Millennials will one day run everything, but in the meantime, how will they acquire the skills and experience in order to lead effectively when that day comes? How does one teach leadership to the most collaborative and culturally accepting generation in history? Leaders tend to be individualistic and driven to achieving their singular vision. Millennials, typically are more comfortable engaging in workgroups that encourage collaboration and provide a great deal of feedback on the way toward a group goal.” Although these may seem contradictory characteristics, Geier encourages finding synergies between the two disparate positions as the key to integrating millennials into corporations to ensure their future success.

Here are 5 tips for developing millennials for the future:

1. In the case of individualism versus collaboration, one should teach millennial leaders about the importance of visualizing their goal; and then in creating and communicating their narrative in a way that motivates the team to get behind the goal and contribute to its success.
2. Another potential disconnect is work habits, such as the Millennials’ need to leave the office behind as they move on to family or social life after office hours versus total commitment to the enterprise. The solution is in extreme flexibility in those after office hours, enabling the Millennial to enjoy family or social time and then to be able to log in and circle back for more work time once family time is over.
3. Millennials are job hoppers (or in Millennial-speak, experience hoppers), where companies (i.e. Baby boomers) typically promote loyal employees, over hoppers, into positions of leadership. The solution is in enabling Millennials to keep having new experiences within your company, even within their current job responsibilities. How can you provide them with new opportunities every one or two years?
4. Millennials are in a hurry to advance, but lack the skills. Sometimes Millennials understand that they don’t have the skills needed to advance but are impatient anyway. The solution is to help them understand the big picture and how they contribute to it, now and in the future. This involves defining and describing the company’s goals and direction as well as the promotional ladder that is accessible to them as they must climb to the top.
5. Another contradiction is that Millennials have been taught that they can succeed in anything if they put their minds to it. In the business world, not everyone is successful. Capable Millennials are born expecting success so corporate leaders need to be clear on what defines “Success” and continue to coach/mentor those who add “value to the company.

Ultimately, Millennials work well together moving the ball forward, but as they rise in the organization, they will need to develop and feel comfortable with more individualistic skills as they evolve into leadership roles

For more information on how Human Capital Consulting Partners can assist you in developing your company’s recruiting process, contact us.