Do You Know How to Communicate with the Next Generation?

One of the most important aspects of growing as a leader is the ability to continuously improve your communication skills. Simply put, great communication and effective leadership go hand in hand, which is why I’m always encouraging leaders to consider how they present themselves through verbal and non-verbal communication.

But we live in a world in which the ways we communicate seem to transform on a near real-time basis. This rapid change has caused tension in workplaces around the world, where old-school managers often have to find new ways to communicate with and inspire members of a workforce that is increasingly dominated by members of “Gen Y,” the Millennial generation. By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be made up of Millennials so it is high time that businesses develop a strategy to shift their culture to the new way of doing business.

The differences between Millennials and those who come from previous generations have been a bit overblown and over dramatized. At the end of the day, it’s all about people and connecting with one another as human beings. We all have passions and dreams and what connects us as people are the basic needs we all have, those that are essential to our survival. Each of these items represents fundamentals that have kept humans alive from the dawn of time to today. While each of these has changed and been adapted over the millions of years humans thrived, the principles remain the same.

1. Oxygen
2. Water
3. Food
4. Shelter
5. Sleep

I wrote about managing Millennials in a previous blog post, but realized that now would be a great time to revisit the subject. There’s a lot of discussion out there about this segment of the population — and a lot of that discussion focuses on the negative — but I believe that by altering your approach and improving your ability to communicate, and by seeking to understand their needs, it will make you a far more effective leader, one who can inspire this generation in a meaningful way.

It’s All About the Basics

I want to get into the ways that you can communicate more effectively with Millennials in the workplace, but first, let’s revisit my suggestions from my previous blog post, based on my friends and colleagues’ book, R U Ready 4 Y, written by Anthony Horton, Whitney Wrona, and Lubaina Galely:

• Leaders need to develop the four key attributes of visibility, accessibility, flexibility, and integrity.
• Training and development practices need to consider a wider range of learning styles and methods.
• Shift focus from upward to forward development; in other words, you should shift away from strictly financial incentives and promotion in favor of providing growth opportunities and a more inclusive work environment.
• Improve your organization’s accountability and problem-solving ability through a greater emphasis on working in teams.

These tips are realistic and can be easily applied with the right level of self-awareness, focus, and diligence. In fact, I would argue that this type of engagement can be applied to all generations in the workplace. Gone are the days of command control leadership, it’s about inclusivity and working together to achieve collective success.

3 Communication Tips for Leaders of Millennials

Although Millennials are people just like you and me, it’s important to keep in mind that they grew up in a world dominated by social media and other forms of technology.

With that in mind, let’s look at some tips for communicating with the “Gen Y” workforce.

Tip 1 – Learn how to use modern communication tools and methods

I get that you might be hesitant to sign up for every single new social media app that exists and I’m not asking you to become a Snap Chat expert — but it doesn’t hurt to embrace texting and instant messaging as a means of staying connected. If my 70-year-old mother can learn to text, anyone can, so seriously, get with the times. Email may be your preferred method of reaching out, but for Millennials, emails are as old-school as the rotary phone. Pay attention to how the Millennials in your organization interact with each other and take some cues from the methods they use to communicate.

Tip 2 – Don’t dance around the issues

Millennials are accustomed to taking in incredible amounts of information and data, which means that you must be direct in your communication to reach them effectively. Get to the point and provide the most critical details right away if you want to be heard and understood. Your voice will be competing with numerous other voices, so make sure you’re coming through loud and clear.

Tip 3 – Provide regular, ongoing feedback

This is something that I recommend for leading any group of people, but for Millennials, feedback is especially important. In fact, researchers have determined that Millennials want feedback 50% more often than members of previous generations.

Communication Is the Key to Managing Millennials Effectively

It’s become fashionable for researchers and leadership experts to decry the rise of the Millennial generation in the workforce, but such talk is largely untrue.

The truth is that Millennials are people too, and the basics of leadership and communication still apply to them and to all generations. However, it’s important to note that because Millennials emerged during a time in our history unlike any other, you may need to adjust your approach, particularly when it comes to communication.

If you strive to constantly improve your ability to communicate as a leader, I have no doubt that you will find tremendous success in leading all generations in the workforce. Remember it’s all about the basic lessons we learned in kindergarten – treat others as they want to be treated and you will win them over the majority of the time.

Please let us know what your thoughts are about leading Millennials and leadership in general — we would love to hear from you!