Opening Insights: Tick Tock…
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, millennials will be the largest generation in the workforce by the end of 2015. As millennials enter the workforce they are bringing with them a new perception of what life, relationships and work should be.
Yet for many, the millennial generation has become a joke!
We make fun of them… we make fun of ourselves. It’s often easier to laugh at reality than do something about it – while we watch our businesses, industries and economies crumble… especially when we don’t realize that THERE IS A SOLUTION.
Let’s take a look at the millennial joke…
SNL 41 – The Millennials Skit – Season Premiere from Tsvetan Kintisheff on Vimeo.
Informational Insights: Getting Down to Business
The realities of the millennial generation are not new, but many of us don’t want to face the truth because we don’t think or believe that there is a solution. We think that we just have to accept this new normal, BUT WE DON’T.
Any problem well defined, is already half solved.
CHARLES KETTERING
Defining the Problem
As Simon Sinek has said, the problem with the millennial generation is cultural and very real:
- Lower self-esteem
- Lack of coping skills to deal with stress
- Instant gratification world: technology induced and trained
- Increase in depression, suicide, drug and alcohol use
- Inability to communicate and relate
- Lack of joy and fulfillment in life
- Lack of followship-leadership
Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace: October 29, 2016, published by InsideQuest.com.
Sinek has a great description of the problem, but the realities of his solution are lacking fundamental understanding of learning, change and neuroplasticity. To tell an alcoholic, or any other addict, to just put down the drink is not going to solve their addiction problem. Putting down the phone, doesn’t deal with the reason that people have become so obsessed with them in the first place. As Sinek said, millennials lack coping skills… hence they need to learn the skills in order to replace their learned coping mechanisms.
Defining the Answer
What Sinek failed to say directly is, millennials need to have an environment in which they learn the skills to:
- Improve their self-esteem and develop their self-identity
- Develop healthy coping skills to deal with stress
- Overcome technology addictions and dependencies
- Empower resolution and recovery from depression, suicide, drug and alcohol use
- Learn how to maturely communicate and relate
- Experience appreciation, value, joy and fulfillment in life
- Become followers and leaders
According to Jeff Fromm from Forbes2, in order to create the most millennial friendly workplace, we need to be aware that millennials want…
- To grow, even if that means growing out of your company
- A coach, not a boss
- NOT TO waste time on the little things
- Balance and democracy
Fromm also stressed that while keeping these four things is mind is imperative, the most important thing to remember in hiring millennials, is that millennials no longer work for you; they work with you.
As the most collaborative and inclusive generation to date, these young adults expect their place of work to embrace the same idealism and values they hold so dear. Creating an environment that aligns with the participation economy will be your biggest opportunity to create a company where Millennials not only want to work, but seek out as a top professional career.2
Source:
1Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace: October 29, 2016, published by InsideQuest.com.
2https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2015/11/06/millennials-in-the-workplace-they-dont-need-trophies-but-they-want-reinforcement
Possibilities for Consideration: Collaborative Solution
The Millennials are here, whether we like it or not. They are “working” in your businesses, organizations and schools. They were dealt a bad hand – so, what are we going to do about it?
Businesses and organizations have a financial and social responsibility to the millennial generation (and the coming generations) to fix the cultural problems that caused the millennial generation challenges: addiction, immaturity and attitude problems.
- What if there was a proven collaborative platform to improve self-esteem, develop self-identity and develop healthy coping skills to deal with stress?
- What if there was a proven collaborative platform to overcome technology addictions and dependencies while resolving and recovering from depression, suicide, drug and alcohol use?
- What if there was a proven collaborative platform to experience appreciation, value, joy and fulfillment in life?
- What if there was a proven collaborative platform to learn how to maturely communicate, relate and become followers and leaders?
Add Your Insight: Be a Part of the Solution
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI