Communicating with Millennials: Important Tips for Today’s CCO

Whether your employees include Millennials or you are targeting this unique audience in your outbound communications campaigns, it's critical to understand what makes them tick and how to work with them. Understand your audience. First, they really aren't as difficult or different as everyone may be making them out to be. Each workforce generation has its own attributes and quirks, and so do they, but nothing so bizarre that those who are twice their age won't understand. Less is more. I've heard multiple times that making Millennials accountable is a challenge. Lots of companies are implementing rigorous performance metrics and elaborate review systems to hold their feet to the fire. Forget that entirely. Millennials don't relate to metrics. Or complex systems riddled with primary and second objectives, or percentages of completeness. All you need is 1 or 2 pieces of paper to answer 3 questions: what's working? what needs improvement? and what's next? Meet every three months to add notes to each section together. Transparency. Millennials want the whole truth and nothing but the truth. When orchestrating campaigns to this audience, don't be afraid to talk about what your product doesn't do inasmuch as what it does do. They'll appreciate the candor and the forthrightness. Honesty breeds loyalty. They'll figure out anything you might not want to disclose on their own anyway, in which case you've lost them completely. Motivational criticism. Outright criticisms must be turned inside out, are completely unmotivational and destructive to the Millennial psyche. Instead of telling Sarah that she really messed up her presentation, compliment her on what went well, and then tell her how she can do even better next time. Engage. Millennials want to be empowered and hate being ignored. Socialize your ideas with them. Ask them how they would fix your problem. Share your vision frequently, but make it a two-way street. Ask them for their input as to how you can move forward together. They want to know their opinion matters and that they have a voice. Social channels are ideal for soliciting feedback from Millennials because it's how they communicate and where they get most of their information. Talk with them, not to them.

For more tips on managing Millennials, please see my article in the Wall Street Journal: “Managing Millennials."