I had the privilege of attending this year’s Disrupt HR Ottawa. In a great presentation by Samer Forzley, CEO at Simutech Multimedia, he discussed how millennials and GenZ’s in our workplace have some distinctive characteristics.
So #whatevs? What about your millennial managers?
This is a group that needs support as we see them transition our workplace into something new. We know that the millennial manager is pushing for more technology, more tools, more collaboration, a broader social media policy. But what else?
Well, what we should expect to see is how the values of this group evolve management. I’d expect we will see a focus on their need to build a great team, highlighted by solid interpersonal relationships and an environment where rewards and recognition are readily available. “Building a relationship” with the team is one of the accomplishments millennial managers will be most proud of: take the time to get to know every team member and give everyone a voice.
However, as described in Manager 3.0 (the millennial management guide), the main characteristics that will define the emerging management style might look like this:
- Collaboration: millennial managers appreciate it when given a voice, so in turn they choose to give that to others on the team. No one is better than anyone else, including the leader. Why work on something alone when you can have partners pooling ideas and resources?
- Flexible: millennial managers are less concerned about the “where” or the “when” and more concerned about the quality of the final deliverable. This open mind toward flexibility will help millennials thrive and excel in a more diverse and virtual workplace and global economy.
- Transparent: millennial managers expect to be transparent in their strategies and values; it helps build trust and respect (which we all know as critical to all high-performing teams).
- Casual: just like hoodies in the workplace, business will be conducted much more casually with millennial managers. Ideas and strategies can come from anywhere, so those collaborative team skills will create success.
- Balanced: this is not about defining what work/life balance is. Millennial managers are looking to be viewed as successful in and out of work. Success in both parts of their life – that’s the balance!
All leaders deserve support from their organization, to acquire and put in practice the habits of highly effective leaders. Let’s engage and get comfortable in seeing these evolve in our (soon to be) millennial-dominated workplace!
Stratford is offering a Leadership for Success leadership development series that is perfect for those emerging millennial leaders. If you’re a millennial leader looking to take your career to the next level, or an organization with promising millennial leaders you should look into this program. Best part is that there is funding available to help you offset the cost.
This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.