Need/Want/Can: An Approach to Millennial Management

As a slightly different turn this week, this is an updated version of something I wrote in 2017 when I was leading a Digital Product Strategy team at what was then called Turner Broadcasting.

Need/Want/Can - An Approach to Millennial Management

For about a dozen years, I hosted summer interns that were recent high school grads, getting ready for their first year of college. It was always eye opening to see the corporate world through their impressionable perspective. Not just the fact that they consumed media in ways we never conceived, but also in how they viewed the workplace. How people work is now just as important as where they work and what they want to do. This experience eventually led me to the insightful book "Activate Leadership" by Jon Mertz .

And before we get into a debate about Millennials, Plurals, Gen Z, Gen whatever...I believe adapting your management style is fundamental on an individual employee basis no matter their age. Sound exhausting? Welcome to management. Personally, I absolutely loved it and it's one of the things I miss most about the corporate world. I was far from a perfect manager, but I enjoyed trying out new methods that might have an impact on future leaders. Anyhow, successfully tailoring management practices to each team member's motivation and style can be challenging… but extremely fulfilling. Here's one way I looked at it.

A consistent thread I noticed accelerating over the last decade was that employees crave control over the type of work they do. You might recognize the diagram above as a version of the Ikigai framework that continues to circulate. The common conception is that stagnation and frustration can mount quickly if employees don't feel some ownership over task, function or project selection. And while it's myopic to think that all employees can drive their own body of work, there is usually at least some room to fit their avocation (passion) into their vocation (job). After all, I did work at a media company with a ton of engaging brands and our employees were some of the biggest fans. But what if they're not? Well, then it's time to get to work. Does the intersection above exist with each of your employees? Does it exist for you? How much can you extend the overlap?

Now, let's look at it another way. In this case, I viewed my responsibility as a manager as growing the ideal overlap towards the "Stretch" direction by improving skill sets thru training or mentoring. Another option is turning the "Hobby" area into something the Company needs. When an uncertain industry is going thru rapid change, I believe future growth will come from new ideas. Maybe that passion area of your employee could turn into your next great business! Or at worst, if you better understand your employee's motivation you can find a way to productively funnel it into existing work.

As evidenced above, the biggest difference between a "Job" and a "Role" is that the employee is a stakeholder in their own responsibilities. And you might be surprised, the driving force for many employees, especially Millennials, is to make an impact. Why would you want to stop that?

If you'd like to use this model as an exercise with your staff (or your manager), schedule an appointment with me today at [email protected].

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