INTHEBLACK October/November 2024 - Magazine - Page 28
F E AT U R E
“With more millennials in leadership roles, I believe we’ll see
a workforce of more empowered people, where there is less
of the command-and-control approach. Millennial leaders
will encourage their teams to play to their own strengths by
asking great questions and not necessarily feeling like they
need to know everything.”
CHARLOTTE BLAIR, LEADERSHIP SPECIALIST
early adopters of the second digital revolution
of devices and social media, so they are
certainly the most digitally savvy generation
to have entered the leadership ranks.”
Millennials grew up in a time where the
importance of diversity and inclusion was
increasing, and McCrindle says this stuck
with them as they entered the workforce.
He notes that they also entered tertiary
studies in record numbers.
“They are more likely to have a university
degree than any prior generation, and they
saw the paradigm change with more women
graduating from university than men in their
time as well,” he says.
Workplace expert Michelle Gibbings
says millennials are generally confident
and tolerant, and they value much more
than a paycheck.
“They are looking for that sense
of connection and want to work for
organisations that have strong values and
purpose,” she says. “They are far more
willing to challenge the status quo, but also
challenge hierarchy.
“They generally want flexibility in the
work they do,” Gibbings adds. “At one stage,
they were criticised for being less loyal than
previous generations in the workforce, but
what they are really interested in is work that
has meaning and value, and where they are
continuing to learn and develop. If they aren’t
going to get that, they will be ready to leave.”
LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK
How will these characteristics and
experiences influence the leadership style
of this generation?
McCrindle expects millennial leaders to value
collaboration and to take a global outlook.
“The fact that they do not respond well
to autocratic structures, and that they do not
want hierarchies or a chain of command,
is a pretty adaptive and helpful leadership
outlook,” he says.
28 INTHEBLACK October/November 2024
“This generation helped adapt leadership
and organisational structures for these times.
It’s a flatter structure in a workplace. There’s
more participation in collaboration and
certainly leadership styles these days are more
collaborative and welcome participation. That
speaks the language of this generation. That
is just the world they’ve ushered in.”
Millennials may also drive greater action
on environmental issues when they reach
the C-suite, with research from Deloitte
showing 46 per cent of the generation is
already pressuring businesses to act on
climate change.
McCrindle adds that millennials will also
be likely to lead with a social conscience.
“This is the original generation of the
virtuous consumer that began reading labels
and valuing things like fair trade and looking
at the provenance and the materials in items,”
he says.
“They’ve been very much promoting
small business and family business, and
connecting locally, so their sense of work and
commerce is about community building and
bringing about local economic development,”
McCrindle adds. “They bring that same
approach to the leadership ranks.”
COACH OVER COMMANDER
When it comes to their own management
preferences, millennials tend to value a coach
over a commander. Leadership specialist
Charlotte Blair says this means they are
likely to excel at coaching their own teams.
“With more millennials in leadership
roles, I believe we’ll see a workforce of
more empowered people, where there is
less of the command-and-control approach,”
she says. “Millennial leaders will encourage
their teams to play to their own strengths
by asking great questions and not necessarily
feeling like they need to know everything.”
This is the leadership approach favoured
by Nipuna Welmillage CPA, transformation
