Managing Millennials For Dummies

Chapter 9

Motivating Millennials — Generation “Why?”

IN THIS CHAPTER

Motivating Millennials via meaning

Rewarding beyond compensation

Creating the environment Millennials need to succeed

“What gets you out of bed in the morning?” It may sound simple, but garnering this information about what motivates each person is vital to understanding how to work with and retain employees.

Put the question out there and you get a whole spectrum of responses from individual to individual, as can be expected, but there are resounding similarities across the generations: connecting with great colleagues, challenging work, feeding the dog (and themselves), paying the bills, funding a vacation, and so on. Everyone, no matter the generation, wants fruitful, meaningful work — any manager or leader would agree to that. If, however, you want to level-up your managing skills, you need to understand not only the similarities but also the important differences among what motivates each generation. By understanding these nuances, you can collect the right tools to properly light a fire under your direct reports, regardless of what generation they belong to.

The thing is, managers have been working side by ...