Millennials at work: My boss doesn’t “get me” July 28, 2009
Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials at work.Tags: hiring millennial, managing millennials, millennial, millennials, millennials at work
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My boss totally “gets” Millennials. She has a blog, she put my Twitter handle on my business cards and she’s pretty much awesome. I know I am super lucky to have manager like this, but it wasn’t always roses and sunshine between me and some of my previous managers. And while at the time I blamed my manager for what they were doing wrong, looking back it seems that I wasn’t exactly being the perfect Millennial employee either. Since hindsight is 20/20, here is what I should have done when my boss didn’t “get me.”
1. I should have talked to them- Whenever there is a problem between an employee and a manager both parties tend to back away and talk about the situation. Unfortunately, neither of the parties tend to talk to each other about the situation. Instead they tend to talk to other colleagues, managers, etc. In one of my internships I was absolutely SLAMMED with work. I was working overtime every day of my internship, while the other interns were sitting around enjoying their summers. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved my internship and the work I was doing. So when my manager gave me another assignment to do I pretended like everything was OK. In my head though I kept thinking, my boss doesn’t “get me” at all! I blamed her for overworking me and not understanding my need for work life balance. But what I should have done was talk to her. I’m not 100 percent sure it would have worked, but I didn’t even try it! I know I will never make the mistake again of letting my problems at work go un-talked about.
2. I should have asked them what they wanted- When you are working toward your goals as a Millennial employee it is really easy to only focus on what you need to get done to succeed. But the truth is, your success is partially based on your bosses success. I had one boss who gave all of her media pitching to me on my first day. She said “you are managing this media list, go for it.” And I did “go for it.” Unfortunately though, I wasn’t doing it right. I completely let my enthusiasm for the project get in the way of me doing the work correctly. And if I had just taken a few more minutes to ask my boss what she really wanted me to do, we would have both found success. Instead, we both failed.
3. I should have told them what I wanted- I actually had a wonderful boss at one of my internships, but he was BUSY. And I mean he was really really really busy. At the time I blamed him for my lack of interesting and meaningful work. He basically told me to do whatever I wanted. And instead of telling him what I wanted to do and actually doing it, I got scared and continued to do the busy work he left for me. Here he had given me this amazing opportunity to do whatever I wanted, but I was too afraid to tell him what it was I really wanted.
So next time you think your boss doesn’t “get you,” think of what you can do to make your relationship better. Your manager is above you for a reason, so give them a hand in managing you. And hopefully one day, your boss will “get you.”
Managing Millennials: What am I do doing wrong? July 8, 2009
Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials.Tags: managing millennials, millennial, millennials, millennials at work
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“My Millennial employee is lazy, my gen-y intern is rude…blah blah blah,” I’ve heard it all! And since I doubt that every Millennial is lazy and rude, this behavior may be a result of poor management. So, if you are managing a Millennial, whether as an intern or employee, and you aren’t getting the results you are hoping for, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does my Millennial employee have enough work to do? – This is the most important thing you can ask yourself! Millennials get bored easily, actually we get bored reallyyy easy! And if a Millennial don’t have enough work to do her/she is going to find some way to stay entertained. So do us all a favor, and give us work to do.
2. Have I let my Millennial employee be a part of the decision making process for our projects?- Now I know what you are thinking, “Why does my Millennial deserve to be a part of the decision making process when they are just my assistant/coordinator, etc?” But the truth is that Millennials are smart, so ask for our feedback and you are likely to see things you may have missed before by involving us in the decision making process.
3. Have I asked my Millennial employee for advice or feedback on his/her work? – Millennials want to feel valued, so if you never ask us about or give us feedback on the work we are doing, why are we doing it? Ask your Millennial about their work and they will fill you in on everything, and maybe even help you with your own work.
Open communication is the key to managing Millennials, so next time you think your employee is being rude or lazy make sure you’ve asked yourself these questions.
What do you think Millennial managers could do better?
A few traits Millennials could do without June 4, 2009
Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials.Tags: managing millennials, millennial, millennial traits, millennials, millennials at work
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We all know that I think being a Millennial is just wonderful. But, I still think there are some common mistakes that we as Millennials make. Of course nobody is perfect, but here are a few traits I think Millennials could do without!
1. Fear- Millennials are smart, and we know what we are doing. Yet, sometimes we still feel afraid at work. We want to be perfect and appreciated, and sometimes the pressure goes to our head and makes us scared of those who are supposedly older and wiser than us. I think it would do Millennials (myself included) a world of good to show no fear, especially in the workplace.
2. A need to “rise to the top”- Millennials are always being criticized for wanting to rise to the top of a company too quickly. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder, we Millennials think it would be much more fun to just start as CEO of a company. I think this is one of the worst traits that Millennials have, and a trait we could all certainly do without. I know I am guilty of carrying this trait, and probably many Millennials out there are too. The only advice I can offer is that of Margaret Thatcher, who said, “One only gets to the top rung of the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of powers, all sorts of abilities which you thought never belonged to you — suddenly become within your own possibility and you think, Well, I’ll have a go, too.”
3. Wishing to be older- I once worked with a girl named Jane (not her real name, but who cares). Jane was a Millennial who had just started at a huge global company, and she was working with people at least 3x her age. But instead of using her age as an advantage, Jane tried to act older than she was. And by older I mean MUCH, MUCH older. She wore ugly old people suits, and pretended she didn’t “get” Facebook. Instead of wishing she was older, Jane should have shown her coworkers that Millennials are full of new and great business ideas.
What traits do you think Millennials could do without?
