Mentoring Millennials should be a part of every organization, especially if you want to retain your millennial employees!
Here is why:
According to Deloitte study, 64% of millennials plan to see their current job in their ‘rearview mirror’ by the year 2020.
What does that mean? It means that in less than two years 64% of millennials plan on leaving their current job.
The average millennial stays in their job less than three years. However, that same Deloitte study discovered that Millennials who are at their current job or organization for longer than five years are two times more likely to have a mentor.
According to Price Waterhouse Cooper, 98% of millennials feel that working with strong mentors is very important.
What does Mentoring Mean to Millennials?
I recently interviewed a millennial and he said to me that a mentor-mentee relationship is extremely important. He shared, however, that many mentors feel that being a mentor means telling them how they did something. He said: ”A mentor to me means challenging me to think differently!”
Mentoring Millennials in the Workplace
There really are 3 stages of the mentor-mentee relationship:
- The 1st stage is Coaching: Coaching is a very task-oriented relationship.
The coach is really there to help the millennial get their feet wet. Maybe they are new to the organization or new to the position. A coach is a great way to teach the Millennial about the corporate culture or maybe work on a soft skill.
I know that when I was in my 20’s and I had my first job out of college, I would’ve loved to have a coach to help me with writing skills. So, coaches are a terrific way to help the Millennial ease into the corporate culture of the new organization.
2. The 2nd stage is a Mentorship Relationship: The mentor relationship is based more on the relationship itself.
In fact, Millennials may have many mentors.
There is something called micro-mentoring and those are groups that connect via social media. There’s also reverse mentoring. A reverse mentor is when the millennial mentors a more senior person, typically about something technology related.
Reverse mentoring is a great way to open the door between millennial and someone who’s been around the organization for a long time. Most importantly, the mentor in the mentor-mentee relationship holds the mentee accountable for meeting their goals.
3. The 3rd stage is the Sponsorship: This is intriguing because this takes the mentor-mentee relationship up a level.
This is truly a one-on-one relationship. It is a higher level of mentoring and the sponsor typically has a high status with the company. The sponsor’s responsibility or goal is to help that millennial reach their next level. To get that promotion or that raise. That sponsor also acts as an advocate for the Millennial within the organization. He/she helps the millennial identify skills and talents they need to develop to find that new promotion or raise.
Mentoring Millennials
Mentoring millennials is not an easy task – however, it can be a rewarding one for both parties involved.
A baby boomer I recently interviewed said to me:
“It is our responsibility to mentor the young people in our lives, however mentoring is not just about handing them a book. It’s also about telling them what they have done right.”
So there you have it – the Mentoring Millennials segment.
I look forward to seeing you next week when we further dig into this topic about the multi-generations in the workplace.
