by Michael McCloy of Maximillion GPS Adventures
Whether you are running an organisation or managing a team, you always look for people who are committed, diligent, feel satisfied at work and are willing to stick around.
But here’s the bummer. You can never recruit such employees because they are already ‘committed’ to someone else’s goals. Which leaves you with people you already have and a bunch of newbies that require a lot of training.
But are they going to stay or leave will depend on how you treat them at work. Most organisations struggle through retention crises in spite of paying their employees as per the highest standards.
Amidst the catch and release of employees, there’s one important thing they fail to notice, which not only makes them lose talent but also results in a great deal of time and money lost in the next recruitment drive.
Before getting at the bottom of this, let’s consider an everyday workplace scenario where organisations tend to reinforce professionalism and discipline through fixed work hours, a strict dress code policy and daily targets. Now, I’m ready to bet that most millennials aren’t comfortable working like that.
Should you care?
Yes, you should because the majority of the workforce in 2019 is comprised of millennials. And that’s why this article will revolve around them until the end.
Just a millennial thing: while it’s true that money drives them, they aren’t willing to trade their freedom for it. So, if you want the best out of them, you might want to relax the rules a bit.
But that’s not all. How you manage and treat them at work also determine the length of their tenure in your organisation.
Here’s how different management styles impact retention crises differently.
Leading by authority.
This management style features an orderly approach where everything goes by the rulebook. There’s top-to-down communication between managers and their teams, but not the other way around. This kind of management style is quite popular in military organisations, where officers lead their regiment by authority and the latter must obey whatever is asked of them.
Telling millennials what to do should be the last thing on your mind. This generation carries a lot of confidence and a bloated sense of self-esteem. They give their best only when they are inspired to do so, as opposed to when made to obey orders.
If you want your team to be fully committed to your goals and perform well, it’s about time you should start involving them in the bigger scheme of things. Give them enough reasons to believe that they are an important part of the team and that their opinions matter too.
Considerate and approachable management.
This management style is something Millennials are happy to embrace. When their managers are compassionate, approachable and empathetic, millennials feel genuinely invested in the mutual goal. It’s like building a give-and-take relationship, a flat hierarchy and a support network where managers and employees root for each other and everyone within the system takes responsibility for their work.
This sheer sense of equality and accountability makes millennials to drop anchor and stay.
Laissez-faire Management.
When you leave it upon them to work it out while also being available when and where the guidance is needed, things start to look up for millennial employees. They truly embrace this kind of management style, as a result of which they feel empowered to show consistent productivity. More importantly, they get the impetus to take bold initiatives that might win fortunes for your organisation.
Further, management should be open to feedback, and some part of decision-making should be left to employees to make them feel they belong in here.
To sum it up.
No matter how well you pay them, if your employees don’t feel welcomed at work, they will tend to fall out of place. So what else can make them feel welcomed and valued if a good paycheck is not what it takes? Start with knowing your employees through regular interactions or occasional team building activities.
Notice all the things they are doing right. What are they good at? How helpful and kind they are to their colleagues, etc. And once you know that, feed that back to them in an appreciative way.
When you reciprocate their feelings and conduct (both the good and bad ones), they will intuitively feel welcomed, heard, valued and more importantly, considered a vital part of the team. This approach works beautifully at all levels of employment, in most work scenarios.
Michael McCloy currently oversees the management of Maximillion GPS Adventures serving as the manager and has extensive experience in events, marketing and communications. In the past decade Mike has worked as an outdoor event manager for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) and as an event manager for Eildfox Events.
