5 Reasons to Let Millennials Help Lead through Tough Times

The global health pandemic has catapulted many higher education institutions into digital transformation and new modes of business thinking. Institutions' responses to the pandemic have required a level of agility and creativity that has challenged even the most mature and adept organizations. As institutions continue to address the unprecedented challenges associated with their COVID-19 response efforts, a new cohort of leaders has emerged. These individuals—coming from all corners of our organizations—are taking on big challenges and troubleshooting issues in new ways. And in many cases, these new leaders are coming from an underappreciated and often-maligned group: millennials.

The Federal Reserve Board, Pew Research, and others define millennials as those born between 1981 and 1996.¹ Despite the common misperception that individuals from this generation are too young to be leaders, a great many millennials are mid-career professionals and are poised to assume strategic leadership roles. If millennials are not yet part of the leadership structure at your organization, here are five reasons why they should be.

Millennials understand tough times and lean thinking. Early wave millennials—including me—entered the workforce in the years immediately preceding, or during, the Great Recession. The foundation of our professional lives was built during an era of downsizing and "doing more with less." Because millennials have lived through these early challenges, we know what it means to run lean teams and organizations that maximize human and financial resources. Most importantly, we understand why lean operations are necessary for survival. Therefore, millennials are particularly well-suited to lead license assessments and negotiations, organizational changes, and process-improvements efforts—all initiatives that are imperative given the current reality.

Millennials have grit. Coming of age during the Great Recession has meant that many millennials have learned to survive and thrive despite significant obstacles. In addition to having to pay off massive student loan debt, many millennials have been laid off from at least one job, and perhaps have had to move back in with their parents to make ends meet. As a result, millennials are resilient professionals who are not easily rattled by the ebbs and flows of the economy or organizational budget constraints. Experiences like these have also made us incredibly realistic. We're not overly optimistic or pessimistic by nature. Instead, we tend to see things how they really are. This "eyes wide open" approach makes millennials valuable team members—particularly during these extraordinary times when new ways of thinking and original solutions are required for survival.

Millennials are collaborative. Now is not the time for silos. It is not the time for people who are stuck in old ways of doing business. Now is the time for team members and leaders who are willing to collaborate and work together to solve tough problems. Institutions need people who are open, authentic problem-solvers. As natural collaborators, millennials are valuable team, project, and committee leaders. We are great at creating a shared vision and helping to guide teams down brainstorming and decision-making paths. When you close your eyes and think of the all-stars in your organization—the people who you always want on your project teams, how many are between the ages of twenty-five and forty? The answer may surprise you.

Millennials are willing to try new things and be challenged. When you combine millennials' lived experiences and grit, you get employees who are open to trying new things and who actively seek out interesting and intellectually stimulating projects and challenges. A 2016 Gallup report found that "opportunities to learn and grow at work are highly important to millennials," so asking them to try new things is in their DNA.² Early in our careers, when job security could not be guaranteed, experiences really mattered. Working on significant projects mattered. That spirit has never left us. As such, millennials want to be given a problem (e.g., How do we move all of our tech support completely virtual in less than a week?) and be trusted to solve it. Rather than taking a "lift and shift" approach (which is more convenient), millennials will completely rethink old assumptions. What's more, we solve problems with both customer satisfaction and effective use of resources in mind. According to the 2016 Gallup report, "The millennial generation is the driving force behind workplace change. . . . [They] have led the charge to break down traditional organizational structures and policies."³

Millennials are compassionate and full of empathy. Millennials care about user experience, employee satisfaction, inclusivity, and accessibility in ways that perhaps no other generation does. We view people holistically and understand that employees are more than just the sum of duties listed in a job description. The pandemic has brought the need for holistic leadership to the forefront, as our employees are challenged not only to work but also to provide child and elder care, homeschool, and navigate an ever-changing world. Millennials have experienced professional and personal struggles, and these challenges have helped us to develop compassion for those whose professional roles have been downsized or changed, or who have had projects canceled. In the coming months and years, many colleges and universities will be making tough decisions. Millennials have been here before, and we know how to lead with compassion and empathy.

Millennials are great leaders and senior leadership team members. If you are a CIO looking to bring a fresh perspective to a team, consider recruiting millennials and developing these individuals for leadership opportunities in your organization.

Notes

1. Christopher Kurz, Genug Li, and Daniel J. Vine, Are Millennials Different?, Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2018-080 (Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, November 2018); Kristin Bialik and Richard Fry, "Millennial Life: How Young Adulthood Today Compares with Prior Generations," Pew Research Center, February 14, 2019. ↩
2. How Millennials Want to Work and Live, research report (Washington, DC: The Gallup Organization, 2016): 26. ↩
3. Ibid., 14. ↩

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Kate Hash is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Customer Experience and Engagement at UNC-Chapel Hill.