Managing the Millennials: Discover the Core Competencies for Managing Todays Workforce

Praise for Managing the Millennials

"If you′re going to run a successful organization in the future, you′ll have to learn how to manage the Millennial generation that thundering herd of young people whose numbers exceed the Baby Boomers. They will push you and frustrate you, but they will help you win going forward. Managing the Millennials is a must–read for every leader who wants his or her organization to have a great future."
Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Leading at a Higher Level

"Our company has had the good fortune of becoming a trusted brand with the new generation. Without them, we would not exist. It would be easy for us to think that we ′know enough′ because of our business. The truth is that we cannot afford to not build the same trust within our organization between the generations that make up the Quiksilver family. Managing the Millennials is a practical hands–on approach to understanding how generational tension gets created and what to do about it. I was fascinated by what I learned and excited about sharing it within our company."
Robert McKnight, chairman, Quiksilver, Inc.

"Managing the Millennials has taught us how to harvest the creativity and energy of a new generation and inspire those of us who lead them."
Bruce Ratner, chairman, Forest City Ratner Companies, New York

"With more than 32 million twenty–somethings in today′s workforce, managers more than ever before need a clear road map for building bridges of communication and engagement between generations. Based on years of research and real–world business experience, Managing the Millennials is the first book to fuse the authors′ cutting–edge concepts with a powerful and easy–to–use framework for putting their ideas into action. This is one book that I will wholeheartedly recommend to every business leader whose job includes managing people."
Peter Economy, best–selling author of Managing For Dummies, and associate editor, Leader to Leader magazine

"This book is timely and practical for those facing the challenge of managing across generations. It takes a certain degree of maturity and perspective to be able to suspend one′s own bias and engage others. Managers who practice the core competencies in this book will be better equipped to develop the people they lead."
Laura Curnutt Santana, PhD, Lead Faculty Financial Services Sector/Senior Faculty Global Markets Americas, Center for Creative Leadership

Discover what differentiates the effective managers from the challenged Identify what you are already doing right and what may be inhibiting your effectiveness Learn the skills that can reduce tension between generations in the workplace

Foreword Gabrielle Jackson Bosché xv

Introduction Close Encounters with a Different Kind xix

PART I THE MILLENNIAL PHENOMENON 1

CHAPTER 1 The Millennials and You 3

The Generations at Work 4

What in the World Is Happening? 8

The Coming Job Gap 12

You re So Special 13

Bridging the Gap 15

CHAPTER 2 Aren t We All Just the Same? 17

So What? Isn t Every Generation the Same? 17

Who Gets to Do the Sense–Making and Set the Rules? 24

CHAPTER 3 The Effective Managers versus the Challenged Managers 27

Mind–Set 30

Following Up with Human Resources 33

CHAPTER 4 The Points of Tension between Managers and Millennials 35

Perceptual Positioning 37

The Consequence of Inexperience 40

PART II DISCOVER THE CORE COMPETENCIES FOR MANAGING TODAY S WORKFORCE 53

CHAPTER 5 Be Flexible: When Letting Them Have It Their Way Makes Sense 55

Flexing with the Autonomous

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Work–Life Blending 56

The Bias of Experience 57

Psychological Contract 60

Learning from Our Success 61

Learning from Our Failure 62

Best Practice 62

CHAPTER 6 Create the Right Rewards: Rewarding the Right Things in the Right Ways 65

Incenting the Entitled

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Reward 66

The Bias of Experience 66

Rewarding the Right Way 68

Rewarding the Right Things 69

Keeping Them Informed 70

Learning from Our Success 71

In a Nutshell 73

CHAPTER 7 Put Their Imagination to Work: They Are at the Head of the Creative Class 75

Cultivating the Imaginative

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Self–Expression 76

The Bias of Experience 76

Creativity and Competitive Advantage 78

Managerial Best Practices 79

Let Them Know What Happened with Their Ideas 80

Let Them Have Fun 81

In a Nutshell 82

CHAPTER 8 Build a Relationship: First Them, Then You 85

Engaging the Self–Absorbed

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Attention 86

The Bias of Experience 88

Best Practices 88

So What Are Some Barriers to Engaging? 91

Something to Think About 95

The Transfer of Tacit Knowledge Will Not Happen without Building a Relationship 95

CHAPTER 9 Be Positive When Correcting: Fragile, Handle with Care 99

Disarming the Defensive

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Achievement 100

The Bias of Experience 103

Best Practices 104

Learning from Success 106

In a Nutshell 110

CHAPTER 10 Don t Take Things Personally: It Is Not Always about You 113

Self–Differentiating from the Abrasive

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Informality 114

The Bias of Experience 115

Self–Differentiating Is about You 117

Know Where They End and You Begin 118

Separateness and Togetherness 119

Know the Difference between Your Role and Your Person 119

Beware of Triangulating 119

Think about Your Presence 120

Confessions 121

In a Nutshell 122

CHAPTER 11 Show Them the Big Picture: The Big Picture Does Not Exist Until You Help Them See It 125

Broadening the Myopic

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Simplicity 126

The Bias of Experience 127

Learning from Success 128

Learning from Failures 128

Start with Something Easy 129

The Consequential Thinking Model 130

The Five Whys 131

Please, Do Share 132

In a Nutshell 134

CHAPTER 12 Include the Details: Ambiguity Is Their Kryptonite 137

Directing the Unfocused

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Multitasking 138

The Bias of Experience 139

Directing? I Thought They Wanted Autonomy 140

Giving Direction 141

Learning from Success 142

Learning from Our Failures 143

In a Nutshell 145

CHAPTER 13 Make It Matter to Them: They Want to Know Why before What 147

Motivating the Indifferent

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Meaning 148

The Bias of Experience 150

Hierarchy of Capabilities 152

Learning from Success 155

Learning from Our Failures 156

In a Nutshell 157

PART III YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 159

CHAPTER 14 Building a Millennial–Friendly Culture 161

Identify Your All–Stars and Give Them a Platform 161

Involve Your Managers in the Conversation 163

Ask Millennials 163

Suspend Organizational Bias 164

Promote the Core Competencies for Managing Today s Workforce 165

The Generational Rapport Inventory 166

CHAPTER 15 Mentoring Millennials 169

Challenges Millennials Face in the Workplace 171

Strategies for Overcoming Roadblocks at Work 172

The Seven Skills for Overcoming Roadblocks 177

In the End 179

Acknowledgments 181

Notes 183

Index 191

CHIP ESPINOZA , PHD, is author of Millennials Who Manage and Millennials@Work. He is academic director of Organizational Psychology and Nonprofit Leadership at Concordia University Irvine. Economic Times recently named him a top 15 thought leader on the future of work.

MICK UKLEJA, PHD, is the founder and President of LeadershipTraQ, a leadership consulting firm. He co–authored Managing The Millennials, Who Are You? What Do You Want? and The Ethics Challenge. Mick is an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Concordia University and keynotes across the country on issues relating to generational diversity, leadership and personal productivity. He has been featured on Fox News, CNN, Fox Business Network, NBC and in numerous publications.