Millennials need to understand how much they can learn from their senior colleagues and bosses.
In an earlier column I explained why millennials make great employees.
I mentioned, for example, their commitment to ideals (“purpose”) and praised their technological know-how and understanding of today’s consumers. In fact, they’re so savvy in digital technology and social media, I suggested, companies could even use them to “mentor senior leaders” in these areas.
What I failed to stress—and I’ll do so now—is that they also need to understand how much they can learn from their senior colleagues and bosses. This becomes increasingly important as more and more millennials —the oldest of whom are now nearly 40—move into supervisory and management positions.
It’s Not About You: The first thing millennials might learn from their bosses is that everything they do (or don’t do) affects the team and organization, not just them.
Knowing what’s good for you is fine; understanding what’s best for the company is better. If you can tie the two together—explain how or why something that’s good for you will benefit the organization—you’ll probably make the sale.
For example, a member of my team recently pitched the idea of expanding her role so she could “grow” professionally, a laudable objective and one I fully support. But she didn’t provide any other rationale. Not a word about how the change might affect the company. In fact, there were legitimate reasons for considering such a change; if she had brought them up I would have been on board in an instant.
The Business of Business Is Business: Another thing millennials might better understand if they paid more attention to their bosses is that the primary focus of businesses is business.
I don’t mean to sound facetious. I think it’s fantastic that millennials bring their passions and ideals to work with them every day. And, in fact, research by BCG and others indicates that companies which align their products and operations with society’s broad interests outperform their competitors in key financial metrics, such as valuation multiples and margins.
But some millennials don’t realize there are limits. While more and more companies are taking positive steps in the areas of environmental stewardship, diversity and inclusion, flex work, family leave and other such matters, they still have businesses to run.
BCG, for example, does everything it can to help employees balance the demands of work with their personal and family lives. But, like every other company, we can’t satisfy the wishes of every employee all the time. So when a young consultant told me during an organizational meeting that he was unavailable to work on weekends for personal reasons, I had to gently suggest that maybe he needed to reconsider his priorities. It’s not that we work on weekends very often: we don’t. But there are times when we must. Business comes first.
Consider the Generational Divide a Benefit: While millennials and their bosses usually have similar goals, they often have different perspectives on the best way to achieve them. This generational divide in some ways parallels the gender disconnects described by John Gray in his 1992 best-seller, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Co-workers from different generations often seem to see the exact same things from such totally different perspectives it’s as if they’re from different planets.
Consider this example, courtesy of a colleague who was facilitating a workshop for a company immediately after a merger.
Leaders of the company were together for the first time. The conversation started on a lofty note: what it means to lead with integrity. Then the generation gap showed its hand, and the next 45 minutes was spent discussing what it means to be “on time” and “present.”
Older bosses—baby boomers— said, “You should consider me present if I send my deputy.” Millennials said, “No way, you’re either here or not.”
But that wasn’t the end of it. What did they mean by “here”? To the boomers, being present involved warm bodies sitting in chairs, even if those bodies were proxies for their own. The millennials thought they should be considered present as long as they were personally connected, including by phone, skype or video conference. That, they maintained, demonstrates a stronger commitment than sending a deputy.
And so it went.
What’s important is trying to understand and respect each other. Millennials need to understand that those currently in charge typically got where they are for a reason. They’ve been around the block a few times. They know what’s been tried in the past, what’s failed, and why it failed.
If you’re a millennial and your boss is significantly older, don’t assume he or she automatically thinks a certain way, any more than you would if your boss is a different gender than you. By the same token, if you and your boss are both millennials, don’t assume you both think alike. That’s also a faulty assumption.
Generation gaps exist. They always have. I like to look at them as experience gaps. As you get older you’ll better understand.
