, because of what they’re doing.

It is not a prize – it is acknowledgment. It is catching people doing things right, instead of noticing what they’re doing wrong.

If you are leading a team with anyone – I genuinely mean anyone – who is aged between 25-35, you are lucky. You have an incredible resource in your staff just waiting to be unleashed. Creativity. Talent. Passion. Innovation. Potential.

Save yourself $28K and make a few significant changes today that will lift your leadership game with Millennials.