Today’s workers don’t need some Big Brother figure hovering over us to tell us that budgets are cut, that we will be in big trouble if we don’t meet deadlines, and to “make do with less.” We need leaders who set us up for success, instill in us a sense of bigger purpose, and give us the confidence we need to persevere when the work gets challenging. Corporate culture in the U.S. is changing in a big way, and companies who pay attention and adapt to these changes will be the ones attracting the most talented, passionate, and dedicated employees. Millennials don’t want (nor will respond to) an archaic management system that dictates rules and constraints – this generation craves mentors that guide and inspire them. Management can help the rising Millennial workforce thrive. Forbes, May 25, 2018. The Millennial Workforce Needs Mentors, Not Managers. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.

Of course, baby boomers and probably all the other generations wanted mentors to guide and inspire them also. I always found it gratifying that motivating someone based upon doing a good job for a noble purpose, as opposed to promotions and money, worked just as well for our youngest as it did on our oldest team members. Most people just seemed to like to do a good job and they like to be recognized for doing it.

See also Finding a Noble Purpose

Even as a Baby Boomer, what always struck me as strange is the number of organizations that didn’t work this way. They were inevitably borderline Theory X organizations, but they were still in business and arguably productive enough and successful enough to remain in business. As a manager I would strive to increase our productivity and get everyone working on things that were important and interesting to them. The pushback I would get to such efforts was always mystifying to me. Why wouldn’t we want to be more productive while enjoying the work we were doing? It pretty much always came down to a resistance to change and the notion that we’d prefer to work with the problems we had rather than change and face something unknown.

Also see Purpose Is Important

How well have you done at mentoring and motivating your project team?