Table of Contents
Foreword
Gabrielle Jackson Bosché xv
Introduction Close Encounters with a Different Kind xix
Part I The Millennial Phenomenon 1
Chapter 1 The Millennials and You 3
The Generations at Work 4
What in the World is Happening? 8
The Coming Job Gap 12
You’re So Special 13
Bridging the Gap 15
Chapter 2 Aren’t We All Just the Same? 17
So What? isn’t Every Generation the Same? 17
Who Gets to Do the Sense-Making and Set the Rules? 24
Chapter 3 The Effective Managers versus the
Challenged Managers 27
Mind-Set 30
Following Up with Human Resources 33
Chapter 4 The Points of Tension between Managers and Millennials 35
Perceptual Positioning 37
The Consequence of Inexperience40
Part II Discover the Core Competencies for Managing Today’s Workforce 53
Chapter 5 Be Flexible: When Letting Them Have It Their Way Makes Sense 55
Flexing with the Autonomous
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Work-Life Blending 56
The Bias of Experience 57
Psychological Contract 60
Learning from Our Success 61
Learning from Our Failure 62
Best Practice 62
Chapter 6 Create the Right Rewards: Rewarding the Right Things in the Right Ways 65
Incenting the Entitled
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Reward 66
The Bias of Experience 66
Rewarding the Right Way 68
Rewarding the Right Things 69
Keeping Them Informed 70
Learning from Our Success 71
In a Nutshell 73
Chapter 7 Put Their Imagination to Work: They are at the Head of the Creative Class 75
Cultivating the Imaginative
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Self-Expression 76
The Bias of Experience 76
Creativity and Competitive Advantage 78
Managerial Best Practices 79
Let Them Know What Happened with Their Ideas 80
Let Them Have Fun 81
In a Nutshell 82
Chapter 8 Build a Relationship: First Them, Then You 85
Engaging the Self-Absorbed
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Attention 86
The Bias of Experience 88
Best Practices 88
So What are Some Barriers to Engaging? 91
Something to Think About 95
The Transfer of Tacit Knowledge Will Not Happen without Building a Relationship 95
Chapter 9 Be Positive When Correcting: Fragile, Handle with Care 99
Disarming the Defensive
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Achievement 100
The Bias of Experience 103
Best Practices 104
Learning from Success 106
In a Nutshell 110
Chapter 10 Don’t Take Things Personally: It is Not Always about You 113
Self-Differentiating from the Abrasive
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Informality 114
The Bias of Experience 115
Self-Differentiating Is about You 117
Know Where They End and You Begin 118
Separateness and Togetherness 119
Know the Difference between Your Role and Your Person 119
Beware of Triangulating 119
Think about Your Presence 120
Confessions 121
In a Nutshell 122
Chapter 11 Show Them the Big Picture: The Big Picture Does Not Exist Until You Help Them See It 125
Broadening the Myopic
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Simplicity 126
The Bias of Experience 127
Learning from Success 128
Learning from Failures 128
Start with Something Easy 129
The Consequential Thinking Model 130
The Five Whys 131
Please, Do Share 132
In a Nutshell 134
Chapter 12 Include the Details: Ambiguity is Their Kryptonite 137
Directing the Unfocused
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Multitasking 138
The Bias of Experience 139
Directing? I Thought They Wanted Autonomy 140
Giving Direction 141
Learning from Success 142
Learning from Our Failures 143
In a Nutshell 145
Chapter 13 Make It Matter to Them: They Want to Know “Why” before “What” 147
Motivating the Indifferent
The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Meaning 148
The Bias of Experience 150
Hierarchy of Capabilities 152
Learning from Success 155
Learning from Our Failures 156
In a Nutshell 157
Part III Your Competitive Advantage 159
Chapter 14 Building a Millennial-Friendly Culture 161
Identify Your All-Stars and Give Them a Platform 161
Involve Your Managers in the Conversation 163
Ask Millennials 163
Suspend Organizational Bias 164
Promote the Core Competencies for Managing Today’s Workforce 165
The Generational Rapport Inventory 166
Chapter 15 Mentoring Millennials 169
Challenges Millennials Face in the Workplace 171
Strategies for Overcoming Roadblocks at Work 172
The Seven Skills for Overcoming Roadblocks 177
In the End 179
Acknowledgments 181
Notes 183
Index 191
