Change is hard for most people. Generally speaking we humans are creatures of routine who find comfort in repetition. There are obviously those who thrive under changing circumstances or in chaos but they’re in the minority. So imagine what is happening in workforces everywhere around the world as Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce (see this article and this article) and taking on significant leadership roles. The thought processes, expectations, methods of working, beliefs, and values are shifting quickly. This is especially difficult for Gen Xers and Boomers who have had great success in their careers operating in certain ways who now have to do things differently at the tail end of their careers. For Millennial leaders it’s especially important to be cognizant of this and actively manage changes they’re driving on their teams or across their organizations if they want to succeed. This isn’t new per se, as there is a lot of literature/research on this topic as a subset of the field of Organizational Behaviour, however there is not much on generational change management. Fortunately some of the high level principles apply so it’s not a complete void.

In early 2016 I took on leadership of a newly formed team whose members were previously distributed across three different teams. One of the big challenges was to harmonize the tools and processes of the newly formed team but even more challenging than that was the need to change how they worked to follow more agile principles. Those in technology will be familiar with agile methodologies which have been heavily adopted by development teams, and it’s a version of this that I felt would lead to success. However, agile doesn’t often directly or fully translate into IT because the nature of the work is different so there’s natural skepticism. There are also hundreds of definitions of “agile” but that’s a separate issue!

At the inaugural team meeting I shared the vision of how I wanted the team to operate which was to have team-wide squads focused on specific aspects of our operations. These squads would have a leader, some specific objectives, and be given autonomy to meet those objectives. As expected the response wasn’t exactly unfettered enthusiasm given this is not how any of the team had operated before and it wasn’t common in many IT organizations. So I began my change management approach:

1. We didn’t launch all squads at the same time; we phased them in over a few months based on business priorities.
2. I met with some of the senior people on the team to talk about why this was a good thing, to hear their ideas/concerns, and try to gain buy-in.
3. I was open with everyone that we’d try this approach and if it didn’t work we’d either tweak or eliminate it. And I genuinely meant it.
4. As we launched the squads I polled the members to hear feedback and shared it broadly with the team.

To summarize I softened the blow by phasing in the changes and gave the team lots of opportunities to be a part of shaping the new approach via feedback. I felt this would be better than simply issuing a management directive.

Was this new way of working successful? At the beginning of this year (~6 months since the first squad was launched) I polled the team for things that were working and things that needed to be changed, and the #1 thing people loved across the board was the squad model. I remember chuckling as I read people’s comments given that just a few months prior I was sitting in that inaugural meeting sharing the plan and people were looking at me like I was speaking Martian. This success wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t intentionally manage the changes.

As Millennial leaders transform their teams’ operations they need to remember that some of the people they lead won’t automatically buy-in to the changes because the changes are different to what’s worked for them for many years. Respect the historical approaches, listen to people’s concerns, and build a path from A to B that people can rally around. As well, stay firm with your beliefs and don’t give up easily.

I was recently reminded of an incident that took place around 2010 that, upon further reflection, has an important lesson for Millennial leaders. Let me paint the picture so you understand the context.

I was not in a formal management position but was starting to lead more projects with global teams and gain exposure to senior leaders in my area. I was on a project where I was the most junior person on the team so it was a great learning opportunity. The project involved long hours and was ultimately a success. In parallel my wife was applying for residency positions and she got an interview in a town a couple of hours away. I took a day off so that we could stay in town the night before the morning interview. On the way back we stopped at a place that many in southern Ontario may know called The Big Apple. They sell amazing apple pies, which I love, so we picked some up. I also thought it would be a nice gesture to grab a couple of extras for the people I was working with on the project. We passed by my work on the way home so we popped in to drop them off to my teammates and took the opportunity to have my wife meet some of the team.

Boy was that a mistake! That gesture got me labelled as a suck up to many of the senior leaders in my area. When you’re an up and coming leader that’s not a label you want attached to your name. Now, in the grand scheme of things the effects of this situation were minimal but the consequences could have been far worse.

Let’s break this down a bit further. What was the mistake? Naivety. Being the most junior person on the team and the only Millennial, buying something for everyone else could certainly be perceived as sucking up. What I missed was that the act was probably not something those people were used to – it was something not aligned to that group’s work culture – so they looked for and actualized an ulterior motive. Side note: a $6 apple pie would be a pathetic way to try to get ahead in your career so if you do want to bribe your way up go a little bigger!

This also touches on a broader topic which is perception vs. reality. This affects everyone at work and is something I’ll write more about in the future but in this scenario the reality was that while buying myself some nice treats that are hard to come by since you can only get them by driving 1.5hrs out of town I thought of doing something nice for some coworkers. The perception was that I was trying to curry favour via their taste buds.

So what is the lesson here especially for Millennial leaders who are likely working with leaders from other generations? Pay attention to the culture of those around you and ensure you don’t do things that may be perceived very differently than you intended. Two points though:

1. Culture evolves so I’m not advocating merely falling in line since as a leader your role is to drive team culture. Also, as more Millennials take on more significant leadership roles the culture of companies will change so help change it for the better.
2. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever do nice things for your coworkers. Given you spend so much time with them I believe that building strong personal relationships will lead to a better work experience for all. But be smart about it so that you don’t get yourself in trouble.

Would I do it again given what I know now? Absolutely not. But would I do it in a different team/company environment? Maybe, depends on who and what the culture is. And whether or not they like apple pie.