Millennials in the Workplace - USC Marshall

CTM
November, 2011
Successfully
Managing
the
Generations
Morley Winograd

New Rules for Corporate
Leadership:
•New Generational Values
•New Management Strategies

Special—Just ask their “baby on board,” mini-van driving parents.
Sheltered—Thanks to most sweeping youth safety movement in history.
Confident—Highly optimistic, they boast about their generation’s power and
potential.
Team-Oriented—Barney and school teaches them to be team players and
bond with their peers.
Achieving—Best behaved generation in decades.
Pressured—Pushed to study hard, avoid risk. Everyone gets a trophy. No
Winners.
Conventional—More comfortable with their parent’s values than any other
recent generation, they support the idea that social rules help.

Millennials have the most
gender neutral attitudes in history
With both parents fully
involved in both careers
and families, employers
who wish to attract top
talent will have no other
choice but to
accommodate the
generation’s demand for
such things as
telecommuting, flexible
hours, child care, and
round-the-clock access to
technology to create a
seamless blend between
working and raising a
family.

For example, Millennials are very grouporiented
and interested in changing the
world. Your corporate culture has to change
to attract their energy and team orientation.

Google
Apple
Facebook
State Dept.
Disney
Amazon
FBI
Microsoft
Sony
CIA
Nike
Teach for America
NASA
Peace Corps
Electronic Arts
8.90%
7.89%
7.67%
6.63%
6.59%
5.76%
5.14%
5.04%
5.01%
4.34%
4.32%
4.20%
4.06%
19.67%
12.74%
Millennials' Ideal
Employers
Source: Universum /The US Professional Survey 2011
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Millennials:
•Are Optimistic
•Look for Win-Win Solutions
•Want to Change the World
Companies Must Learn How to:
•Inspire Innovation with Vision & Values
•Create Loyalty through Meaning and Purpose

TOMS Shoes

Millennials :
•Act locally
•Share
•Believe in Consensus Decision-making
Companies Must Learn How to:
•Build Communities using Social Networks
•Create Organizational Proprioception by
Managing Visually

Pepsi Refresh

Millennials Are the most Frequent and Adept
Users of Social Networking Communication
Technologies

Enterprise Technology Shifts
• Older Generations
– M’Soft Office Suite
– Email
– In Person Meetings
– Blogs
– Social Networking
Restrictions
– Blackberries
• Millennials
– Wikis/Google Docs
– IM/Text
– Telepresence
– MicroBlogs/Twitter
– Enterprise Social
Networks
– YouTube Video Sharing
– iPhone, Android

Millennials Always
Feel Pressured
– Constant stream of data extends the pressure
Millennials felt growing up
– More, faster, all the time trumps quality
– Tendency to simplify, make black-white or visual (so can
go back to data-grazing/sampling)
– “Safe” professions with lots of benefits are better than
high-risk, big-payoff opportunities

Millennials Aren’t Entitled,
Just Good Negotiators
Nothing is ever “final”
Millennials will quickly quit their job if things can’t
be continuously optimized
Arrogant demands are not arrogant – they are a
well-meant offer to “haggle” or “negotiate”
Give them 100 options, not “one size fits all”
Your authority as boss will be questioned,
analyzed, monitored by their groups and their
“helicopter parents”

Millennials Work,
Think Differently
• Illusion of multitasking – they’re not really more
productive!
• Less tolerant of ambiguity – must have clear
specified goals for projects, career spelled out
• May need training in writing, critical thinking
• Flexible hours – so they can pack it in efficiently
• Communicate easily in video, text bursts, less so
in (long) written statements
• Visual instruction (esp. video) very effective
• Interactive, computer-based training best

Work Should be like Home
Lack of network = lack of oxygen
Want the “latest and greatest” to communicate
at work (major factor in choosing a job)
Silence from boss = disapproval
Decisions require peer (and parental)
consultation

Generations at Work
• Organizational Leadership = 45-60 year
olds
• Organizational Energy = 30-45 year olds
• Over the next ten years leadership will
shift from Boomers to Xers.
• By 2020, Xers will be in control.
• By 2020, Millennials will be the source of
energy in your organization.
• What is the best way to manage this
transition?

What This Means for You
• Multiple generations in the workforce pose
unique challenges.
• Millennials’ expectations are different than
older workers.
• Millennials are headed for some
disappointment in the workforce.
• Your organization needs to get ready for
them.

Situation
• You are the team leader for a major corporate
initiative.
• Some team members are often texting on their phone
or accessing the Internet on their computers during
team meetings.
• Other team members have complained about this
behavior, saying that those people are being
disrespectful of those speaking and are not
participating in discussions. They request you to put
a stop to it.
• Those using their computers/texting during meetings
say that they can fully participate and still get other
important work done at the same time.
• What should you do to resolve this situation?

The Problem Needs to be Solved
using a Generational Lens

A Tale of
Three
Generations
Outlook on
Life
Attitudes
Towards
Work
View of
Authority
Relationship
Approach
Decision
Making
Baby
Boomers
Generation X Millennials
Ideological Skeptical Optimistic
Driven
Love/Hate,
Hierarchy
Self-Sacrifice
Team-
Oriented
Balanced
Unimpressed
Reluctant to
Commit
Self-Reliant
Looking for
Meaning
Respectful.
Peers as
Experts
Committed to
Success
Consensus

Baby
Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Loyalty Organization Self Group
Motivation for
Work
Fulfill their
values.
Money as a
measure of
success.
Fulfill their
personal goals.
Fulfill a
cause.

Baby
Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Who/How
they like to
be Managed
Charismatic
figure,
motivated by
values.
Clear
definition of
winning.
Transparent
Boss.
Clear
deadlines
with
autonomy.
Mentor,
parent-like
figure.
Clear
expectations.
Motivation:
Reward and
Recognition
Beating the
competition.
Money and a
promotion.
Achievement
of personal
goals.
Freedom and
flexibility.
The team
making a
difference.
Personal
growth.

Baby Boomers Gen X Millennials
Listening
Filter
What I believe is
right is most
important.
I’m on my
own.
Let’s improve
the world
together.
Preferred
Learning
Modality
From experts
whose opinions
they agree with.
Online, on
their own.
Interactive,
experiential, in
a group, like a
video game.

The Challenge and Opportunity of
Three Generations
Baby
Boomers
Generation X Millennials
Contribution
to the
Workplace
• Inspiration
• Motivation
• Values
• Creativity
• Bottom-line
orientation
• Taking risks
•Teams
•Technology
•Consensus
•Challenge: blend the best of each generation
•The Key: become aware of and put aside
your own generational biases, and be able to
work collaboratively with other generations.

NASA’S Project Phaeton
A selective, rapid training program for early career hires
interested in broad flight systems experience at JPL. It
provides system-level, cross-phase and cross-discipline
exposure, for participants who spend up to 18 months and
75% of their time each week in the program.

Boomers:
Giving Feedback
Feedback at designated intervals.
Acceptance depends on process and content.
GenX’rs:
Skeptical of the value of any feedback.
Self- improvement valued most.
Show them the numbers, make outcome transparent,
keep it short.
Millennials:
Constant and immediate.
Celebrate success.
Can’t get enough.

Designing Reward and
Recognition Programs
Boomers: winning competitions, visible
recognition and perquisites.
Gen X’rs: personal, flexibility to improve and
pursue personal goals; help balance work
and family.
Millennials: frequent and immediate
recognition; making a difference in
something that is meaningful to them.

Situation
• You are the team leader for a major corporate
initiative.
• Some team members are often texting on their phone
or accessing the Internet on their computers during
team meetings.
• Other team members have complained about this
behavior, saying that those people are being
disrespectful of those speaking and are not
participating in discussions. They request you to put
a stop to it.
• Those using their computers/texting during meetings
say that they can fully participate and still get other
important work done at the same time.
• What should you do to resolve this situation?

Situation Analysis
• Inform Millennials that their multi-tasking
should be used to advance team’s goals.
• See if Gen Xers will agree that so long as
its helping attain project’s bottom line
behavior is OK.
• Then ask Boomers if the behavior still
bothers them and what values, such as
respect, might be source of that
discomfort.

Situation
• Assume you only know the Silent,
Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial
generational archetypes of your staff.
• When a departmental conflict surfaces,
which generation would be best at
getting it resolved?

Be Prepared For Change

The Millennial
Era has arrived
Ways to stay connected:
Email: mikeandmorley@gmail.com
Facebook.com/mikeandmorley
Facebook.com/Morley Winograd
Twitter: @mikeandmorley
www.mikeandmorley.com