The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 24: April/May 2016 | Page 13

PERSONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Nicola McHale is Vistage chair for the South West, a private CREATING A DREAM TEAM advisory group for business leaders. Nicola gives her thoughts on IT WITH AND generation. IS UP TO YOU! howSTARTS to get the most out ofYOU the Millennial The Passion and Power of the Millennial! As a Vistage chair here in the South West and a corporate executive and team coach I see time and time again the Generation X or the Baby Boomer trying to force a Millennial down their own well-trodden route – Don’t do that - they like to forge their own paths not yours! So how to motivate a Millennial? Use them to improve your business and bring it up to date especially with social media. Draw on their passion, their skills and expertise – don’t try and change them. Tap into their needs for growth and development provide life skills training as well as all work related training. They love to learn but want to learn on the fly. Allow them to take risks, make mistakes BUT learn from them. Give them a mentor. Find out what motivates them. Talk about the future NOT the past – they only want to move forwards. Don’t stop them leading and being a part of change – they love it. Allow flexibility of working – don’t try and control them. Be open to new ways of thinking, problem solving and becoming more efficient. They will find ways you have not even thought of. They want an influential role in the big picture vision and mission – so use them. Don’t try and stop them. So listen to them, gather their feedback and their feedforward and use all their creativity and ingenuity to move your business from where it is now to where you want to get it. Set them free and give them concrete targets. Try some of these and keep your high potential Millenials and whatever you do DON’T expect them to follow your rules – they will just walk away! Nicola McHale Vistage Chair and VI International Master Coach [email protected] Mobile - 07887 616606 Uk.linkedin.com/nicolamchale GET PREPARED FOR THE MILLENNIALS The Millennial generation is amongst us in the workforce right now and ever increasing numbers are joining our organisations and, well...challenging our established conventions. Who are Millennials? A recent poll revealed just how different Gen Y workers / Millennials are from their Baby Boomer forefathers. It seems that Millennials (those in their late teens to early 30s) want flexible work schedules, more “me time” on the job, and nearly nonstop feedback and career advice from their managers. Added to all this, they are also more likely than average to think the boss could learn a thing or two from their youngest employees. Oh, and they really want to be able to wear jeans at work. Setting aside some of the fun elements of the research there are some very serious undercurrents which employers need to face into as their talent programmes strive to meet the needs of this growing band of colleagues. Indeed if we use Gladwins tipping point of 15%, many organisations will now need to address this issue urgently. Where do Millennials stand on ‘Commitment’? The landscape for this group is undefined but we know there is a higher qualification base, jobs emerging around new technology at an unparalleled rate and a retirement age now predicted at 75 and likely to rise higher within the next 20 years. Perhaps one of the most notable challenges an organisation faces is that the confident Millennial group do not seek assurance from employers by way of commitment, preferring to experiment and change. This is at a time when even if they wanted to, employers have precious little to offer by way of long term incentives. But perhaps the greatest challenge is now beginning to surface. By way of progression, Millennials are now actively faced with parenthood and commitment. This in turn is beginning to highlight behavioural challenges in the workplace as the focus shifts onto the employer to pull this group through. How your organisation can take the lead on Millennial Development? This generation presents as a group who quickly career stall but there are a number of interventions that will support them through their commitment woes, including: • A blend of Career Management and Mentoring • By setting an innovative and radical People Development Agenda When planning development interventions for Millennials it is critical to strike a balance. Whilst Generations X and Z will learn from this emerging group, many of the sound commercial and organisational foundations will hold firm and Article written by Steve Thompson-Martyn Career Directed Solutions [email protected] need to be imparted along the way to ensure a breadth in vocational education. All too often the comment is made regarding Millennials that there is a lack of pragmatism. Pragmatism comes from a challenging mix of e \