This is not Your Fathers Leadership...The world has changed. There’s no doubt about it. Things aren’t the same as they were a generation ago. Trying to fight that change – or failing to adapt to it – can and will sink a leader or business faster than a raft in a hurricane. As the Baby-boomers prepare for retirement and are already leaving the workforce, the Generation-Xers are taking over. This leaves a void in middle-management and first-line leadership roles. Who is set to fill those roles? 
The Millennials are ready.  
But we can’t lead Millennials the way that the boomers lead us. It’s true. Millennials simply do not respond to the same motivation as previous generations. 
Leading Millennials is challenging for so many of today’s leaders. Most leaders just simply do not understand them. Gaining that understanding is crucial to modern leadership and leaders must take on a new outlook regarding them.
I have been a leader for 30 years and as a member of Generation-X, I understand what it’s like to not be understood. I must say, that developing that understanding is absolutely mandatory for sustainable excellence in the coming years. Companies and their executives will be left with no choice but to change the way they lead – indeed, the way they handle the inner-workings of business.

Here’s why.
In 2015, three out of four workers globally will be millennial. In general, Millennials keep a job for just under 2 years, which is a dramatic shift from the 5-year average for Gen-X, and 7-year average for Baby-boomers. 
This is perceived by older generations as “job hopping” and it is a staggering phenomenon for those who attempt to lead this perplexing-yet-vital generation. Millennials are driving the results for which you are accountable as a leader. Therefore, it’s important to understand why Millennials leave jobs at such an alarming rate, and look at how we can retain and leverage the talent of these future leaders.

Understanding Millennials
Millennials leave for the next opportunity when their current role doesn’t match up to their values. And their values are centered about purpose and impact, development and opportunities, feedback and guidance, and flexibility and balance.
There is much debate around the kind of impact Millennials seek to make. For some, they call it a “sense of purpose” closely associated with cause work. More correctly, this sense of ‘purpose’ is defined by how their contribution impacts the company’s purpose.
If a Millennial believes your product or service will improve daily life somehow (ex: more efficient, delightful, etc.), and can identify how their contribution affects the end result, then that is generally purposeful and impactful enough. However, if they don’t recognize a sense of purpose in the work, or their impact on it, they will desire to leave to where they can make an impact.
Millennials value flexibility more than money. They absolutely DO want to be paid fairly, but they value the ability to work where they want and when they want. Organizations with inflexible work hours and fixed locations will struggle with this growing demographic. Millennials want work/life balance, but not by keeping them separate and equal. 
Why? Because they don’t distinguish a difference between the two. 

Integration
Millennials are, by far, the most integrated generation in history. They are integrated with technology, and with each other, to the degree that they don’t see separation the way previous generations do. Millennials crave a blending of professional and personal spheres.
This means that they may socialize or send texts on social media while at work, but they’ll also bring work home and maintain friendships with colleagues after hours, talking shop and organizing company events. 
Some mistakenly argue that this compromises professionalism. On the contrary, this is an attempt to fully integrate what they do with who they are, forever anchored to their passion. If your culture allows for this integration of professional and personal spheres, Millennials will appreciate the culture and be more likely to stay and thrive. If not, Sayonara.
As a leader of the Millennial generation, it is also important to understand that they focus on the team, not the company. Organizational brands means less and less to young workers. Again, because of the integration, it is likely that Millennials will not identify with the organizational brand, but rather they will integrate with their team of coworkers. This means that it will be necessary to focus on team affiliation as a way of motivating and retaining them. 

Leadership or Partnership?
Another area for change in leadership is how leaders view their newer, younger workforce. With Millennials, you must begin to change the relationship from ‘Supervisor and Subordinate’ to ‘Partners’. 
In the traditional model of leadership, there is this belief that leaders need to give those they work with power. Millennials don't want you to give them the right to do anything. They don't want you to give them power. They want you to recognize the power they already believe they possess. 
They want you to reach out to them as partners – celebrating and appreciating their skills and talents. The very notion of "giving" them the right to do something is insulting to them. What they want is recognition through partnership, not trickle-down authority.


Yes, there is a lot of change on the horizon for leaders and businesses. Soon, it will be very necessary to change the organizational structure of leadership within a company. Those organizations that are open, accepting, and willing to embrace these changes will leverage the power of this generation. Those organizations that are not, will eventually fall by the wayside, or adapt far too late to thrive.
As one of the remaining Baby-boomers, or a Generation-Xer who has come to the top of the ladder, you have some thinking to do. 


Believe to Achieve!



Joe Vulgamore is a Life Coach, Certified Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner as well as a Personal Development Author and Speaker. He works with people who are struggling with limiting beliefs, core values, and goal setting to sharpen their edge, perform at optimum levels, and achieve excellence. He has 30 years of leadership experience and a proven track record of helping thousands of people from over 14 countries, across 5 continents, to make life-transformations through one-to-one coaching and workshops.