How To Support Career Planning for Millennials

Co-Authored by Kate Bragg and Kate Aunaas-Ingram

We thought we would dive into a particularly hot topic that seems to be a challenge for most leaders out there and can often feel impossible to solve. From the leader perspective, the scenario plays out as follows: We all have amazing talents in our teams who deliver outstanding results but what do you do when they need a natural next step and there is not natural next step available? How do you keep them engaged, motivated and willing to stay in the company when you can`t promise anything concrete? And from the employee perspective, why should you hold off your development and career trajectory for something that could or could not happen when the giant ticking clock in your head is saying - "I should be a VP by now dammit!" So we are sharing a letter from "Worried of Nydalen" (Nydalen is a part of Oslo for those not living in Norway) concerning this precise issue so we hope you find it helpful.  

“Dear Kates, 

I have a team made up of millennials in an organization where there is little turnover and no formal development programs. How do I keep them all motivated despite their not being clear opportunities for growth or new positions available down the line? And how long is too long to wait for that next move or role? 

Yours 

Worried of Nydalen” 

 Dear "Worried of Nydalen",

Great question – and something that many organizations are struggling with. According to Gallup Research, 87% of Millennials say that they want/need career opportunities in the jobs they work in. If we compare that to 44% of Gen Xers and 41% of Baby boomers, there are some clear differences in expectations between these working generations. Furthermore, Future Workplace predicts that Millenials will potentially juggle between 15-20 different jobs throughout their lifetime – which is a huge amount of mobility and very different from “a job for life.” 

 So where does this leave you as a manager? Here are some tips to help you out from our experience as both leaders and employees who have been frustrated at times in our career by a lack of clear and present career opportunities: 

• Try to break their career aspirations into bite sized pieces – make it tangible and real but avoid putting a time frame around it. When we say, it will take 3 years to become a manager, that is what the millennial expects to happen on day 1096, so when it doesn’t they will inevitably get demotivated and feel a total lack of control over their destiny. Why not focus less on time and shift to skills milestones that they need to develop and acquire. 
• Don’t underestimate the power of a project: How do you grow and develop new skills at a faster rate? Try out more “stretch assignments” which provide a great way to develop new skills and ideas within a safe environment. These can be done alongside your normal role or be a short- term full time opportunities that could even take you abroad. So don’t just consider an employee`s development as happening in their current role – think beyond, think projects!  
• Not all things go up. Think lateral: When we take a traditional linear approach to an employee`s development, the options are limited and there can also be a long line of others waiting for that same next step up. What some companies have done is to think laterally and support employees in taking sideways moves to build new competencies, skills and experience. These opportunities can take you to places you never imagined and open doors that hadn’t existed before, therein creating totally new career paths and boosting motivation and learning. There are so many more opportunities when you look sideways than up – so drop the notion that development is only upwards.

 It is also worth thinking about what is in your control – developing some interesting training, finding secondments to other teams – and what needs more formal organizational input. For the second bucket of activities, you might not be in control, but you can provide valuable evidence and impetus for the organization to evolve especially if you can show how important it is to retain your top talents.  

 Finally – don’t be afraid to lose team members to other organizations - yes seriously! The need for mobility and turnover means that there will be much more movement between jobs and roles in the future. Grab the chance to have someone fantastic on your team even for a short period of time, treat those that leave like alumni who can cheerlead for the organization externally and know that if you treat your team right there is every chance they will come back to you later with new skills and a renewed sense of enthusiasm. Employee advocacy is a long game so think like a boomerang! 

About Us:

 Kate Aunaas-Ingram (right) works as Vice-President, Attraction and Mobility at Statkraft and originally grew up in Canada and studied y at the University of British Columbia. She has held numerous leader roles within the consumer goods sector including Orkla and Coca-Cola.

Kate Bragg (left) works as Vice-President, Strategy Development and originally grew up in the UK. She was previously an Engagement Manager based in London at McKinsey, an international consultancy and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.