Motivating Millennials = A BIG challenge for leaders

These days, I was presenting to a senior leader the influences that shaped the millennial generation, and how understanding those influences better actually helped explain some of the millennial behaviors in the workplace.

One of the questions that emerged from the conversation was about motivation, and the question contained at least a hint of desperation: How do we motivate millennials?

My answer is: Help them to be successful.

In his book, Drive, business author Dan Pink does a great job at breaking down motivation into three basic components: autonomy, mastery and purpose. That sounds a lot like what you need to be successful: the freedom to take the right actions (autonomy), the capacity to continuously move the needle (mastery) and a sense of meaning attached to the success (purpose).

And while we all share these basic components of motivation, I think  that the millennials will take a slightly different approach, which may require some adjustments inside any organizations:

Autonomy

We all want autonomy, but millennials might want it a little faster. Remember, they grew up with the social internet, which gave them an incredible amount of power. Not only did they have instant access to every piece of knowledge known to humankind —whenever and wherever they wanted it  —they also had the power to leverage their social network to get things done. All of us have that power now, of course, but they grew up with it, so autonomy might mean something different to them. They expect to exercise power at work — not because they are “entitled” but because they are simply accustomed to having power.

Mastery

We all want to develop mastery, but millennials are looking for that to be a part of work, not something outside of it. Again, part of this ties back to the social media revolution that millennials simply experience as “normal.” They are used to getting constant feedback, and they are used to figuring out how to do things by doing them rather than by learning them in the abstract first and then attempting to apply those lessons in the real world.

Purpose

We all want a sense of purpose, but millennials want it in the first half of their career too. In addition to the internet, the millennials were influenced by the extensive material abundance that surrounded their coming of age. As a result, they tend to focus on “higher order” needs , where previous generations focus more on basic needs.

I heard a parent complain once that her daughter came home from work confessing that she quit her job because “they wouldn’t listen to my ideas.” The mom’s bewildered response was typical of the older generations’ focus on basic needs: “But you had a job!” Millennials are expecting the purpose to be clear and to go way beyond “following orders.” They have raised the bar.

Everything you can do inside your organization to facilitate stronger autonomy, mastery and purpose is not about pampering the millennials. It’s about aligning your culture with deep, human motivations, that makes people more successful, and that will have a larger impact on employee engagement that most people realize.