Remember when I said that sometimes you have to seek inspiration for your blog posts? Today, I was strolling through Twitter and decided to peruse #GenY, one of my saved searches. Luckily, within minutes, I ran across an article that peaked my interest, thanks to Andrea Blasdale for sharing. It was yet another one on the topic of the crazy Gen Y-ers (AKA Millennials). I, like Jenna did in her post earlier this year, expected to see more negative commentary but instead I was pleasantly surprised.
In his article Why Should Gen Y Get All The Love?, Dharmesh Shah, Founder/CTO at HubSpot wrote:
Imagine how every employee – and every company – would benefit if we lead every employee as we’re so often told we need to lead Generation Y.
Don’t worry, we aren’t taking over the world but do give the article a read to understand Dharmesh’s point. Given the fact that the average age of a HubSpot employee is under 30 and that the Millennials are the largest demographic we’ve ever seen, Dharmesh is absolutely making the right move by realizing the positives in our generation. Though I’ve decided to only comment on a few points below, for all of you struggling to understand us “difficult” Gen Y-ers, keep reading.
- Gen Y cares as much about the “why” as the “what” or the “how much.” I can personally vouch for this. Of course I want to know what my role is and how much my paycheck will be but in order for any of that to matter, I need to passionately care about and feel connected to the “why.” At LexBlog, I might be a senior person on the business development team but what keeps me energized is our vision: We Empower Professionals to Network Through the Internet. How could I not feel connected and believe in a vision that improves the life of a lawyer, engineer, doctor or chief marketing officer? Working with a group of people who believe this is an added bonus.
- Millennials disproportionately (at least to older generations) value transparency and access to information. How else would we know if we are achieving the “why?” Be open and honest with us, that’s all we ask for. Share information that helps us make better decisions for ourselves and the bottom line. And, as Dharmesh points out, we are skeptical of companies whose leaders have a closed door policy. We genuinely value the relationships with our co-workers and bosses and believe the only way to get there is to be open and honest with each other (and that’s a 2-way street).
- Gen Y is impatient for feedback. I know this drives the older generations mad but we don’t seek feedback just because we crave attention. Instead, because we care so much about the “why” we don’t want to wait a year at a performance review to realize we are headed down the wrong path. We want the opportunity to correct course or re-calibrate if needed. It is important to us to receive construction criticism and feedback on the spot so that we can continue to make an impact.
If you walk away from this learning only one thing, I hope it is that you understand Millennials have the same wants and needs as other generations. We just tend to express those wants and needs in different ways and maybe we are more vocal about them but that doesn’t make us needy, selfish, narcissistic brats.
And lastly, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dharmesh’s article. You’ll have to read the rest to understand why.
Lead every employee the way we’re told to lead millennials and we not only create more skilled, fulfilled, engaged, motivated, dedicated, and loyal employees, we also build stronger companies… because companies are ultimately made up of people.
I’d love to hear feedback from all generations, not just Millennials and remember, as a Gen Y-er, I lack patience when it comes to waiting for feedback.