Engaging Millennials for Ethical Leadership: What Works For Young Professionals and Their Managers by Jessica McManus Warnell

Author:Jessica McManus Warnell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Published: 2015-01-25T14:00:00+00:00

Purpose at Work: for Millennials and for All

Because of their capacities and life experiences (i.e., motivation by feelings of esteem and self-worth) millennials are well positioned to champion this revised approach to motivation. Managers can design and incentive training and development activities that recognize this new reality. Of course, the expressed desire of young talent for intrinsic motivation may lead to members of older generations to shake their heads: as one of our corporate respondents noted, “Being naive and ideological runs amok with this generation. They only want to do work they find meaningful—what the heck does that mean? So, who does the other jobs?” A new approach, however, does not mean millennials are not capable of or willing to do work that is repetitious, taxing, or otherwise less-than-enchanting.

Rather, the solution seems to be engagement around whatever work is being done, and connections with the “big picture” of mission and goals. Affirming that all tasks are vital to organizational functioning and success is key, and explicitly communicating the “why” behind the “what” of our tasks at work resonates particularly with this group. This is not the exclusive province of work with clearly visible connections to “meaning.” All of us can create organizations that matter, and all can contribute in ways, large and small, to the purpose of this work. These types of disconnects between the expressed desires of millennials, and the goals and perceptions of their managers, are the areas where engaged communication around values and purpose are so important. Some of the tools of the Giving Voice to Values approach, such as those related to reflection and alignment, can help bridge these gaps by helping us define purpose explicitly and broadly, and by doing so together with colleagues.

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