leadership

Welcome to our special guest blog post series - "Millennial Perspectives: Voices of a Giving Generation." We hope you will join us each week until the Millennial Donor Summit on June 22, 2011, as we explore Millennial engagement with a variety of leading experts and practitioners.

This week, we've invited Caroline McAndrews, Director of Leadership & Communications for the Building Movement Project to comment on the evolution of the multigenerational workplace.

There has been growing concern about the breadth and depth of new leadership in the nonprofit sector. Until recently, the alarm was focused on the departure of the Baby Boom generation, but this expectation of a mass exodus has given way to a new reality. The changing economic climate, extended life expectancy, and the desire to be remain active and continue their contributions are leading Boomers to remain in the workforce for a longer period of time. So now, and for the foreseeable future, there will be four generations in the workplace. Organizations that hope to capture the energy and ideas of younger generations – and millennials in particular – will need to figure out how to build vibrant multigenerational workplaces. 

Recently, I’ve been presenting around the country on the findings of a report released by the Building Movement Project last year, What Works: Developing Successful Multigenerational Leadership. The report looks at workplace policies and processes that promote good work and great workplaces ACROSS ALL GENERATIONS working in nonprofits today. Despite overwhelming data that points to practices that work for all generations, I still get a lot of pushback from my audiences regarding Millennials. The overwhelming message is that the millennial generation wants too much, too soon, and with too little respect for the traditional way things are done.

To depict Millennials in this way and to so narrowly define their presence in the workplace can distract us from what Millennials can teach about how to build the best organizations for the future. Hopefully by now, people are aware of some of the key traits of the Millennial generation:

• Millennials are the largest and most diverse generation in the US. The Millennial generation numbers somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 million people, 15% of the workforce and growing. Not only are they diverse, but they are the most tolerant generation, accepting of other genders, sexual preferences, race/ethnicities, and backgrounds.
• Millennials are technologically advanced. This reality leads many people to ask a Millennial for help when their computer isn’t working; however, that’s not the best use of Millennial skills. The full implications of modern technology change the way that information is processed, how work gets done, who is involved and from where, and future changes we have yet to anticipate. These changes are second-nature to Millennials.
• Millennials are politically progressive. While many people that I present to attribute this to the fact that everybody is more progressive when they’re young, research indicates that Millennials are more progressive than their counterparts from older generations were at their age. And beyond politics, this generation is much more optimistic about the possibilities of social change in a way we haven’t seen since the ‘60s. 

Keeping these traits in mind, when we look at what Millennials are asking for in the workplace, they are characteristics that respondents in our national survey (from ALL generations) named as important to doing good work and building a positive workplace:

• Clear systems support good workplaces. Clarity about decision making, job requirements, and evaluation are important factors for creating a positive atmosphere in the workplace. This includes transparency and input into decision making, opportunities for management and leadership skills training, and workplace flexibility. In addition, spaces for peer support are important to discuss and apply leadership development skills.
• Explicit paths for career advancement are key. Most people know their job descriptions, but many don’t know whether they’re doing their jobs well. The requests from Millennials in the workplace for clear paths for advancement, knowing what determines success, and how salaries are decided are just a few of the things that older generations are looking for clarity around as well.
• Mission driven organizations are essential. A crucial aspect for Millennials – and all generations – in deciding where they want to work is a strong belief in the mission of the organization and to know how their work contributes to its success. It was no surprise to see that respondents in the Millennial Donor Survey want to see the impact of their contribution. Commitment is to a cause, not necessarily an organization, and Millennials (as well as Generation X) will gravitate towards the organizations and groups that demonstrate a clear ability to create change.

Finally, beyond changing policies and practices, the question I am most often asked by younger generations is whether we can provide them with new models of how to lead organizations that do not concentrate authority and responsibility in one top person. Recent conversations on structures that take into account how younger leaders in the social sector want to lead and how Boomer-age leaders want to adjust their leadership roles push us to look beyond our comfort zone of how organizations have operated to date. Building Movement Project is currently documenting these new models, and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services has released an excellent report Next Generation Organizations: 9 Key Traits.

For more information on generational changes in nonprofit leadership, visit www.buildingmovement.org or read Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership.

Summer can be a great time to slow down a bit and reflect on our work and what we’ve learned. Having now gotten my sea legs in the nonprofit sector, I’m struck by all the things I wish I’d known when I was first starting out. I asked friends from Twitter and beyond to help me make a list of advice for young change-makers, and these are the top seven things we've learned so far.

1. Find a mentor. If you don’t have a lot of experience, one of your best bets is borrow it. Mentors can provide invaluable advice – practical, ethical and theoretical. Whether you need to know how to deal with a sticky situation or just how to get some business cards printed, a mentor has been there before. As Adin Miller pointed out, you can’t force a mentor relationship, and sometimes you just don’t connect. But if you try a few different ones, you’ll connect with someone, learn a lot from their experiences and accomplishments and build a really valuable long-term relationship.

2. Challenge yourself and find your limits. Being digital natives, Millennials have lots of skills, but we’re not good at everything. Maya Enista shared a lesson she recently learned from KaBOOM! CEO Darell Hammond: spend 95 percent of your time on the 5 percent of things you’re NOT good at. If you’re always working on improving a few things at a time, you’ll be able to move those off the “to learn” list and tackle something new. Further, Kristen Cambell recommends spending time getting to know your limits as well as your strengths, so you can recognize your limit when you meet it, so you can regroup before charging forward again.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel. I couldn’t agree more with Sokunthea Chhabra and Ayelet Baron on this piece of advice. While you might have a great idea for how to change the world, I promise there are other people who are already working on your cause or trying to implement a similar project – you just have to look for them. Build on and integrate what already exists and seek collaborators who make sense to avoid wasting your time and resources.

4. Don't wait. Regina Mahone shared a bit of wisdom from an interview with Idealist’s Ami Dar, who encourages young change-makers to take advantage of their youth and relatively low level of responsibility. If you have a great idea or a passion for a cause, take some risks and “go for it” before you have mortgages and mouths to feed.

5. Create your story, tell your story and leverage your story. David Smith’s advice is do at least one thing that will give you a story, which can demonstrate your passion and skills, and learn to tell that story really well. David says, “people invest in people, not ideas.” Once you’ve got your story and you’re telling it well, treat your reputation and social capital like an investment portfolio. When your personal stock is high, leverage that for partnerships, mergers and career moves, so that you, your organization and your cause take advantage of these high points when they come.

6. Connect with others. As Elizabeth Miller said, it’s important to connect with others who care about changing the world. I used to dread networking because I thought of it as standing around, making awkward small talk with someone just long enough to make it ok to ask them for what you really wanted (like help getting grant money or a job). But real networking is anything but fake. It happens naturally when you just start asking questions and getting to know people who are doing interesting things. It can happen at conferences, at happy hours, affinity group meetings or service projects. These relationships will not only lead to new opportunities, but will be your source of support, inspiration and feedback.

7. Goals and evaluation are your friends. It was a few years before I realized that if you haven’t set any goals, you can’t really know (or, more importantly in the nonprofit sector, show) what you’ve accomplished. Setting goals can be scary when you don’t know what to expect because no one wants to fall short, but they are crucial for building a successful track record. Evaluating your progress in measurable terms is equally critical for showing you how to tweak your strategy and use of resources to better meet your goals the next time around.

Do you have more advice to share with young change-makers and idealists?

A few weeks ago, I heard Sean Stannard-Stockton speak on a panel at Council on Foundations. He shared a short video by musician and CD Baby founder Derek Sivers, which discusses the leadership lessons than can be drawn from a lone shirtless dancing guy at a music festival.

I recommend watching the video (it's below and it's less than three minutes), but the two basic lessons Sivers shares are:

1. Good leaders will nurture their first followers (or first employees or first volunteers) and treat them as equals, so the movement, business or nonprofit is not resting on the one founder or ED's personality. It's truly about the movement.
    
2. The first follower is really the hero. Sure, maybe dancing around shirtless was a good idea - heck, a great idea. But without the first follower who gave his idea momentum and legitimacy, the leader probably would have looked like an loser after a few minutes and given up.

Sean said that his biggest critique of foundations is that they all want to be the shirtless dancing guy when what we actually need is more people who are willing to be the first follower. In other words, more foundations should be looking for organizations who are already doing great work and fund them. Similarly, one of my biggest critiques of my own generation is that we all want to be the shirtless dancing guy too. We all want to be the one with the new idea, the leader of the revolution, the one who makes decisions and, later, motivational speeches. But if we all insist on leading our own initiatives, there are going to be a lot of one-man movements out there.

It's not just that we CAN'T all be the shirtless dancing guy. It's also that we shouldn't. As Sivers says, "The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow." In the last few years a lot of great Millennial leaders have emerged in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, but all of those leaders have had a first follower who saw a shirtless dancing guy and took on some level of risk to join and legitimize his efforts.

So to both the leaders and to those who encourage them, remember that the first follower is just as important to the success of a movement. Don't try to guard your idea and protect it from outside influence and people who might get a piece of your glory pie. Instead, welcome your first followers; let them dance with you. Millennials are particularly good at collaborating and being team players, but I think at times we still need to be reminded that while we are each special and capable of a lot, we need other people.

And being a first follower might be a more humble position, but it's not so bad. Both dancing guys benefited from making the movement work, and the crowd was better for it. Many of my peers want to start nonprofits or businesses, but they aren't sure what that nonprofit or business might be. Usually they are driven by the desires to change the world, make their mark, and do something different - desires that seem to be at the core of why many Millennials roll out of bed in the morning. But if you don't know what need you want to meet and how you'll meet it with your new nonprofit or business, you'll have a greater chance of being part of (and even influencing) a successful and meaningful movement if you just look for the best shirtless dancing guy you can find and be the first to join him.

Everyday I'm afforded the opportunity to speak with people who are creating movements. Whether it’s bringing clean water to Africa; expanding the volunteer service movement so that all Americans who want to, have an opportunity to serve; helping the 80 million members of the Millennial Generation find meaningful jobs – you name it and it seems there’s a movement afoot. 

Earlier this week, Seth Godin’s talk from this year’s TED Conference in Long Beach, CA was released online. What Godin shares is that everyone is capable of starting a movement, but you must put aside things like money and politics as the tools for success.  The 17 minute talk is a good introduction to his book Tribes. In both the talk and book Godin argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a group of people connected to each other, to a leader, and to an idea.

• Who exactly are you upsetting? Because if you’re not upsetting anyone then you’re not changing the status quo.
• Who are you connecting? Godin argues that it is about the "idea of finding and connecting like-minded people and leading them to a place they want to go."
• Who are you leading? Tribes are about leading and connecting people and ideas. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.

Even more so, I wonder if this whole idea is less a matter of starting movements at all and more about finding like-minded people to connect with and share ideas...

I just finished the new book, Working Across Generations, from the Movement Building Project folks, Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim and Robby Rodriguez. It's a really terrific read and roadmap of the difficulties of this moment of leadership transition from Boomers to the rest of us.