Millennials Want to Lead. Are They Ready?
In the near future millennials will occupy every consequential leadership position in the world, be it in business, academia, government, or in the non-profit sector. Will they be ready to lead?
Contrary
to popular belief, millennials (the generation born between the years
1984 and 1996) around the world are ambitious and eager to work hard
to become leaders. But they want to do it on their terms, in jobs
that give them meaning and allow them to contribute to society.
In
a global study of millenials by the INSEAD Emerging Markets
Institute (EMI), the HEAD Foundation and Universum, we surveyed over
16,000 millennials in 43 countries to better understand the many
workplace stereotypes. While there were differences across regions,
41 percent of all respondents confirmed that it was very
important
to them to become a leader or a manager, and younger millennials
noted an nterest in coaching and mentoring as part of a
leadership role.
But,
as important as becoming a manager is, only 24 percent strongly want
a fast-track career with constant promotions. Most millennials’
focus is to grow and learn new things (45 percent), the second most
important goal in their lives after work-life balance. A whopping 73
percent chose work-life balance over a higher salary and 82 percent
picked a better work-life balance over their position in a company,
while 42 percent would prefer to have no job than one they hate.
The biggest fear for 40 percent of respondents globally is getting stuck in a job with no development opportunities.
As
millennials will make up the majority of the workforce a few years
from now, attracting, recruiting and retaining them will be essential
for companies. Most importantly, as they increasingly take on
leadership roles across the professional world, organisations should
question whether they will be able to lead in the increasingly
uncertain environment we’re facing and groom them accordingly.
Lead
me to leadership
While
it is clear that many millennials have their eyes set on leadership
positions, they will spend most of their careers as followers rather
than leaders. Therefore, it’s important to understand what the
perfect manager looks like to this generation so we can align our
organisations accordingly and support their growth to become leaders
in their own right.
The
perception differs across geographies, but empowerment is very
important. In North America and Western Europe, millennials
apparently find it very important to be empowered by their manager,
whereas those from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle
East feel less strongly about this.
Overall,
millennials connect the term empowerment with the ability to make
independent decisions. It is less about being empowered in the actual
work or job and more about having personal freedom at a more
conceptual level. At the regional level, North American millennials
want to avoid being micro managed while those in the Middle East want
their managers to have all the answers.
Millennials
also support a high-touch approach from their managers, with many
expecting weekly feedback, this being more prevalent among European,
American and Middle Eastern respondents, a far cry from annual
personal development plans.
Support
me, but don’t boss me around
While
millennials are not particularly eager to work with their friends,
most of them see teamwork as the way forward. Autonomy, however, is a
subject that clearly divides West and East. In North America and
Western Europe, it is not top of millennials’ minds, but being
autonomous in one’s work is very important in APAC and CEE. We also
asked them whether they saw their future as specialists or
generalists as they felt in general more pessimistic about their
futures. What we found was that in all regions apart from CEE, those
who prefer to become specialists are in the majority, possibly
because they sense that being a generalist is associated with being a
higher risk position in times of uncertainty.
How
can we groom millennials?
Employers
can address the leadership ambitions of millennials not just by
expanding or enhancing their internal leadership programmes, but
making different career paths available. Providing specialist tracks,
opening up avenues beyond regular full-time positions to ensure
employees can rotate between departments and job roles.
Furthermore,
as we take the differences of the findings across geographies, there
will be significant need for cross-cultural awareness. Companies
should allow exposure to different geographies as well as functions
before allowing them to assume senior management roles, ensuring
future managers have had significant exposure to other cultures.
Diversity also needs to apply to gender. The differences between the
preferences of younger and older millennials is much wider than those
between women and men. Therefore, it will be essential to segment any
efforts towards millennials according to age and not just according
to gender or their field of study.
It
is also clear that employers will have to develop offerings aside
from salary and benefits, such as learning opportunities, training
programmes and flexibility towards their ambitions. Organisations
such as Procter & Gamble make fast track candidates rotate
between categories and geographies as well as functions before they
move upwards.
Develop
a granular strategy
Looking
at the diversity of views and preferences across millennials in 43
countries, some commonalities exist, but they shouldn’t be
addressed as one group. Asia Pacific is perhaps the best example.
Addressing Japanese millennials and Indian millennials as one group
is bound to end badly. Therefore, employers, large multinationals in
particular, should not jump to conclusions based on regional
findings alone.
Henrik
Bresman, INSEAD Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour and
Vinika Rao, Executive Director of the INSEAD Emerging Markets
Institute
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99 Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99 Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99 Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99 Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/millennials-want-to-lead-are-they-ready-3692#SgHEC3bREf3DPazp.99
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