Over it: managing the millennial ‘soapbox’

As a millennial I’m [insert the blank].

If you were to ask any millennial right now to fill in that blank, I can guarantee some of the keywords would be: ‘tired’, ‘annoyed’, ‘frustrated’, ‘over it’. Now experiencing the second, or third recession in their lifetime, it’s becoming increasingly harder to hold the banners of ‘keep your chin up’. And to counter the “but every generation goes through respective challenges” statement – which does have validity – if you were to go down another layer, I would argue that millennials are finding these challenges disproportionate to history – and hard. Very hard. 

The issues that are manifesting are plenty: whether it’s rising rates of mental health issues caused by stress, anxiety, depression and increased levels of isolation and disconnection, increased rates of debt and borrowing, disgruntled employees who are underperforming, to the outright job quitters who are simply fed up… it’s a complicated picture. None of which is being resolved: in fact, if anything, situations which are getting worse.

Managing through change and uncertainty can be a challenge at the best of times. But with the increasing challenges that have presented themselves in recent years – not helped by the current economic and political landscape of the world – alongside the sheer deflation of younger generations who aren’t just feeling the external pummeling but are utterly fed up and struggling to keep perspective because the world won’t stop with the grenade throwing, it’s adding a ‘dire straits’ component to managing.

Not to take value out of what is a huge body of knowledge on best practice management techniques, especially managing people through change and uncertainty, what can sometimes occur is overlooking one of the core foundations of all of this. And that foundation, in its simplest (yet paradoxical) form is: the human approach.

Emotion. Connection. Appreciation. Understanding. This approach – one which demonstrates a heightened level of EQ, and a core trait of an excellent leader – is what is needed. While we can dress up process, and techniques and tips with layers of ‘doing’ or ‘being’, underneath it all, there is a need for an emotional resonation, or appreciation, with your teams.

Millennials, for better or worse, are a generation who are conditioned for the need to feel heard; acknowledge and validated. For those letting out a quiet sigh at ‘just something else’ this generation need, the reality is, it’s simple to do.

Millennials aren’t demanding their managers to come up with solutions to the global problems that exist – in fact, they know you can’t. But sometimes, all they want is someone to hear them out: a place to express how they feel, and in turn, how that translates into their work life. Millennials are a generation who integrate life (personal and professional) which means managers should consider how the outside world and the challenges are impacting millennials.

And if managers can take the time to listen, and demonstrate appreciation, then it has the potential of offering a ‘simple’ solution to improving trust, attitude, and engagement.