Millennials in leadership – Part 1

How many people do you know who were born between 1980 and 2000? How many employees from this cohort will you be working with over the next ten years? If you were born during this period, you belong to Generation Y (Why) or the "millennials."

We have always been convinced that there is a lot of potential within us as human beings. But we also believe that we need others to help us bring it out. Our aim here is to give you a clearer understanding of how you can effectively deal with the challenges of the 21st century.

Based on the blog series "Millennials in Leadership," we would like to give you a few ideas on how you, as leader , can better understand leader people and thus lead them more effectively. If you yourself belong to this generation, we would like to show you ways in which you can better lead and understand yourself.

Who are these millennials anyway?

Whether this really constitutes a separate generation is debatable. However, in our management training courses, we are increasingly finding that the needs and ideas of this group differ significantly from those of others. There is a great temptation to get caught up in the hype surrounding this topic. Whether they exist or not, I would like to talk about millennials as a group of people who have grown up with a completely new hierarchy of values and needs.

Millennials were born and raised with a level of material prosperity unlike any generation before them. While their parents' values were primarily material possessions and status, millennials care about one thing above all else:

Meaning and self-actualization

Many grew up believing that they were special, simply because they exist. Their parents said things like,"You can do anything you want! You're very special!" These well-intentioned encouragements, awards, and trophies for simply participating, as well as so-called overprotective "helicopter" parents who responsibility too much responsibility from their children, have contributed to inflated and unrealistic expectations.

In the age of Amazon and other online retailers, immediate gratification is the norm. Self-regulation and delayed gratification (are you familiar with the marshmallow test?) are often less developed. The constant supply of positive feelings at the touch of a button (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) floods the brain with dopamine, the happiness hormone—just like with nicotine or alcohol addicts. This impairs our ability to build deep and trusting relationships.

From this perspective, millennials leave their sheltered bubble with enormous expectations:

"I want a job that is enjoyable and allows me to fulfill my potential. My work should have an "impact" (whatever that means) and be meaningful to society. But please, all of this should come with optimal support and definitely be close to my desired location—with ideal career opportunities and good pay."

What happens when these expectations are confronted with reality?

Psychologists call this state of confusion, frustration, and disappointment "job shock": initially inexperienced and motivated career starters suddenly realize that they are only at the foot of a mountain. And that the climb will not be possible without effort, setbacks, and hard work. What's more, we humans overestimate how satisfied positive events will make us and underestimate how dissatisfied negative events will make us in the future. What often follows is either:

• Downplaying the circumstances: "My boss simply has no idea how to deal with motivated people like me. He doesn't recognize my potential."
• Envy of others: "If only I had his network, he doesn't deserve it!" or
• An adjustment of one's own life priorities: "My career isn't that important to me after all. I'm more concerned with work-life balance. What good is money to me if I can't enjoy my life?"
• Many also take this as an opportunity to reorient themselves: "Studying business administration wasn't at all what I expected. I'm going to spend a year traveling the world to figure out what I really want to do."

Unfortunately, for many people, this is merely a self-serving approach because they have not developed enough determination and tenacity in dealing with setbacks or have little sense of purpose.

So we have a large group of people who are still underdeveloped in terms of self-management and personal responsibility. Sooner or later, this manifests itself in the symptoms of the times, which also show up in disorientation, excessive expectations, burnout, and unstable self-esteem. leader a more conservative understanding of leadership are now finding it difficult to gain access.

What does this generation need now?

First of all, correcting reality. Dealing with setbacks constructively. Because true success cannot be achieved without mistakes and defeats. We need more leader who have the courage to make this clear from the outset. Overnight success is possible, but to guarantee long-term stability, healthy, continuous growth is needed. Sustainable development takes time, no matter where you start. Above all, you need patience, with yourself and others.

Goethe's quote is fitting:

 "No one wants to become something; everyone wants to already be something."

Above all, however, one thing is needed: a deep, emotional clarity about where the journey should lead. Not necessarily a perfect, detailed picture of the future! But your own answer to the question of what you want to do something for. And that, in my view, brings us to the heart of the matter.

Meaning is the key to the future

The paradox of time is this: we long for more meaning and self-fulfillment, but we have never learned how to find or create either. I know many people who think that this meaning will be revealed to them through a life-changing event. They wait and hope that it will come at some point. ("Oh, I don't know exactly what I want to do someday. I'll just keep going and see what happens ...")

Behind this lies a spirit that has not yet assumed full responsibility its uniqueness. In other words, what makes every human being special at their core: strengths and weaknesses, as well as their life premises, what is important to them, and their"why" or"what for."

How many people (not just millennials!) do you know who can immediately tell you everything they don't want in their lives? And what do you think: how many of these people would be in a different league professionally or privately if they knew what they wanted?

Less knowledge, more skill

The absurd thing is that this has almost nothing to do with intelligence. I know many highly educated and cultured people who go round in circles when it comes to this question. Subconsciously, this leads to frustration. That's why it's particularly important to me to make one thing clear at this point: simply reading ( learning more) about this topic will not enable you to achieve your goal. What you need is to engage with it personally ( developing skills). You need to make a conscious decision to embark on this journey. On the path to greater personal responsibility and self-management.

Whether you're a millennial or not – six points you can implement right away:

1. Take on more responsibility demand more personal responsibility from those around you.
2. Explore your own "why." Take an interest in the "why" of your employees/your environment. Communicate your own "why" to those around you.
3. Ask those around you for feedback and criticism.
4. Commit to finding your strengths, as well as the strengths of your employees.
5. Review your expectations. Big goals are perfectly fine, as long as you stay true to yourself and always focus on the next step.
6. Realize that personal development takes time and that it is often the obstacles and challenges that help us grow.

In part two of "Millennials in leadership," we would like to discuss how you can get closer to your "why"and how you can become clearer about your life principles.Millennials in Leadership."

Until then, we are particularly interested in two things:

• What thoughts preoccupied you the most?
• Do you still think this article was only about millennials?

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