Managing for Millennials: Use your powers for good

Two months ago, I published an article entitled: “Managing those Millennials.” Needless to say, that hit a big chord, among not only those who manage Millennials, but from the Millennials themselves. So I thought I would put together a few management tips for Millennials specifically based upon their feedback from that article and my observations of them in the workforce. Being an old hand at the industry, and the parent of an iGen Millennial, I give this information with love for both.

Millennials tend to love collaboration, so use your skills and meet your Boards where they are. Typically, Boards of Directors don’t want to be told how to do things, or that they are WRONG, or that they need to be “educated.” This makes the Board-manager relationship adversarial, not collaborative... and unfortunately it’s a common occurrence in the industry. Millennial, you are the sovereign of collaboration. You want a positive and creative environment – with others - wherein you can make a difference. Importantly, you aren’t quite as jaded as a few more “seasoned” managers. Take that gift of collaboration and apply it to how you manage and work with your Boards of Directors. Listen and understand where they are and work with them by guiding them to better decisions, not “teaching” them how they ought to operate. Your collaborative nature will serve you and your Boards well, and you will make their world, and yours, a better place.

Results are not immediate: Know that some things move slowly for a reason. In conjunction with the above, you must recognize that collaborating with your Boards towards their goals is not a short process. In fact, it may take weeks, months or even years to move a Board or a community forward. This is a hard thing for you Millennials, accustomed to quick results. Managing volunteers means process happens in increments because politics, good and bad, always gets in the way. Also know that many times, moving slowly is a good thing: It can keep dumb things from becoming community policy with adverse ramifications for years to come. Remember, a great community manager is not just the one who can get the lawns mowed and the pool cleaned, it’s the one who has the ability to work within the political structure of the Board and community. Progress can be blindingly slow (until it’s not) and sometimes, that’s a very good thing. Embrace it.

Find positive feedback from within. Millennial, you want frequent (positive) feedback but unfortunately the nature of our business is one in which negative feedback greatly outweighs positive. That goes against most everything you have come to expect. I get it, but to survive, and thrive, in our industry you must 1) rely heavily on your co-workers and yourself in finding gratification for a job well done; and 2) Know that no complaints from your owners is actually positive feedback. When you cross the threshold of knowing within yourself you did a good job, you are released from that angst and will find each day more satisfying for you.

Be a full member of the team and think: Who in the office needs my help today? Every day, I guarantee you there is a co-worker who needs help – your help. Maybe they can’t figure out the new company software and you are an ace at it. Maybe they are unclear on that new compliance app to use on walk-throughs and you know it inside and out. Maybe they just need your ear for a few minutes while they vent. Millennial, you have a lot to give to not only the industry, but to others in your office. When you walk in the office each morning think: Who needs my help? This service to others not only helps them, it helps you. How? It creates relationships, widens your knowledge base of the industry, of people and serves others. There is no greater gift from you, nor greater satisfaction for you.

This is your life right now: Make wise career choices. This applies not just to Millennials, but since you are typically free from a mortgage and kids, you have more latitude in moving from one job to another and sometimes not for very good reasons. My counsel is thus: 1) If you are being promised the moon to move from one company to another, it’s probably not real because everyone deals with just about the same compensation metric (you are paid based on the contracts you manage); and 2) Ask yourself what is really motivating you to move from Company A to Company B? Are you mad? Bored? Unhappy with your Boards? And are your expectations with all of the above grounded in reality? If you really are ready to change jobs, make sure it is for solid reasons and not a quick emotional fix (and you’re not being fed a line). And lastly, if you are having difficulty with the stress of the job, changing jobs within the industry will not fix that problem, it will just change the characters. Learning long-term stress management and coping skills will be a far better use of your professional time than continually changing jobs. Some tips on that are here.

You will “make a difference” in community management. Make no mistake, Millennial, the job of a community manager has impact on not only physical things, but on people’s actual lives. When you handle a difficult person, solve their problem with humor, grace and efficiency and they end up smiling and saying thank you – you have made a difference. When you pay your vendors on time, you are making a difference in their lives and that of their employees and their families. When you keep a Board from heading down a wrong path, you have not only affected them, but the entire community from what may have been a disastrous situation. Even the manner in which bad news is given to the membership (assessment increase, pending litigation): The careful composition of that communication can leave the owners believing the Board is competent, handling the issue well and has their interests at heart, as opposed to callous with a lack of empathy for them (and for which your inbox will fill rapidly). Each of these and countless others are the ways which you, personally, are making a positive impact on real people, sometimes thousands of them at once.

Be willing to see the world through others eyes. How your Boards, owners and residents think is affected by where they are and have been in their lives and for how long. You are just starting out in your professional life, Millennial, and one of the best ways to grow and understand people and situations is to try and see the world through the eyes of others. This will greatly enhance your effectiveness as a community manager. I cannot stress this point enough, because it makes working with the different cultures, ages and socio-economic backgrounds of managed communities and those who live in them, so much easier.

Millennials, this industry is perfect for you. Community management may be many things, but it is not what you dread the most: Boring. Never, ever, are two days alike. Situations may be similar, but because we are a people, not widget, business, the processes and outcomes are all different. It’s always go-go-go, things happening, elbows flying, deadlines to be met and always and forever new things to learn and new people to meet. Yes, the “slow pace” of community progress can be maddening. But it also (usually) keeps really dumb things from happening.

As I look back on this article, these “tips” are ones that I myself could have used way back when I started in the industry at age 27, when I thought I knew everything and was going to light the world on fire. Everything old is new again, with just a few tweaks, right? Ha!

For all you Baby Boomers (and Gen X’s) reading this, I hope you take the time to encourage your Millennial staff and co-workers to see the good in this business, and to help them develop the skills and patience that will make them outstanding managers. They have a lot of the goods to be so, and with your help they will be better.

The last words: … Millennials… Use the skills you have, help others, hone skills you lack, see the world through the eyes of others, be grateful (at times) for the slow pace of decision-making and look before you leap in to that new job where you *think* the grass is greener. This industry will be yours, and you are set and ready.

c. 2017 Julie Adamen, Adamen Inc. all rights reserved

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www.adamen-inc.com