Mentoring the MillennialsStewart Brower, MLIS, AHIP

Director, Schusterman LibraryUniversity of Oklahoma-Tulsa

stew@ou.edu

Yes, it’s just like astrology No, I’m not talking about your kids I will probably make incredibly sweeping

statements that have very little evidence in fact, only in my personal experience

Okay, sure, my library is a kind of wonderland and has definitely clouded my judgment…

Introductions, caveats, etc.

A grouping of people, typically by birth years, that are defined by the historical and sociological experiences they have shared

Howe & Strauss, Millennials Rising

What is a “generation?”

Life cycle effectsThings people of a certain age have in common

Period effectsThings people living during a particular time have in common

Cohort effectsThings people born at the same time have in common

Three factors

Defining the Generations

Four major generations:

Silent – born 1925-1945

Boomers – born 1946-1963

Gen-Xers – born 1964-1982

Millennials – born post-1982 (until 2010-ish...)

Plurals – the post-Millennials generation (also iGen, Homeland, Gen Z)

Result of a backlash against the “hands-off” parenting of the 1970s – a protected (coddled?) generation

Born in the 80s & raised in the 90s (or born in the 90s and raised in the early 00s), Mils only knew economic prosperity and opportunity – until recently

College-age Mils mostly children of Boomers; younger Mils mostly children of Gen-Xers

“They’re the most numerous, affluent, and ethnically diverse generation in American history.” - Strauss

Who are Millennials?

Some Mil Statistics

Numbering about 82 million, the Millennials outnumber the Boomer Generation

One Mil in ten (11%) has an immigrant parent (Boomers 5%, Xers 7%)

8 Mils in 10 plan on attending college Averaged out, approximately 300,000 Mil

freshmen will enter college each year

Educational attainment

The nature of college education

Pew Research 2010

What Mils want…

from boss & company…

Navigate career path Straight feedback Mentoring/coaching Sponsorship for prof dev Flexible scheduling Customizable benefits Work/life balance

to learn…

Technical skills Self-management Personal productivity Leadership Industry knowledge Creativity/innovation

strategies

HBR, May 2010

Expectation by Mil employees that mentoring is something that comes from the employer

Whether cohort-based or life-cycle-based, young people become frustrated by hierarchies, seniority, “old ways” of doing things

Mils believe they will have several careers (not just jobs) in their lifetimes, and could “jump ship” if work is not rewarding

Mentoring in the workplace

“I had to teach one mentee that it isn’t acceptable to call in the late evening with a routine question.”

“I’ve had to explain … that texting on your smartphone in a situation that involves your seniors suggests you think you have more important things to do.”

“Sometimes it can be days and days before a mentee will answer an e-mail. That annoys me.”

“One of my assigned mentees and I mutually agreed to table the relationship because she never seemed to have time for our scheduled meetings. Although she’d seen the benefit of having a mentor, she simply couldn’t make time for it in her life.”

Some horror stories

A 2012 Bentley study of 1,000 college-educated Millennials asking about career encouragement:

2 percent said mentor/someone at work 33 percent said spouse/partner 25 percent said Mom 16 percent said Dad

25 percent gave credit to a manager for encouraging them to assume a leadership role at work

Mil career encouragement

Formal mentoring/leadership programs AAHSL, NN/LM, NLM Fellows, MLA Rising Stars,

etc. Tied directly to professional development

Reverse mentoring Team-based mentoring Anonymous mentoring Organization-wide mentoring

Assigned mentors

Mentoring programs

Average time meeting mentor/protégé: 2 hours/month Ineffective, not enough time, poor relationship building

Mentors from outside department/non-supervisory role with protégé Less effective than mentoring from supervisor, or from

non-affiliated mentor “Good mentoring may lead to positive outcomes;

bad mentoring may be destructive, or in some cases worse than no mentoring at all.”

Outcomes of formal mentoring

Inzer, Crawford, JOLE 2005

Mentors are not always a part of the library organization It is driven more by the needs of the protégé than by

the plans of the mentor “I’m in a situation and I want to know what you think…”

Feedback tends to be honest, unbiased “What I’m hearing is…”

Career-focused, rather than organization-focused “You will do well here if you understand these unspoken

rules.” vs. “What’s the best thing for you? Not your library, but you?”

Friendships possibly, but also surrogate parental role Mentors allow that sometimes protégés will make

different decisions, accept that failure can be as instructive as success

Why informal mentoring works

Remember those horror stories a few slides back?

“…isn’t acceptable to call in the late evening with a routine question.”

Soft skills take time/experience; Mils accustomed to constant feedback; establish dif between mentor and a parent; what defines “routine” anyway?

Techniques for mentoring Mils

“…texting on your smartphone in a situation that involves your seniors suggests you think you have more important things to do…”

Is this during a meeting? Work-related priorities

Texting seen by Mils as primary, synchronous means of communication; texts often used for broadcast, multiple receivers; texts avoid tl/dr found in emails, voicemails, etc.

“Sometimes it can be days and days before a mentee will answer an e-mail. That annoys me.”

E-mail perceived as the opposite of text; asynchronous, clunky, long communications; low-priority unless marked otherwise, or given clear instructions to respond

“That annoys me.” … Mils find other generations’ over-reliance on e-mail annoying…

“One of my assigned mentees and I mutually agreed to table the relationship because she never seemed to have time for our scheduled meetings. Although she’d seen the benefit of having a mentor, she simply couldn’t make time for it in her life.”

Who made the schedule? Protégés need mentoring to be immediate, point-of-

need, and articulated/communicated in ways they can use/absorb

Just like our students do…

Meet them where they need you Meet them when they need you Customize the message for them Treat mentoring as an educational exchange “It’s not you. It’s me.” Mentoring is all about

the protégé

Millennial protégés are our students

Building professional development opportunities Awards, grants, posters/papers, travel funds

Job skills Professional communications, appearance,

bullets for the CV, writing cover letters, mock interviews

Encouraging creative ideas Keeping the door open, giving them a chance

to fail Formal + Informal?

Things to think about

Paying it forward

Thank you for listening! Thank you for contributing!

Stewart Brower, stew@ou.edu

It’s a conversation, not a conclusion