Some articles open the gates of your imagination away from those theories which doesn’t provide you the context for practicing. For example, more and more tech-savvy millennials are coming to the organizations. They way think and do things vast differ from the earlier generations. Hence the culture, structure and processes of an organization must reflect this reality. Two articles shows us the way. First one is, “Take 5: What Business Leaders Can Learn from the Military” that appeared in recent KellogInsight. Army colonels share advice on recruiting millennials, managing up, and keeping the broader mission in mind. Here are 2 examples:
- “It’s not always a bad thing to challenge the status quo,” one colonel says. “The key is to give them enough latitude to shake things up a bit without upending core traditions or standard operating procedures.” He adds, ““Like anyone, millennials will leave organizations unless they have good reasons to stay, so you need to give them something to aspire to.”
- One millennial moved into a new job where he was surrounded by senior officers who outranked him. Yet he could see that all of their presentation skills were pretty rusty. Instead of simply telling them that, he asked the officers to watch him rehearse a presentation. Critically, he asked them for their feedback. Once they saw how professionally the millennial was presenting, they started asking him for feedback in return and upped their own game.
US Army’s is well known for best managerial practices. After Action Review (AAR) is one such example, which is being used by many organizations around the world. AAR is a structured review or debriefing process for analyzing a completed task/assignment as to what happened, why it happened, and how it can be done better by the participants and those responsible for the task/assignment.
In the second article HUL Chairman Sanjiv Mehta in ET Panache dated 9th January 2019 points out the changed realities:
- Millennials access to technology, disdain for hierarchy and bureaucracy and look at a flatter world is a given. Organizational practices and the culture that helped them in the past are not going to help them in the future.
- They need real-time and frequent feedback and not typical quarterly and yearly PMS review.
- They constantly look for challenges and experiences and hence frequently change jobs – cradle to grave is passé.
- They’re inclusive, participative and are at a greater ease at collaborating (across functions) than the generation before them. They believe they have to play in making the world a better place and would be joining an organisation that will offer them that advantage.
For more on the millennials click the line below:
https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/business-lessons-from-military
Developing Self - Some Positive Reflections 