The millennial generation is comprised of those born in a sixteen-year span between 1981 and 1996. Millennials will continue to enter the workforce out of college through roughly 2022, yet they are already the largest generation in the labor force. Currently, more than 1 in 3 (35%) workers in the labor force are millennials. As of 2017, 56 million Millennials (those ages 21 to 36 in 2017) were working or looking for work. That was more than the 53 million Generation Xers, who accounted for a third of the labor force. Still well ahead of the 41 million Baby Boomers, who represented a quarter of the total. Millennials surpassed Gen Xers in 2016. US labor force in millions and by percent included below for reference (pewresearch.org).
It is critical organizations are aware of and understand these facts and trends. They must learn what motivates millennials and how to turn that motivation into sustainable profits for decades to come. As organizations of today grow, so does their millennial base. As we have extended further into the millennial demographic range, many of the millennials are now assuming leadership positions. They are now leading other millennials that report to them and are even starting to lead the older boomers whose roles are changing as they approach retirement. Not only do leaders need to know how to lead Millennials, but others need to know how to work for (and with) them. Creating the right environment to harness their new and unique skillet will be key to creating the productive cultures businesses need to compete.
Millennials enjoy independent decision making and expression. They enjoy being trained and mentored and thus accept constant feedback and recognition. Millennials want access to the latest technologies and want a company that creates customized career paths tailored to their skills and aspirations (Kinicki 357). One of the last and most influential characteristics that is influencing the organization structure of companies are that millennials strongly value teamwork, community, and collaboration. Building a strong community is one the aforementioned characteristics of servant leadership and perfectly aligns with millennials’ preferred working style.
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Millennials have been prone to many negative connotations and stereotypes. One of their perceived weaknesses is that they need extra guidance, reassurance, and direction. Managers often see millennials as needy or high maintenance. Which to some is very frustrating given the amount of time they must spend assisting, and as a result rather than the employee helping reduce the workload, they actually increase it. (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010). To the autocratic or laissez-faire type leader this would be strenuous. On the contrary, the premise of servant leadership is empowering, developing, and stewardship. Millennials need assistance to become truly autonomous, and servant leaders strive to serve their employees by providing the resources and reassurances needed.
Millennials have grown accustomed to supportive, nurturing environments that provide them with every opportunity to succeed since they were born. Parents coddled, and self-esteem was booted by the “everyone gets a medal” mentality. Millennials have been fully immersed in mentoring programs throughout their lives and continuously seek ample feedback since it provides them with assurance they are moving along a linear progressive path. Servant leaders’ stewardship helps give the nurturing environments, culture, and resources to give them every opportunity to succeed.
Another key difference between the boomers (parents of the millennials), and the millennials themselves, is the value they put on work life balance. When millennials were kids their parents were work centric and had to put in long hours to support them due to the lack of flexibility of organizations at the time. With the shift in less women staying home and not working, a large portion millennial spent the work days in childcare programs. As a result of these experiences, millennials put more value on family time than prior generations. (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010). Servant leaders acknowledge this core value and help provide them with the work life balance they desire.
The alignment of these millennial traits and servant leadership characteristics makes servant the best fit over the other leadership styles. In theory, millennials who feel valued respond with loyalty. They are loyal to the organizations because the servant leadership style fosters a strong leader-employee relationship and feeling of the organization being loyal in return. Millennials need a strong family like culture and feel that is supportive and attentive to their needs.
With millennials being the largest portion of the labor force now, they have more influence over organization decisions and structure than ever. This can be observed by how organizations are now valuing team-work and collaboration more than ever. They are adapting the organizational structure all the way down to the office layout and physical working spaces. Doing so that they are more aligned with the collaborative team work trend. They are creating environments that are aligned most with millennial needs. Organizations must not only create learning environments that support the concept that is okay to not know “how” goals with be accomplished, but also supportive ones that will help them figure out “how” they will accomplish the goals along the way. (Metler, Understandinggroup.org)
When servant leadership is integrated into an organization’s structure and culture properly, tied together with strong mission and vision statements, a sense of community is created. This leads to high rates of engagement amongst employees, higher levels of trust, and stronger relationships between employees and stakeholders. This combination of trust and engagement can lead to lucrative innovations. As companies innovate they generate growth (mind tools.com)
Even though millennial base might be largest, and servant leadership aligns best on paper, it is critical the organizational structure and business type be considered. A certain level of stability is needed to successfully integrate servant leadership. Employees need the psychological safety and autonomy to be creative and innovative. As a result, servant leadership is often best used alongside other leadership styles such as Transformational leadership. (HR Chronicles, all things talent.org)
In the end millennials simply want the perfect work life balance that provides them with the ability to collect skills and knowledge. They seek opportunities to grow within the organization, want recognition for their efforts, and want constructive feedback and development. They seek work that fulfills their personal and societal goals. Organizations are now seeking driven, innovative, and loyal employees to help them accomplish their goals in the modern highly competitive global economy. Servant leadership based organizational structures, or those that offer similar benefits, help attract the most talented Millennials. If their unique traits can be properly embraced and tailored to, millennials have the potential to be one of the most productive labor forces of all time.
