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How to Mentor Millennials

Mark Alexopoulos explains how to manage and lead millennials

· Leadership,Business

Millennials, roughly those born between 1982 – 2004, are likely to comprise over 50 percent of the workforce in the next two years. Millennials have come a long way in the past decade, and now their success is vital to businesses. The demographic shift of the workplace may be daunting to managers. However, the following tips are helpful to mentor millennials effectively.

Set Long-Term Goals

Millennials view their work as a critical part of their life, rather than a separate activity. This means that managers and mentors must find a way to provide personal fulfillment. Younger employees want and need help navigating their long-term career goals. They are looking for a roadmap to success.

Encourage

All young employees who are just entering the workplace need encouragement. Millennials have a “can-do” attitude and are ready to take on the world. Mentors and managers of millennials need to be sure not to contain or squash younger employees, instead, encourage and help them succeed. Millennials are also up for a challenge and willing to take on more laborious tasks if they feel encouraged to do so.

Straight and Honest Feedback

According to Gallup poll, millennials want honest feedback but won’t ask for it. Younger employees have been receiving regular feedback from parents, teachers, and coaches their entire life and this is why they have an ingrained expectation of communication. However, millennial workers will never ask for more feedback, rather mentors and manager must take the initiative to give constructive feedback. The Gallup poll also found that only 17 percentage of millennials find manager feedback meaningful, and they would rather receive straightforward and honest communication. This goes in hand with a Randstad survey which found that 52 percent of millennials find honesty as the most important quality of their manager. Honesty outranked other attributes such as confidence, patience, and vision.

Flexible Scheduling

Given the millennial comfort with technology, many young workers prefer a flexible work schedule. Research from Bentley University found that 77 percent of millennials want flexible hours so they can work when they are most productive, which tends to be at night. Millennials also want to maintain a work-family balance and pursue furthering their education, all which can be done with flexible scheduling.

Mentoring millennials can be a challenge, but their success is needed for today’s business world. Providing a roadmap, offering encouragement, giving honest feedback and providing flexible scheduling are all great ways to help millennials succeed.

Mark Alexopoulos is a leading entrepreneur and technology expert in the automotive remarketing industry. Check out his automotive blog or follow him on Twitter!

 

Copyright © Mark Alexopoulos · 2017