Tapping millennial skills

Contador Harrison was born more than three decades ago and according to experts belong to millennial generation.Others prefer to call us Generation Y. I want to picture my working life and why its a topsy turvy affair. Overall, am not the type that believe in traditional thinking, I belong to 21st century liberal blue thinkers out there. How I spend my time on personal tasks and assignments largely depends on the value. How much of my day is dedicated to developing other people is almost less than 2%.In hyper-competitive world, everyone is busy practically all the time in order to maintain an edge and end results is to see money in the account. Most coders have come to realise that talent development is critical for future and just like organisational success, it requires continuous support from the so called C-suite leaders. Many of fellow millennials are still struggling to find ways to accommodate such in our super-busy lives.In the end, Generation Y still has to try the hardest path to pursue the ultimate work life balance, unless one can start to develop and groom new generation of ideas.The millennial generation is expected to cover almost a third of the total global workforce in the next ten years and therefore developing new-generation talents and ideas is unavoidable. A recently published study meant to gather collective wisdom from various generations with a purpose of finding the best ways to manage this Generation Y of workers found fundamental points that need to be addressed for sustainable results.

I was listening to Courteeners hit track The Rest of the World Has Gone Home the other day and it made me firmly believe that the most critical groundwork for the office dinosaurs still working is to cherish Generation Y uniqueness and manage us the way we are. Being brought up in different environments, most members of Generation X may find it frustrating and annoying to manage the happy go lucky Generation Y talents who want to advance careers in an easy-peasy manner.Rather than building biases beforehand, Contador Harrison would like to suggest that seeking mutual comprehension by trying to understand why each generation is different, how they are similar, and what the effect of each generational environment has on performance.My advice to Generation Y about the opportunities available, explore all kinds of jobs available in the organisation before eventually agreeing on career wish.This way, managers within organisations could support your career advancement by offering chances to shine while building multiple capabilities at the same time.One thing that I have perfected, is the art of communication. I do constantly listen, dialogue, and frequently check-in with openness.That has helped me understand more about other people’s thoughts, opinions, needs and required support. In fact, genuinely fine-tuning the relationships between Generation Y and the other generations in the organisation might not be easy acquired in the short term and from experience, they are two incompatible softwares, and hence, patience is indispensable. However,communication must be done continually,clearly and equally.That is, make it two-way, as the top-down approach does not work any more, particularly for our Generation Y. Am also an advocate and believer that motivating and giving constructive feedback.

Over the years I have all heard the saying "People quit their managers, not the organisations."Overall, I can confidently say that this adage is very much alive, valid and universal, as it still remains one of the top reasons companies cannot seem to retain their Generation Y talents.For us Generation Y, the job itself is one of the most important factors in staying with an employer otherwise we would rarely have any business with them. The fact is that Generation Y is keen to have only meaningful jobs and not just any other job that a clown on the street can easily get. From personal experience, the sooner Generation Y realise what's in the job that benefits them,their careers and how they can contribute to the organisation's success, the faster they will feel engaged and dedicated to the organisation.Moreover,Generation Y people tend to be independent in managing own work and thus appreciate freedom to initiate ideas and perform their own tasks.In this sense, to help Generation Y pursue their desired career goal, recognition and feedback are extremely valuable. Therefore, the Generation X and their fellow dinosaur bosses have to provide regular constructive feedback and coaching for Generation Y.Certainly, Generation X cannot work alone in today's workplace contrary to what most of them believe.A combination of skills and perspectives is unavoidable for an organisation to survive in complex , volatile, uncertain and ambiguous environment organisations operate in. Even when most corporate dinosaurs find Generation Y the most challenging to work with, our uniqueness could be a good team ingredient to mix with others who also have their assets and their own styles. Helping Generation Y to blend in with others to bridge generational gaps is surely helpful in boosting a positive environment that affects everyone's motivation to work together productively.