SPG Blog

1. Be prepared for their arrival. Millennials have been told their whole lives that they are needed in the workforce. When they show up and don’t have a desk or a place to work, it makes them wonder if the organization is happy they are there. Prepare a place for them to work and a plan for integrating them into the team.

2. Give them a project early on. Millennials like having ownership in projects and they like to be involved in things they feel are meaningful. A project can help them get excited about their work.

3. Be clear about expectations about technology. Millennials are accustomed to being attached to cell phones and computers, so you’ll need to set clear boundaries between “work” and “personal” use of technology. Is it okay to email from work? To talk or text on a mobile device during work hours? To use the office printer for personal use? To use Facebook at work? Establish clear expectations and put them in the employee handbook.

4. Set a clear policy for dress code. Don’t risk losing your millennial employees because they don’t get the clothes right on the first day. Make an explicit statement about the expected attire for your workplace.

5. Consider a flexible work schedule for your millennial new hire. Many millennials prefer working 11 to 7. Is this an option for your business? How could this schedule modification help your organization? Consider ways to be flexible.

By Peter S. Cohan
Review by Jennifer Dawson

It is clear from the introduction to Peter Cohan’s book that we’re not getting a juicy Jim McNerney biography.

If the tables and figures in the intro don’t give it away, Cohan’s description of the eleven leadership challenges overcome by McNerney (which are reiterated in the chapter summaries at the end of the introduction and presented as “lessons” throughout the book) are inarguable evidence that readers are meant to have an educational experience right from page one. We are getting a crash course in the McNerney model.

Cohan has carefully dissected McNerney’s career and synthesized it into an instruction manual for corporate success. Bullet points and pithy summaries are backed up by examples from McNerney’s tenure at GE, 3M, and, most recently, as CEO of Boeing. The writing is earnest, the approach didactic and the impact soporific. My recommendation: don’t read this book in bed or with a glass of wine, unless you’re an insomniac. (more…)