Visioning 2026 Blog
Engaging Millennials -- four major motivators for millennials
Check out the following (very short) article:
Engaging Millennials
which lists four major motivators for millennials. The article can be found here:
http://www.hermangroup.com:80/alert/archive_1-07-2009.html
-Larry
Liz February 9th, 2009 8:17 am
Larry thanks for sharing. This is interesting, but not different from what we have been hearing about this generation. I wanted to share my contemplations--just for general discussion or rebuttal :)
I continue to have my doubts about how I feel about working with/mentoring this generation. I remember when people didn't have much good to say about my generation, (x)--how we were the "me" generation and not very motivated/reliable. Now, however, we are VERY close to the baby boomers in productivity etc. I do think that the world is changing faster than ever, and I do think we have to look at our focus, perceptions, goals and specifically how we define "efficient, productive.." etc, but on the other hand I am not sure we, as a whole, should change our complete perspective to align ourselves with the youngest, and therefore, least experienced, generation. They are also the least connected with history, cultural experiences, historical social interactions and so on. They generally do not have the same connections with grandparents or even parents than past generations did and therefore don't have a perspective of where we, as a nation or world, are coming from.
Thinking about the claim I hear regularly and quote from this article: generation y is "the most educated and technologically savvy generation ever". Would this not be true for every generation since the boomers? They were much more educated and technological than their parents, my generation was more so than their, and so on. I HOPE this continues to be true.
I also think about instant gratification, and how, in general, our citizens, and especially this generation, do not want to work hard at anything--math, science, etc are not instantly rewarding or fun--they pay off in the long-run, but not at the lower levels. How can we move forward if we don't increase our intelligence?
Several of these points are excellent for every generation.
We need continued training, competition, updated information etc for everyone--new challenges and insight only help us all.
Every worker/citizen can be vital to the whole, and we do need to think about helping people see their value within the whole--MANY people of all generations do not get this. Think about how dysfunctional any (physical location) corporation would be without janitors AND how most of those janitors would not feel that they are vital to the companies operations.
We all need a little more stability and balance. Many Americans are working themselves to the ground and do not have a balance with time off, family, sleep and fun. We definitely need to examine how we can make this happen for everyone--if Gen Y is pushing these things because they won't flex on them, it is probably because they grew up in homes where parents worked 70+ hours a week and weren't home "to tuck them in" so to speak. This is a good place for them to draw the line I believe, and it has to be possible to be productive AND balanced.
Thanks for letting me type out loud--have a great week, Liz