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Defining the Gen Y LeaderGen Y is rising steadily through the management ranks, and the pace of their ascension is likely to

increase. What kind of leaders will they become, and how should CLOs develop them?

Frank KalmanApril 28, 20141 CommentRelated Topics: Leadership Development, Career Development, The Latest, MentoringKEYWORDS development/ leadership/ millennials

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Tanya Shields, a 35-year-old employee at professional services firm EY formerly known as Ernst & Young is a shining example of the clichd Gen Y worker.

Like others in her generation defined roughly as those born between the late 1970s and the early 2000s Shields expresses an innate connection with technology, exudes a natural predilection for diversity andinclusion, and views collaboration and transparency as core pillars of organizational efficiency.

Technology is something I dont think twice about, Shields said, where the generations before me didnthave that benefit. I also have the benefit of working in a global world so things like diversity, culturaltraining and understanding are also benefits that I have.

Then there is the aspect of Shields job that more and more Gen Ys are beginning to attain: her managementtitle. As a senior manager at EY, she is part of a growing cohort of Gen Y who are beginning to take onauthoritative roles.

The pace of the development is inexorable. According to a September 2013 survey by EY, 87 percent of Gen Ymanagers said they took on their management roles between 2008 and 2013, vs. 38 percent of Gen X and 19

percent of baby boomer managers. With Gen Y expected to make up as much as half of the global workforce by2020, it is inevitable that the percentage of Gen Y in leadership positions will keep growing.

Building a Leadership ProfileThe implications for learning leaders are many-sided. Many learning practitioners have just started to get usedto Gen Y in terms of onboarding and other entry-level training programs. Now theyre tasked to shift effortstoward how this generations perceived work style will translate to future leadership potential and, as a result,the types of leadership programs practitioners need to design.

Just as in their development as employees, the characteristics millennials are likely to embrace as leaders ormanagers stem from the world they were brought up in as young professionals.

Because the bulk of them graduated from college amid the worst economic crisis in a generation and, as aresult, may have struggled to find that first job in their desired career Gen Y is likely to be more skeptical ofthe established order. Many millennials spent their early careers unemployed or underemployed as corporatelayoffs and halted hiring plans delayed their ambitions. Likewise, as they struggled to advance their own earlycareers, many Gen Ys watched their parents lose their jobs during the recession.

This backdrop means Gen Y is poised to be more experimental as leaders, said Samantha Howland, seniormanaging partner at Decision Strategies International Inc., a leadership development firm. Part of thisexperimentation will come via quicker decision-making by gathering consensus across functions and networks

within their organizations, instead of the traditional top-down approach.

I think theyre going to be more willing to experiment, Howland said. I think theyre going to challengewhat came before them.


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Mara Swan, executive vice president of global strategy at human resources consultancy ManpowerGroup, saidGen Ys perceived skepticism toward traditional corporate structures should make them more democratic intheir approach as leaders. Dropping command-and-control leadership models in favor of more collaborative,collective organizational reporting orders is likely to be a defining hallmark.

Its going to be much more horizontal, Swan said. They dont think of power as being something to warrantthey think about sharing it.

Further, because Gen Y grew up in a more diverse environment, the generation is poised to be naturally

accepting of diversity as part of its management philosophy.

Joan Massola, an HR manager at AT&T University, said Gen Ys acceptance of diversity doesnt end there.Because of their collaborative nature, she said Gen Y has already shown a desire for diversity of opinion andinformation, tapping a variety of different sources when making management decisions.Treating everyone equally is a big part of the way they manage, Massola said.

Kyle Johnson, founder and CEO of Bixy, an online advertising company, said because millennials need to findintense meaning and passion in their work, they are more likely to inherit entrepreneurial qualities as leaders in some instances, starting their own companies altogether.

Johnson, 31, left his consulting job at Accenture in September 2010 to start his own company. I think whatGen Y realizes is, I can do this, so screw it, Johnson said. Im going to give up my good job and Im goingto go chase a dream.

But not all millennials find themselves sitting pretty in their day jobs. This heightens their sense of risk-takingas entrepreneurs because they feel they have nothing to lose, said Steve Dalton, senior associate director in theCareer Management Center at Duke University.

The upside isnt as great as it was for my generation [Gen X] and especially for my parents generation, hesaid, referring to Gen Ys willingness to stick with a big corporate career. This leads many millennials to startside projects or, like Johnson, to quit altogether and start their own companies.

Still, not everyone thinks Gen Y brings unique leadership traits to the table. Jennifer Deal, senior researchscientist at the Center for Creative Leadership, said leadership traits are more likely to be defined by anorganizations culture, not the age or generation of individual leaders. For instance, if a millennial leader isworking up the chain of command at a company with a deep culture of top-down, command-and-control-styleleadership, even the most collaborative of people will eventually be forced to adopt that style.

The position trumps the generation people are a part of, Deal said, adding that she hasnt seen any data thatwould suggest otherwise.

When asked if Gen Y brings anything new to the table when it comes to their ability to work or lead, Deal said:They may be more likely to use technology, maybe, but the issue is that the organizational norms generallyconstrain behavior, so to move up in the organization, you have to adapt to what the organization prefers. You might expand out beyond what other leaders are doing, but you still have to meet all of the expectations ofthe people that are already running the place.

That is, until Gen Y is running the place, said Duke Universitys Dalton. I think eventually theyll take over,he said in response to Deals counterargument.

His reasoning: the financial incentive promotion rate, bonuses, year-to-year salary increases to be a goodsoldier is not what it used to be in big corporations. As a result, millennials will feel less inclined tofundamentally change who they are to advance to positions of higher power.

To be sure, Dalton said that once more-lucrative financial incentives return as the economy picks up, there is achance culture will override millennials leadership tendencies and prompt them to something more command-and-control oriented that is, if that is the culture of the company. However, he also said that becausecompanies have put less emphasis on training these last few years, Gen Y is more likely to experiment and findnew ways of doing things.


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I dont just think theres the training and infrastructure in place to mold them in managements own image,Dalton said.

Developing New LeadersTo alter leadership development programs for Gen Y, learning should be more on-the-job specific and availableat the time of need, instead of formal event-style training programs in a classroom.

We have to stop one-way learning, said ManpowerGroups Swan. You have to talk about what you wantthem to do, and you have to let them experience it and teach each other. The instructor has to move from an

instructor to a facilitator of learning, and it has to be very experiential. I also think learning has to be tied to thepurpose of the company vs. the task youre trying to teach.

Decision Strategies Internationals Howland said learning leaders should aim to reach Gen Y with leadershipdevelopment programs more flexibly and in regular, bite-size doses. I think they learn faster in regular doses

because theyll see the learning as part of the work, she said. Thats a huge opportunity for learning leaders.

Dukes Dalton said he foresees Gen Y making a strong push toward mentoring as a development tool of theirown once they become leaders. Therefore, current learning leaders would be wise to install the medium intoGen Y leadership development plans.

Dalton also said he thinks Gen Y leaders will reignite a focus on training and mentorship as they rise thingsthey didnt necessarily have as they entered the workforce, because training was among the first items cut fromcorporate budgets during the recession.

They will be the ones that reassert the importance of training because they know its the right thing to do, hesaid. And they dont have the same kind of golden handcuff incentive to keep training out that currentmanagers do.

Frank Kalman is a Chief Lea rning Officer senior editor. Comment below or email [email protected] can follow him

on Google Plus.

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Mind Your Motivation Methods

Kate, I love your work.

Death of the Cubicle, Facebook and Pearson

Style

I agree if you are planning somethinglike this it would be crucial to have a very good

change leadership

Learning With a Side of Marketing

Great advice--thank you.

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a series

of 10-minute podcasts and

Are Millennials Ready to be CEOs?

My experience and study of

generations is close to Joris' reflections. I also

share Tiffany's concerns about

CHIEF LEARNING OFFICER

1 Comment

Crispin Garden-Webster

More overcooked tosh about generational differences... Most of the examples described here would

also have been observed in 1911 or 1848. So, good coin for the consulting, branding and conference

industries, but it is truely the millenia's version of the Emperor's new clothes. The real performance

differentiation does not emanate from generational variables but the same variables that people of all

ages and eras share in common. What's the big picture? How do I contribute? Who will tell me how I

am doing and when? From the annoying but true department, these are questions shared by 20

somethings and 60 somethings alike and there is now mounting research that is calling out the whole

gen thing. Yes of course there are differences as every generation brings its perceptions and

emerging maturity to bear, but these are nowhere near as potent and tangible as the media and

consulting industry would have us believe.

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