Crying of the Disenchanted Millennial Worker and the Morals to Be Learned From It
'When you want to convert a person to your view, go to where he is standing, take him by the hand and guide him.'
Thomas Aquinas.
One time a college professor had his students check and evaluate the future of about 200 students from a ghetto. His students never gave the students from the ghetto any chance to succeed, indicating that, 'Each boy never had the chance to succeed.'
Years later, another professor came across the earlier study and together with his own students followed up on the study. Their study was however quite revealing! With the exception of 20 students, 176 of the students had become lawyers, doctors and businessmen.
This second professor was surprised and decided to pursue the study further by interviewing some of the men. In each case, came the same response, 'There was a teacher.'
Fortunately, this very teacher was still alive, so the professor sought her out. The teacher was then asked the magic formula she had used in turning the students around and consequently pulling the boys out of the slums into successful citizens. The teacher's eye sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile, 'It's really very simple,' she replied. 'I loved those boys.'
Putting this into perspective, it was this teacher's principle that I tried preaching during a training program we conducted recently for the middle level managers in a government agency in Nigeria. You see these managers were of the opinion that as a result of a system that encouraged warped recruitment, discipline amongst some of their millennial subordinates was at its lowest ebb and thus most were consequently uncontrollable.
So most of these managers were of the mindset that there was nothing they could do to change these indiscipline millennials adding that they were better off leaving them to do as they pleased. I argued that this would affect morale amongst their subordinates if not checked but they would not have any of it.
Until one of the participating managers (a woman) then shared with the class a story of how she had used this same principle to turn one of her millennial staff around. According to her, this millennial (a young woman of about twenty two years) was posted to her department and she was charged to directly supervise her by her own immediate superior officer.
This young woman displayed so much antisocial behavior that no person would have anything to do with her. For a start, her dressing was said to be outlandish. She chewed bubble gum in the office premises without care. To crown it all, she was said to be rude and could pick up a fight with just about anybody for a very flimsy reason. So other staff practically avoided her. It was as if this young woman was posted to the department to punish this manager. She knew if she did not arrest the situation it would snowball and destroy the work within her department.
She then decided to directly engage the young woman. One day, she invited the young woman into her office and asked her, 'Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you openly rebellious? Why do you take delight in going against the organization's rules? Why don't you relate well with others?' Questions, and several other questions.
The manager said rather than the young woman answering, she broke down into tears. Uncontrollable tears. The manager was shocked because she never expected such outpouring of emotions. After calming the young woman down, the manager then asked her why she had broken down in tears so uncontrollably and displayed so much emotion. see now millennial media
The young woman then related to her the life story. How she had never enjoyed life as a youth. How she was married off to a man she never loved immediately after college. How the marriage broke down. How she became a single parent. How she was never given a chance to make amends to her life. How she had been written off by virtually everybody.
The manager thereafter started showing more interest in the young woman. She started treating her like her own daughter. Gradually, the young woman started changing her attitude to work and to her co-workers. She shed off her antisocial behaviors and became a new person. Eventually, she got married to one of the male staff in the department. Talk about a woman nobody wanted to touch even with a long pole!
Now to the lessons in these two stories. There are several. However I want to highlight these 6.
Always expect the best from the millennial workers you are leading: You see when you expect good things from those you are leading they will in most cases go to great lengths to live up to your expectations. When you expect the worst they will meet those expectations with uncanny accuracy. If you therefore believe those you lead have the best of intentions you will get the best out of them. Talk about the Pygmalion effect!
You should always endeavor to make thorough study of the needs/wants of the millennial: Those you lead have belief systems and until you learn what they value and want in life, you cannot expect to build a successful plan for motivating them. The millennial in particular are peculiar in nature. Their needs differ from that of the baby boomers and the generation X. Therefore rather than judging an underperforming worker, you should listen to his or her frustrations. Just like the manager did in the story above. It will stand you in good stead in motivating the millennial.
Establish high standards for excellence for the worker: The millennial is never inspired by a job where nothing is demanded of him. Where there is no challenge. Millennials have high expectations about their jobs and therefore expect more from it than just paychecks. Challenge the millennial by demanding high standards from him and see what will happen.
Employ the use of successful models to encourage them to be successful: Endeavor to use realistic examples of successful people to show the millennial you are trying to motivate that another person has made the choice he is being encouraged to take and succeeded and if he has been successful he could too.
Recognize and applaud their achievements/accomplishments: Millennials require recognition for their achievements. By praising good quality, you insure the repetition of such effort. Therefore by acknowledging and applauding the achievement of your millennial subordinates you are encouraging the repetition of such accomplishments.
Endeavor to engage the millennial: A Gallop poll has shown that engaged workers are more productive, profitable, loyal and customer focused. The Conference Board found out that highly engaged employees outperform their disengaged colleagues by 20 - 28%. The Hay Group on their part in their survey discovered that engaged employees generate 40% more revenue than their disengaged counterparts. In the same survey, of those who are highly engaged, 68% believe that they can impact costs in their job or unit versus 19% of the disengaged.
In another Gallop Poll, it was shown that engaged employees take an average of nearly 60% fewer sick days per year than disengaged employees. The Corporate Leadership Council in their survey found out that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave an organization than the disengaged counterpart.
From all the research carried out and reported above it was found out that an immediate manager possesses the most effective influence on employee's level of engagement!