Here Come the Millennials

Trait 5 – Let’s All Talk About It

Boomer parents have instilled in their children self-esteem and the importance of open communication. Millennials weren’t grounded and sent to their rooms. Instead, parents and children sat at the dinner table, discussed the offensive actions, and together chose the appropriate punishment. As a result, millennials are comfortable sharing their feelings and are rarely afraid to speak their minds in the office.

The Clash: While millennials’ parents may be comfortable hearing their children’s opinions, the boss may not be. Millennials are challenging the chain of command, speaking their mind to all levels of management. 

Millennials also want constant feedback on their performance. This communicative generation will not settle for a direct supervisor’s opinion; they will also seek input from the CEO, peers, clients, the mail clerk, and the summer intern.

Another surprise: Many employers are starting to learn just how involved Mom and Dad are in millennials’ lives, as parents weigh in on career decisions that previous generations didn’t care to discuss with family.

The Click: Even though millennials are speaking up, they generally are doing so with respect. In most surveys that have asked millennials whom they admire most, their parents top the list. This generation has grown up thinking of an older generation as heroes. All this freedom of communication has groomed millennials to be open to mentoring.

John Rash, an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications, sees these trends in the classroom. “Millennial students are much more comfortable challenging the instructor than students of prior generations,” he says. “Some may view this as threatening, but I find it drives a more dynamic dialogue that focuses on the whole learning process. This collaborative way of looking at the world should serve millennials well as they begin to negotiate the next stages in their personal and professional lives.”

Millennials know that their generation is unique, but they don’t want to work in a world of “us versus them.” They believe that open communication is necessary to get critical jobs done.  With tragedies such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina hitting so close to home, millennials feel that they are living in an increasingly unstable world. As a result, they don’t want to waste time analyzing who is right or who is wrong. Rather than sweat the small stuff, they want to roll up their sleeves and figure out how all the generations can work together.