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Millennials

The Millennial Employee

The next person you hire will likely be a millennial. In order 3. Training
to successfully integrate new, younger individuals into the Provide purposeful, job specific training and
work team it is important to put aside popularly held biases coaching. Work professionalism is a learned skill:
about the millennial generation and recognize the talent raw talent is not enough. Investments in training
and potential of those who want and need your leadership, accelerate success and deepen organizational
encouragement and coaching. commitment from new team members.

No young person, of any generation, has ever come into a 4. Be open to new ideas
new career with all the necessary credentials and skills fully Millennials are the new consumers of your products
formed. This was the case when Baby Boomers and Gen and services. Your millennial employees think
Xers entered the workforce and it remains so for millennials like your millennial customers and they use
beginning their sales careers. It is the job of leaders to the same information technologies. It makes sense
develop the raw talent and ambition of rookies into the skills to seriously consider new ideas raised by
and competencies of professionals. To write-off an entire your millennial employees, test them, and integrate
generation as lacking “the right stuff” is an abdication of the the best ones into your business systems.
leadership responsibility to create the next generation of
working professionals and leaders. The success of your work team has always depended on
how you train and lead them. It remains true for the new
A few millennials behave according to the extremes of the generation of employees too.
stereotype; but most behave like previous generations of
young people, with the self-centered and hopeful ambitions
of youth. These qualities, when guided by skilled leadership Murray’s knowledge of sales and leadership has
become the energy that drives accomplishment, as well as been earned through a career that started as a
small business entrepreneur wearing “all the hats”.
individual and organizational growth. He then transitioned into a professional sales and
leadership career in the insurance industry, where
his passion for training and leadership development
Here are four best practices for integrating millennials into was recognized in his appointment as a Senior
your work team: Manager.
Since 2008, Murray has been a part-time faculty
member at Kitchener, Ontario’s Conestoga College,
1. Hiring School of Business. He currently teaches within the
“Leadership Development Series,” a program helping
Define the skills and qualities of your ideal managers and management candidates understand
employee for a particular position and then use and implement the principles of effective leadership.
industry recognized job-fit assessment tools to Murray Smith
mitigate negative biases that may cause hiring The Achievement Centre
managers to bypass qualified and capable P: 519.572.5977
msmith@TACresults.com
millennial prospects.

2. Onboarding
Set realistic onboarding expectations for yourself,
your company, and your new hires. Define
professional development goals and milestones for
the first year, and beyond. Celebrate
accomplishments as they are achieved.

20 www.cambridgechamber.com
Fall 2018