WRITTEN BY CAMERON KAHLERTraining Manager, ProForce

5 KEY TIPS TO MANAGING, MENTORING AND MOTIVATING MILLENNIALS

From my experience training

and developing millennials on

a daily basis, and working with

their managers to help ensure

their skills are continuously

developed and coached back

in the workplace, bridging this

gap is hugely important and

understanding is the first major

step.

However before we go any

further I feel the need to

stress the difference between

understanding a millennial

mindset and simply being

Recruiting, retaining and growing young and new talent is more important than ever before, but

the majority of businesses are ill-equipped to do so.

Deloitte’s 2014 Millennial survey found it costs $15k-$25k to replace a millennial. and by 2025 70%

of the workplace will be millennials.

So it’s a pretty big deal, right? All of you nodding your head, do read on…

WRITTEN BY CAMERON KAHLERDirector of Training, ProForce

ageist towards young people.

Many individuals hold a grudge

against young people and hide

it behind the ‘millennial mindset’

excuse. Quite frankly it’s

counterproductive behaviour, and

just plain wrong.

“They’re overly ambitious, they’re

lazy, they’re too entitled, they

don’t understand their place”:

these are ageist remarks

from people threatened by the

younger generation, and they’ve

been muttered by crusty old

corporates before the term

millennial or the millennials

themselves were even a twinkle

in their dad’s eye.

What defines a millennial? Well

technically anyone born between

1980-2000 is both a millennial

and a Gen-Y, however the term

has really struck a chord with the

latter half of this group due to its

positive, progressive undertone.

As a result the widely accepted

definition, and the one to which

I am referring, is professionals

from 18-25 years old today.

5 KEY TIPS TO MANAGING, MENTORING AND MOTIVATING MILLENNIALS

5 Key Tips to Managing, Mentoring and Motivating Millennials - CAMERON KAHLER

So, with my rant out of the way,

here are 5 key points I personally

believe you need to consider

when working with a millennial

staff member:

1. Embrace Feedback and Give Clarity

The importance of feedback

in the world of a millennial is

phenomenal compared to other

generations. This is a generation

who has grown up with social

media, and if the picture of their

quinoa berry chia seed pudding

didn’t receive 20 likes, retweets

or pins it wasn’t worth eating

in the first place; a generation

whose helicopter parents and

teachers have encouraged

them from their very first step,

and helped them become their

authentic selves.

This constant recognition has

turned millennials into feedback

junkies, and naturally this

mentality will be taken into the

workplace. Managers need to

be aware of this, and manage it

correctly. Don’t ignore, don’t put

it off until after their quarterly

performance review. Use

this thirst for feedback as an

opportunity for coaching great

behaviours.

“Millennials are too entitled and

want to be CEO next week”…

Ageist! Of course there will

always be millennials who do fit

this description, but you’re telling

me young Gen-Yers, Gen-Xers

and Baby Boomers didn’t have

their own ultra ambitious apples

in the basket?

Most professionals want to climb

the corporate ladder, millennials

are just a little louder and expect

a bit of clarity. Use feedback

as your leverage point. Coach

your staff member to align all

feedback to a clear, concise and

achievable progression plan. This

will help ensure a more motivated

and productive future star.

2. Encourage Collaboration

Another big difference between

millennials and generations past

is the way they have learnt to

learn. Schools, where people

are at their most malleable, have

changed the way they teach

to focus on collaboration and

teamwork.

When I was at school you sat at

your desk, you did your own work,

you got your own grades. This is

not the school millennials know

at all; tables are set up in pods

with everyone facing each other,

discussion and idea sharing

is encouraged, group work is

constant, and collaboration is

king.

Susan Cain points out in her

book and TED talk ‘The Power of

Introverts’ (below) the negative

aspects of this educational

evolution, and she does have a

point. But it’s not all bad.

This millennial thirst for

collaboration pops up in meeting

rooms, conference rooms and

board rooms all around the

world every single day. And

whilst I am not saying every

single meeting should be an

idea-orgy, collaborating on ideas

and looking at problems from a

fresh perspective is something

you should encourage when your

millennial staff member is invited.

Listen, appreciate, and respect

their ideas. Do not squash their

thirst for involvement! The

biggest gripe from delegates I

train isn’t that their ideas aren’t

implemented, but that they

themselves feel ignored. Think

about the repercussions of

getting this wrong.

3. Social Awareness and the Importance of Communicating Your Why

Millennials as a generation

are more socially aware than

any group in history. The

interconnectedness of social

media and the subsequent

freedom for people from all

around the world to share ideas,

5 Key Tips to Managing, Mentoring and Motivating Millennials - CAMERON KAHLER

find and engage with like-minded

individuals is the world millennials

certainly live, breathe and feel.

This creates much stronger

sense of community and global

conscience.

And further to this, what are

the topics which have dominated

their formative years? Climate

change, oil spills, terrorism,

debatable wars, GFC’s, corporate

bail outs, the list goes on. As a

result millennials feel far less

aligned with the business world,

certainly less so than their suit

and tie predecessors and new

managers.

So what does this mean for

corporate’s? Again it’s not all

doom and gloom, but you need

to look a little deeper into what

your company actually does and

communicate the greater ‘why’.

Simon Sinek’s brilliant TED talk

on the topic (below) shows the

importance of communicating

in this way from a leadership

perspective, and it is even

more important when leading

millennials.

Stop talking purely around

commission structures and

profit, and look to tap into

the intrinsic motivators.

Communicate what your company

does to help a community and you

will start building a loyal tribe of

motivated millennials.

4. Flexibility and Work/Life Balance

This is a tricky one to handle if

your company simply forbids it,

but the reality is millennials crave

and expect worklife balance.

These are not the walk in the

door at 8:30 and leave at 5:30,

head down, bum up generation.

If this sounds scary for you and

your company now, I’m sorry but

it’s only going to get worse, so

you best embrace the future.

Millennials are masters at the

very tools which have been

developed for this very purpose:

instant messaging, smartphones,

tablets, video conferencing,

cloud applications. They are also

extremely proficient at multi-

tasking as a result of growing

up in an increasingly disruptive

world. So let them!

In my experience using a WFH

day per fortnight or month

as a carrot for hitting KPIs is

an extremely effective way to

leverage this thirst for balance.

Flexibility and understanding

that your employee’s life is more

important than their work is key.

5. Action in Learning

Millennials are extremely

confident and want to get in and

get things done. They are less

attuned to theory and much

prefer action. For me this is

particularly evident in the training

room.

Running training for millennial

sales professionals, this need

to actually practice what is

learned is crucial. Whether its

learning the more intricate

details of negotiation skills,

advanced questioning techniques,

interpreting eye accessing cues

and body language, presentation

skills and everything in between,

applying the theory in a practical

setting is key to making the

training stick. Role plays,

exercises and the peer feedback

sessions which immediately

follow are in many cases a more

important part than the theory

itself, and the feedback commonly

is that this is where they have

learnt the most.

So what does this mean for

managers?

When training or coaching

millennials it is important to

focus on skills they can put into

practice now, and a blended

approach of theory and practice

will yield the best results.

Coaches should embrace side-

by-siding on sales calls with

a debrief on the positives and

negatives after each call. For

face to face meetings give

5 Key Tips to Managing, Mentoring and Motivating Millennials - CAMERON KAHLER

them bite sized chunks of the

agenda to make their own and

deliver in real life experiences

with customers. If you have

recently sent a staff member on

a presentations skills course get

them to give a presentation to

the management team upon their

return. This stretching out of

the comfort zone is critical, and

millennials embrace it and grow

from it more than most.

Similarly don’t bombard staff

with either too many objectives at

a time, or skills can’t implement

straight away. At this stage of a

millennial’s career it is important

they’re introduction to corporate

learning is uplifting, stretching,

effective and very much based in

the real world.

This is just one opinion based on

my personal experiences working

with millennials every day, and by

no means am I professing I know

it all. But I’m determined not to

stop learning, and hope in some

small way I’ve encouraged you to

do the same.

So finally, whilst Deloitte have

put managed to put a hard cost

on getting it wrong, what do you

think the wider cost really is? To

yourself? To Millennials? To the

wider corporate community?

And for those who get it right,

what about the rewards?

Cameron is currently Training

Manager at ProForce and is

responsible for delivering and

helping to develop innovative

ProForce sales modules.

As a successful ProForce

graduate in 2006, Cameron

joined Reed Business Information

(now Cirrus media) and was

initially employed as an online

sales executive. Quickly elevated

to Team Lead Cameron worked

across all levels of sales, both

phone-based and face-to-face,

generating new business as

well as managing and growing

key accounts across the RBI

portfolio.

Cameron was an integral part

of several launch products,

consistently exceeding personal

and team targets as well

as mentoring, coaching and

developing junior staff members.

In 2010 Cameron became

Commercial Manager for Emedia

Australia, a lead generation

business acquired globally

by RBI, and was responsible

for developing, implementing

and overseeing the sales and

commercial strategy of the

business, including managing,

training and coaching the

sales operation. This launch

won numerous RBI Advantage

Awards including Sales Team of

the Year, Product of the Year,

Self Managed Success and Best

Execution.

Working with new technology,

social media, mobile and content

marketing since, Cameron has

a wealth of knowledge in the

innovative digital landscape,

and the skill sets required to be

successful in the commercial

arena.

With a passion for training and

development, Cameron has

joined ProForce to help the

next generation of new sales

executives, sales leaders and

new managers to exceed their

goals and achieve success.

CAMERON KAHLERTraining Manager, ProForce

L & D CREDENTIALS - Cameron Kahler