HRD talks to three industry professionals about how to support and develop young leaders.
Millennials are ambitious – more than 90% have it in mind to assume a leadership role.
That said, many realise they are not fully prepared for that level of responsibility.
According to a poll from Deloitte published earlier this year, only about a third of current millennial leaders considered themselves fully prepared when initially taking on the post.
So how are organisations supporting millennials to become leaders?
For Martha Travis, general manager people and culture, Assetlink, millennials need to feel they have somewhere to ‘go’ in the business.
“Our training strategy provides clear career pathways with the required skills and attributes; we provide strategic milestones specifically related to succession and leadership development,” said Travis.
“A leadership immersion program for mid-tier and frontline leaders provides a combination of learning, development, and team-building activities as well as opportunities to share ideas. High potentials also feature, allowing upcoming leaders to work across the business, and understand how they can contribute to mutual growth.”
Travis added that the key to the success of these strategies is empowerment: allowing millennials to take control of their destiny.
Moreover, Ashleigh Elbaz, Senior HR business partner at R/GA said their organisation doesn’t focus on a particular age group when developing leaders.
“We don’t zero in on millennials; we focus on those interested in becoming a leader or displaying leadership potential,” said Elbaz. l2
“It’s dangerous to make assumptions or create strategies based on generational generalisations.
“Our people are all unique and that is what we concentrate on. In performance conversations we ask our employees (75% of whom are millennials) what influences their happiness at work, what motivates them, do they wish to go into leadership and how currently satisfied are they in those areas.”
Elbaz said this creates unique ‘dashboards’ for each employee that their leaders can use to better reward them and develop their careers.
