Takeaway: Role Models

No matter what generation you identify with, no matter your age, I want you to consider a thought exercise. Stop for a moment and think about where you are today in your life. Are you happy in your life? Do you enjoy your job? Are you surrounded by ineffective managers or those bad bosses we talked about in a prior article? Unless you are part of the fortunate 30% of people who love their jobs, you want and deserve a change. What if one pivot in your life could help increase that statistic and make a positive impact on people working in the accounting profession. Wouldn’t you want to make that pivot?

In a prior article, I wrote about bad bosses and the negative impact these bad bosses’ behaviors have on the entire organization and not just millennials. In this article, I want to continue the thought of changing behaviors and moving past being bad bosses. Let’s focus on being the opposite, being a positive role model to others in the workplace. Because if you can be a positive role model to millennials, you can take a major step forward in understanding the millennial mind and turning them from entitled to engaged.

Why Millennials Want a Role Model

The concept of a role model has not changed for the millennial generation, instead what has changed is their desire for a role model at work. While the negative stereotype states that millennials are lazy, they actually have a huge drive to be successful in their job. Part of that drive to be successful is wanting role models at work to understand what their future can look like, providing them with the leadership they are looking for in their growth, and believing in them. When millennials work at a job where they do not have or see any positive role models, it is a big deal to them and a major factor in their dissatisfaction and disengagement. Millennials want to be successful at their jobs and want to have strong role models to help show them the way. Unfortunately, when they look around at their current firm and organizations they don’t see any positive role models. They understand that their chance to improve at their job is low, and they don’t see a future. Stop the negative trend, and learn how to be a positive role model inside your organization to attract, retain, and engage the millennial mind.

Being a Positive Role Model

Stop being a bad boss, is step one. We’ve already covered that one, so let’s dive into the action steps you can take to make the pivot. Take note that the items listed below don’t involve money or compensation. Too often firms try and attract millennials by increasing compensation, but that isn’t the problem and a topic for another article.

If you want to be seen as a role model to the millennial generation, follow these three steps and I promise they will help you better understand the millennial mind and improve your organization at the same time.

Share Your Passion

When you interact with millennials, don’t be afraid to venture into conversations with them about what happens outside the four walls of your office. Let the people you work with know you as a person, starting with sharing your passion outside of work. No matter what it is, share it with those in your office. Industry thought leader, John Garrett, is constantly reminding people to share their unique passion outside of work, and he created an entire podcast focused on highlighting those green apples.

Masters of Knowledge

Make sure that you are providing insight and knowledge to millennials as they go through their workday. Great role models are also great teachers, that help impart millennials with the knowledge they need to not just do their jobs, but to be great at their jobs. When sharing this knowledge with millennials, a great way to better connect the dots in their millennial mind is to start at the end and work backwards when explaining a topic/process/concept. While this may seem counterintuitive, millennials are very result focused,so starting at the end result and working back to the impact allows you to speak their learning language.

Belief

One of the greatest roles any role model can play in someone’s life is to believe in them. As accountants, we are not naturally people who talk about feelings very often. I’m not suggesting you need to start having deep emotional conversations with your team, but what you need to start doing is to build upon the first two steps and become that role model that believes in millennials. Support them in what matters to them. If they are really interesting in getting their valuation certificate or just first passing their CPA exam, support them in that quest. Instead of viewing their dreams as unrealistic and dismissing their desires, stop for a moment and think how you can support them. If you take a step to support their dream, you will be amazed at how quickly you will pivot into being seen as a role model to them.

Make 2019 the year that you become a role model to those around you by better understanding the point of view of the millennial generation. Drive the success of your organization by building an engaged workforce through your actions as a positive role model. Understand why millennials are looking for role models in the workplace, and follow the three steps to fill that role. Nothing is holding you back from making this pivot. Engage the millennial mind and empower them to make an impact at your organization.

Firm Management