Becoming the Boss: Tips for Millennial Leadership Training
Tips from Top Corporate Training Company
Millennials are the generation everyone has been buzzing about for years, with media debating the positive and negative characteristics attributed to this cohort. The role of millennials in the workplace has been a popular topic, as employers try to figure out how to integrate the work style of these employees into their organizations.
While the attention has been focused on millennials, many may not have noticed that Generation Z has been quietly growing up in the background, and the oldest members of this group are now entering the workplace. In the meantime, millennials have been moving up in the ranks and are no longer in entry level positions. They have been observing how their bosses lead and formulating ideas on how they would do things differently as a leader.
One of the attributes of millennials is that they want to work for companies that make a difference. They strive for work-life balance, and look for companies that support a flexible schedule. They also prefer a work environment based on collaboration not competition.
Now that they have been working for some time, many feel it is their turn to take the reins, seeking leadership roles within their companies or starting their own businesses and being the boss.1
Here are 3 millennial leadership training tips to set up your new leaders for success.
Leadership training
If your company has a leadership training component as part of your company’s learning and development program, now is a good time to review it to be sure the courses are up-to-date to address today’s leadership challenges. Do you have a program in place for managers to nominate candidates to enroll in leadership development training?
A learning management system (LMS) is a helpful tool for assigning courses to leadership candidates with schedules and deadlines. Up and coming millennial leaders can manage and complete their training programs on their own time.
Mentorship
Millennial workers are motivated to learn and look for feedback from their managers. If your company doesn’t already have one, consider implementing a mentorship program. Senior employees can work with more junior people to answer questions and give advice in a safe environment. In many cases the senior people will have much to learn from the younger employees as well!
There are different types of mentoring techniques you can use based on your company’s situation including reverse, group, anonymous and one-on-one. Read more about mentoring millennials.
Responsibility
To develop their leadership skills, consider giving millennials more responsibility. This could begin with chairing the weekly team meeting, heading a special project or leading an internal team.
The steps to setting up the person for success include establishing formal objectives and goals, scheduling status meetings, and being available to provide feedback. Most importantly, trust them – let them know you have their back while giving them room to fail. Some of the most valuable lessons come from failure as long as the person is supported and knows there is always a solution. Be sure they are part of the solution as that builds confidence and character.
You want to provide a challenge that will stretch the skills of the employee, but is not so difficult it causes stress, discourages them or negatively impacts their confidence.
To learn more about preparing your millennial workforce for leadership roles, download your free eBook from TrainingFolks and work through 5 Key Tactics for Developing Millennial Leaders to ensure a more engaging leadership development program for this unique group.