Motivating "Generation ME" - Beyond Frustrating?

Do Generation Millennials (Gen Me’ers) frustrate you?  You’re not alone!   Born between 1981 and 2000, it is said unlike any generation before, this driven, sheltered and technologically savvy group views the world in a way us Boomers and Gen X’ers find difficult to comprehend.   A truly colour blind and inclusive group, we need to take time away from what frustrates us and understand what drives and motivates this incredibly productive and highly educated generation.

In order to understand Millennials, it is critical we take a moment to appreciate what factors have influence their emotional and sociological development.  Do not be surprised if some of it looks and sounds familiar, especially to those of us who have children which fall into this generation.

1.      Special

Have always been treated as special and important. This generation of children has been the most wanted.  Every milestone was marked with celebrations and praise. They may carry a sense of entitlement about them and have an expectation of frequent positive feedback. It’s been instilled in them that they are vital to the nation and to their parents’ sense of purpose. They feel they are here to solve world problems that older generations have failed to solve. They may claim they want privacy, but they crave attention.

2.      Sheltered

Highly protected as children. Grew up in a time of increasing safety measures (car seats, baby on board signs, school lock-downs). They were rarely left unsupervised. They were sheltered from having to take care of their own conflicts as parents advocated on their behalf, and “spared” them from unpleasant experiences. As college students, they may expect faculty and staff to shelter, protect, and nurture them – and resolve their conflicts for them. Millennials are the focus of the most sweeping youth safety movement in American history.

3.      Confident

They are motivated, goal-oriented, and confident in themselves and the future. They expect college to help launch them to greatness. They may brag about their generation’s power and potential. They have high levels of optimism and they feel connected to their parents. They are assertive and believe they are “right”. In Canada the Millennial generation is called the “Sunshine” generation or “Generation Me”

4.      Team-Oriented

They are group oriented rather than being individualists. They may sacrifice their own identity to be part of the team. They prefer egalitarian leadership, not hierarchies. They are forming a tight-knit generation. While they are group-oriented within their own cohort, they may “politely” exclude other generations. They do not want to stand out among their peers, they want to be seen as part of the group. They dislike selfishness and are oriented toward service learning and volunteerism.

5.      Achieving

Grade points are rising with this generation and crime is falling. The focus on getting good grades, hard work, involvement in extracurricular activities, etc. is resulting in higher achievement levels. They see college as the key to a high paying job and success, and may miss the bigger picture of what a college education is all about.  They are pressured to decide early on a career – and have been put on a career track orientation since grade school. Their focus is more on the world of achievement rather than personal development. The Boomer generation made their mark in the humanities and arts, whereas the Millennials prefer math and science fields.

6.      Pressured

Tightly scheduled as children and used to having every hour of their day filled with structured activity. This generation may have lost a sense of pure spontaneous play. They may struggle with handling free time and time management in general. In elementary, middle, and high school, have had more hours of homework and less free time than any of the previous generations. They feel pressured to succeed. They've been pushed hard to achieve, to avoid risks, and to take advantage of opportunities. They may take on too much, and then think others should be flexible with them when they want to negotiate scheduling conflicts. They think multi-tasking saves time and is a smart thing to do, but aren't usually aware of the poorer quality of results.

7.      Conventional

Respectful to the point of not questioning authority. They are civic-minded and believe the government knows what’s best and will take care of them. They fear being considered non-conformist. Their clothing, music, and cultural markings will be very main stream. They value their parents’ opinions very highly. They support and believe in social rules, and are more in line with their parents’ values than most other generations have been.  They are trying to invite rules and norms back into the culture.

But don't allow your lack of understanding millennials get the better of you. Instead, consider the following five tips, which will make managing them easier while engaging them more in your company, brand or department.

1.      Reinforce the positives

Millennials need constant affirmation and positive reinforcement in order to feel like they are doing a good job. Thus, on a regular basis managers should tell their millennial staffers that they appreciated their input, liked their thinking or were effective in their execution. This will make them feel needed and valued.

2.      Recognize that each person is different and must be managed differently

Like any group, not all millennials are the same. Therefore, it's important to not implement a "one size fits all" approach to managing them. One millennial might like constant direction while another prefers to do it all by themselves. The rule of thumb is millennials want to believe that you understand them and are not going to try and "old school" them with the ways something used to be done when you were a young executive.

3.      Be flexible

Millenials by nature don't really like rules. They grew up in an environment where parents asked their opinions, allowed them to make decisions, and rarely pushed something on them that they didn't like. As a result, current college recruits are not used to the rigidity of most workplaces. If you press too hard on them to comply with the company's position on things like hours or attire, you could very easily find yourself losing a good employee.

4.      Allow as much ownership as possible

MSDN - Relationship Paradigm

The best way to handle a millennial's feelings of entitlement is to provide them with a lot of responsibility. This doesn't necessarily mean handing them an entire project, but clearly defining areas that they can own so they can flex their knowledge, expertise and decision-making ability. When doing so, you will find them embracing not only the work, but you as a manager and the company overall.

5.      Don't be vague

Millennials are not good at interpreting what you meant and rarely succeed when put into a situation to "wing it" themselves. Though they want responsibility and authority, they are uncomfortable without having some sort of framework for the task at hand. The best scenario is good instructions and a lot of flexibility in how you get there.

Though managing millennials can certainly be challenging—particularly for managers who have no experience in this area—it is not a lost cause and can yield many benefits as they are smart, creative, tech-savvy and resourceful workers. However, since they grew up in the "everyone gets a trophy" culture, you must be extremely sensitive to what makes them tick or you might find them moving back in with mom and dad, who still think they are too young to be committing to a career!

Resource: Millennials Go To College (2003) by Neil Howe and William Strauss.

The Oldest Profession - When Morality Meets The Modern World...Can They Co-exist?

I find it ironic that my first (of what I hope is many more to come) blog on the subject of not just the "Oldest Profession", but also the divide between today's modern world, and those battling to keep some perceived or personal valued moral compass.  While blogging itself has come to represent the nearly instant news, views and commentary which has forever changed the media landscape, the age old struggle to  decriminalize the sex trade continues to divide modern day Canadians who also find themselves in this personal moral quagmire.  Will the sex trade continue to be a business for the dark corners of society, or will modern sex workers be a regulated and accepted profession, charging and remitting GST and PST as most fee for service businesses?  As the nine wise ones currently sitting on Supreme Court of Canada ready themselves to dive head first into this quagmire, the question which still resonates with me (and I surely hope others lest my first blog fall into its own quagmire)...Can the modern sex trade and modern morality co-exist?

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From 1909 to 1912 Winnipeg was home to the most notorious, but vibrant, state-sanctioned "Red Light District" in Canada.  Nude women allegedly paraded the streets.  Booze and sex were sold around the clock.  Police raids and social reformers' efforts did little to curtail the burgeoning trade.  At the time, Winnipeg Police Chief John McRae, with the blessing of the Police Commission, determined the best way to deal with growing problem was to establish a Red Light District on Annabella Street in Point Douglas where sex trade workers could ply their trade in the light of day.  He would work with Winnipeg's "Queen of the Harlots" Minnie Woods to establish the district and by July 1909, Annabella Street homes were entirely comprised of brothels, complete with the brightest, and reddest lights in the city.  The morality squad inspected the houses regularly and the women were required to have a medical examination and certificate every two weeks. But within the year there was a public outcry. Winnipeg's short experiment controlling prostitution had worked too well. The moralists were in an uproar and accused the City police with corruption. Some remembered how Winnipeg's last police chief, had himself been caught in a "disorderly house" raid decades earlier.

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A Royal Commission led by T. A. Robson took testimony in 1910. Moral reformers hired a private detective to provide their facts to the commission. Their detective estimated that on an average night, the red light district processed 292 customers in 2 1/2  hours.  While the Commission found no evidence of corruption, public pressure forced the police to eventually act and close the state-sanctioned district for good, citing it as the "rottenest conditions of social vice in all of Canada."  It was a victory for the Moralist and once again the Oldest Profession went underground in Winnipeg.

While this early Winnipeg experiment ultimately ended in failure, this age old debate continues between the modern movement to decriminalize prostitution, and those whose moral, social and/or religious values ply them against any such initiative.  Winnipeg's early 1900's moniker as "the wickedest city in the Dominion" only demonstrates the polarizing nature of the subject.  A Salvation Army journal said in 1887, "Underneath the seemingly moral surface of our national life there is a terrible undercurrent of unclean vice with all its concomitant evils of ruined lives, desolated hearth-stones, prostituted bodies, decimated conditions, and early dishonoured graves."  

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While over 125 years has passed since the 1887 statement was written, the 21st Century value statement of The Salvation Army remains nearly the same.  In February 2005 The Salvation Army reaffirmed their position on the sex trade by saying in their Submission to the Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws of the  Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; "Our perspective on prostitution is rooted in our values as a Christian denomination and social service agency engaged in outreach and the provision of support and services to people engaged street level prostitution as well as those who purchase sexual services.  Believing that no one is beyond redemption, we seek to reach out in love and compassion to people engaged in prostitution and to people who purchase sexual services.  Rejecting the notion that street level prostitution is a victimless transaction, we provide education about the harmful effects of prostitution on men, women, children, families and communities to purchasers of sexual services, information about health care, housing, educational programs and other support services to people engaged in prostitution and, whenever possible, we seek to journey with those seeking to leave prostitution and to provide them with the information, support and referrals necessary to make that possible."  While this bold value statement provides a modern perspective, the meaning remains virtually unchanged.  Just say no to the sex trade!

As the early modern Winnipeg experiment demonstrates, for every John McRae and Minnie Woods who, like their 21st century counterparts, look to legal controls and decriminalization, there are people and organizations' whom have moral values contrary to "modernizing" the criminal code to allow for the practice of the oldest profession.  So are we able to answer the question of co-existence?  The debate continues today and will continue long after the wise ones of the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately make their decision.  Like abortion and capital punishment, this may forever be in the arena of "feeling" rather than "fact" While many of us may still be taking a wait and see position, I for one am looking forward to the continued debate.