The ‘Leadership 101’ is a series of leadership training articles. We started this knowledge base with the goal of bringing different leadership perspectives from all corners of the web into one easily digestible format. In this series we will be looking at HR industry best practices and trends; in an attempt to keep you informed, while adding to your leadership arsenal. In an attempt to keep this forum open we would like to invite you to provide feedback here or through our@Hire4Impact feed on Twitter

Over the past few months we’ve talked (at great length) about a variety of issues ranging from employee engagement to employee retention, and motivation. One of the main objectives of our blog posts is to help you, our community, become better, more engaged leaders. One of our earlier posts focused on communicating with a multi-generational workforce. More recently, we changed our tone ever so slightly when we posted an article from our very own Meg Jenkins: A Letter from an Engaged Millennial. In this article, Meg talked about the challenges she faced right out of college. If you missed this article, please take some time to read through it as it sets the foundation for this article.

So who are these Millennials?

Millennials, sometimes referred to as Gen Y, are those who were born between 1980 and 2000 (though this distinction will vary slightly depending on your source). Currently, Millennials are the fastest growing demographic in today’s workforce. According to Dan Schawbel, 75% of the global workforce will be made up of Millennials by 2025. Approximately 80 million alone are in the United States – 4 million more than the Baby Boomer generation.

Common Millennial characteristics and traits

Raised on a steady diet of gadgets and gizmos, Millennials are a very tech-savvy demographic (especially with mobile technology). Despite being independent by nature, they work better in teams with little supervision. Millennials have this uncanny, enthusiastic approach to work and eagerly confront the challenges of the workplace. In short, Millennials tend to be very resourceful and innovative. They relish in the opportunity to contribute to an organization’s overall strategy. They seek leadership and structure from their older counterparts (while they feel the need to be heard and respected). Above all else, Millennials need to see where their careers are going, but more importantly what is required to get there.

With 70% of Millennials saying they would switch jobs given the opportunity, how do you keep the winners from leaving your organization? Before we can answer that question, it is important for us to address some key myths that surround this generation.

1. Millennials don’t want to work hard to get ahead.
   This is simply not the case; Millennials are focused on deliverables. You simply need to understand what drives them in an attempt to get the best out of them.
2. Millennials can’t lead.
   Yet another fallacy. According to Amy K. Hutchens, there are 7 critical skills leaders will need to be successful in the future: leading people, strategic planning, managing change, inspiring commitment, resourcefulness, doing whatever it takes (digitally), and being a quick learner(digitally). Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers tend to be quite competent with the first 3, while Millennials are experts in the last 3.
3. Millennials have no respect for authority.
   This just isn’t the case. In reality, much like anyone else, their respect has to be earned. Once it’s earned, it is given without reproach. At this point they believe in you, your organization, and will do whatever it takes to help you succeed.

How do you manage Millennials for greater impact?

If you want to attract, engage, motivate and retain Millennials, here are 5 tips to get you started:

• Provide constant feedback
  Instead of waiting for annual or semi-annual reviews (which sometimes never happen), Millennials want constant feedback from their managers and supervisors. Moreover, holding regular meetings and communicating regularly will give them the opportunity to voice their concerns. The end result: a hardworking, committed individual that is loyal to the organization.

• Establish a reverse mentoring relationship
  While managers and supervisors have years of experience that has been earned over time, Millennials were born in a digital age. Developing a reverse mentoring program can help build relationships (learning from each other), which in turn, will increase productivity.

• Develop a work-life balance
  Millennials tend to keep office hours that are outside of the normal 9-to-5. Furthermore, friends and family are also a huge part of their lives; so it’s no surprise that they are eager to share this. Managers/supervisors need to pay attention to this and support their talent if they want to see them strive.

• Challenge them at work
  Allow your Millennials to work on multiple projects (if they can handle it). This is not to be confused with setting barriers or micro-managing their tasks. Allowing them to get bored will result in disengagement and ultimately increased turnover.

• Place emphasis on teamwork and collaboration
  Millenials enjoy collaboration. Putting them in teams will allow them to make friends while utilizing their strengths (in addition to learning new skills).

Remember, failing to adhere to these simple principles, will only hurt you in the long-term. This is a growing demographic and will only continue to do so over the next few years. Are you ready to embrace them?

VisionSpark is the Talent Planning and Retained Executive Search Firm of Alec Broadfoot and Adam McCampbell. For more news and updates, follow the conversation at @Hire4Impact or like us on Facebook.

Employee Value Proposition: Getting it Right

In our last article we talked about Employer Branding and how it affects your bottom line. In that same post we briefly touched on one important aspect: the Employee Value Proposition (EVP). The EVP, as we described, are the characteristics and appeals that your organization offers current employees and future candidates. A well-crafted EVP will help your organization attract, retain, engage, and motivate your talent to drive business goals (if you happened to miss this article, take a second read Employer Branding Impacts the Bottom Line). Furthermore, much like any other type of brand message, the EVP will help differentiate your organization from other organizations competing for the same talent. Unfortunately while developing an EVP most organizations sometimes find it difficult to differentiate themselves from the competition and/or there is a disconnect between the perceived message and the reality (resulting in perpetual disengagement).

Apart from the aforementioned benefits (attracting, retaining, and engaging talent), an effective Employee Value Proposition will:

• Help your organization build a robust talent agenda. Knowing what is important to current and future talent will help identify gaps within your existing talent pipeline (knowing what areas need improvement, and what factors are contributing to employee turnover).
• Strengthen your Employer Brand – being known for the way you treat your people adds credibility to your EVP.
• Reduce the cost of new hires – candidates who want to join your team could potentially demand smaller compensation packages when accepting offers.

So how do you go about creating an effective Employee Value Proposition?

Start with the data you already have from internal employee satisfaction surveys. This will tell you what your employees find attractive and why they continue to show up day after day. If you don’t already have this data, now would be a good time to start collecting. Some questions to help you get started on your EVP include: Who are we as an organization? What do we do? Why does it matter? What are the talent needs to succeed and where do we need them? Who are they and what matters most to them? With whom are we competing for talent? The more information you gather, the easier it will be to define what benefits to offer, and in turn, what to expect from employees moving forward. A word of caution – make sure you cover your bases, especially in larger/global organization. You have more than one kind of employee within your organization, so make certain that your EVP is representative of that fact. As with any business or organizational endeavor, always test your EVP to make sure you’re hitting your mark. Test it with current employees, and test it with future candidates. That will help you attract the best talent possible, while retaining the stars within your organization.

With as many ways of getting your EVP right, there are just as many ways (if not more) to get it wrong. So in closing, here are some key practices for getting your EVP right – courtesy of Towers Watson:

• Develop a formal EVP.
• Effectively communicate the EVP to employees.
• Align the EVP with organizational principles and goals.
• Deliver on EVP promises.
• Differentiate the organization from competitors.
• Design customized EVPs for all critical employee segments.
• Employ key metrics to test the effectiveness of rewards programs.