The Last Guide You’ll Have To Read For Dealing With Millennials
Millennials, millennials, millennials. If you read any type of business news, you see the word countless times daily. Article after article after article about how to hire them, how to work with them, what they want, what they hate, and on and on. Judging by the non-stop talk on the topic, one would think millennials are some strange new breed that’s impossible to understand and must be approached with caution. The business world seems to be acting as if they’re unprepared to deal with this new generation of workers and everyone is offering their ideas how to make sense of this impossible task.
As much as the business world seems to believe that working with millennials is a crazy task, it’s actually stupidly simple. In reality, there’s just one thing we need to do.
The Secret To Dealing With Millennials No One Will Tell You
What’s the one thing we need to know about millennials? Are you ready? This is truly a mind blowing idea. Simply treat them like anyone else.
Amazing information, isn’t it? While all the other articles offer a million tips and modified workflows in the way you interact with everyone else, this one requires no changes to how you currently operate. But how can it work when all the others recommend a total modification of your behavior? It works because it’s how they want to be treated.
But, Will It Work?
Why would anyone believe this simple solution would work when others are offering countless piles of tips to living life with millennials? Because it’s worked for every other generation.
Did we see these silly articles for dealing with Generation X? Nope. What about the Baby Boomers? No. The Silent Generation? Nay. The Greatest Generation? Negative. The Lost Generation? Never.
Even though each generation since the beginning of human existence has been different than the last, we’ve never needed guides to learn to work with them. Somehow without the brilliant insights from those that generally haven’t done it themselves, our civilization has still been able to work together and advance, generation after generation. It may sound amazing to those that believe you need a degree to get along with someone outside your own generation but somehow we’ve survived to this point without the need for ten Fast Company and Inc. articles per week on the topic. If it’s worked this long throughout human existence, why should things be any different with this new generation?
It Really Is This Easy
How did you want to be treated when you entered the workforce? Most of us wanted to be treated like everyone else. Like a human, like an adult. We didn’t want people treating us special or acting different towards us because of our age. If that’s the way we wanted others to act towards us, why would we think others would now want to be treated differently or that there was some special key to working with them. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you entered the workforce, much remains the same.
There’s no need to overreact and think that dealing with millennials should be any different than any other group we work with everyday. They’re people just the same and should be treated accordingly. By not buying into the hype around special treatment or changes to the way we do things when interacting with millennials, we save ourselves from the risk of not only alienating them but also making ourselves look like idiots when we treat them differently. When dealing with millennials or anyone, it’s best to save face (both yours and theirs) and simply remember the Golden Rule.
