EDITOR’S NOTE: This is our second entry in a series of blogs, videos and infographics on motivating, leading and (ahem) actually being “Millennial” in the workplace and we’re going to call it: “The Millennials Aren’t Aliens”. Enjoy great content on a sometimes misunderstood generation that is also the fastest growing population in the workplace. Check out our first installment here: Pokemon Go and the Millennials
I worked for a boss who enjoyed taking the “temperature” of his employee’s almost every day. Literally. Every. Day. (Not like literally taking our physical temperature BTW).
For the first few months at my former job, when my manager would approach with his coffee in hand, all I would see is the character Bill Lumberg from Office Space.
I wasn’t necessarily excited for those mini-meetings.
But a strange thing started to happen after his regular checkups. One, I began to feel connected to my manager’s mission for our department, and two, I started to feel appreciated.
Did I mention I’m a millennial?
In this our second installment of our series about millennials titled ‘Millennials aren’t Aliens’ we look at the ways you can change your employee feedback model to improve your team’s morale AND engage the fastest-growing segment in the workforce today.
Regular “mini-Meetings” are a good place to start.
Now, my manager was an anomaly. He enjoyed the daily conversations with his team but he also had a small team, so it was easy for him to do.
In their most recent report on Millennials in the workforce, Gallup reported that the frequency of meetings is less important to employees than if they happen at all. However, “engagement is highest among employees who meet with their manager at least once per week.”
Our impact report shows that employees that feel the most engaged or happy at work, have regular interaction with their managers. Managers drive engagement at every successful organization. That much we know.
HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK FOR MILLENNIALS: The Gallup report also shows that these “mini-meetings” don’t have to be formal. They can in fact, be fun or mini-checkups that allow for two people to get to know each other.
Don’t get caught up in the “what” just know that the “why” has a pay off in the form of a more connected and motivated millennial (and non-millennial) employee.
Create a regular feedback loop
The other interesting way you can increase engagement and productivity among your youngest employees is via a structured and transparent feedback loop.
A feedback loop that is simple, transparent, and available to your employees when they need feedback is critical.
For most, they know “feedback” in the form of yearly performance reviews but these are quickly becoming in-effective at actually addressing the needs of most employees. What’s more, less than 20% of millennials are saying they receive routine feedback.
Large companies like, Accenture, General Electric and more have completely changed their annual review process, opting for a more regular form of evaluation and feedback. Why? Because millennials are requesting it.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE IT WORK FOR MILLENNIALS? Start simple. If you currently use the traditional annual performance evaluations just increase them to quarterly reviews.
Focus on more conversational feedback instead of “check the box” eval’s. Keep it simple and trackable. Don’t focus on standard “strongly agree or strongly disagree” types of questions and instead focus on creating two or three questions that are essential to the mission and core values of your company, as well as the position the employee is in.
Do you have a formalized feedback system? If not: WE CAN HELP.
ABOVE ALL: KEEP IT SIMPLE
Milllennial’s aren’t aliens from another planet. Like any of us, we just like to know that we’re doing our jobs correctly and in the way that our leaders and peers want it done.
It’s true that we millennials like a bit more feedback and recognition from our leaders however, these are efforts that can benefit the team at large, as well.
Don’t focus on creating systems or processes for feedback or evaluation that can’t scale with your culture as you grow your team. Keep them simple and transparent and you’ll see the results faster than you can retweet this article.
We’d love to hear from you!
If you or your company are doing new and innovative things to connect with millennials and beyond – we’d love to hear about it. Feel free to comment or connect with us on social media.
