I just read an article about “wooing” millenials. (Yes, the same group from which the guy who doesn’t do snail mail came from). One of the things the article said was, Millennials have a desire to do work that is important and personally meaningful.

I don’t know about you but I find that to be a load of garbage. Not for what it says but for what it implies. I take no issue with millenials wanting to do meaningful work. I take huge issue with the implication that all the rest of us do not want to do such work. Does the writer mean that the Gen Xers and Boomers are content to do unimportant and meaningless work? Probably not but the this isn’t the first time I have read something like this.

I, and many successful and effective leaders I know, choose to believe that all people want to do work that is important and personally meaningful. To believe otherwise creates a downward spiral for the employer and the employee. With this positive belief and expectation I have a chance of working with someone to accomplish a positive result. Of course, we know all employees will not be successful in their current role but we need to give them the chance.

The article I read goes on to say Gen Yers grow restless easily and change jobs more frequently than Gen Xers and Baby-Boomers. Employers must give them new challenges and projects; allow them to do multiple things independently; and avoid micromanaging them, instead working alongside them to meet goals and deadlines

In other words, they respond to a supervisor who respects them and wants them to succeed. Umm, this would be leadership.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.