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Leading Millennials using Strengths Based Leadership

Leadership Challenges

PMIBC-17-3-015: PMIBC_17_theme # 3_<abstract #>

Project Management Practitioners’ Conference 2017

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CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Details of the paper...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 17

References ................................................................................................................................................................ 17



ABSTRACT

Those born just before the turn of the last century behave differently. They like to know their purpose and not the

pay check. They like to work from their strengths and excel without getting tied down by their weaknesses. These

millennials cannot be managed the way earlier generations have been managed. They must be inspired and

enabled through a special brand of leadership. ‘Don’t even try to manage these millennials, the largest generation

in the workforce - lead them.’

Given India’s large population under the age of 30 and the hope that India will become the economic fulcrum of the

world, taking advantage of this demographic dividend is an imminent imperative. The leadership challenges, of

channelling efforts of the millennial teams in organizations, are huge.

It brings us to a key question as to ‘why the millennials should follow a leader’.

Gallup®, the largest research advisory on behavioural aspects of leaders around the world, has examined decades

of data on the topic of leadership, leader behaviour surveys and follower responses on leader effectiveness.

This paper discusses leadership effectiveness of Gallup advisory in context of millennial workforce management.

The paper presents a case study of leading teams of millennials through leadership challenges with focus on

personal transformation, by applying the Gallup Strengths based Leadership® framework.

By effective application of such a leadership framework, the millennial engagement and their alignment with

organization objectives can be enhanced manifold.

INTRODUCTION

Millennials are those born just before the start of this century. They are different and cannot be managed the

way other generations have been managed. Millennials (Gen Y) are tech savvy, ambitious, and are fond of

collaborating in a team setting. They have a desire to make the world a better place and like to do things their

own way. Their inherent disposition and focus sets them apart - Millennials offer a set of skills and a mind-set

that fit well with the challenges confronting today’s organizations. Millennials have a lot to offer their

organizations — they are a trusting and optimistic generation that is tech savvy far beyond earlier generations.

They can absorb large amounts of data, convert them into information and they place high value on social

causes, in which they collaborate with others to achieve change and impact. They are highly educated and want

to make a contribution, though they do get impatient at times in their quest for immediacy and excellence.



It is therefore imperative for managers to understand how this generation thinks, what they are looking for in the

workplace and how to inspire them, so that this generation of millennials can bring to bear their unique talents

and make the world a better place.

Indian Demographics

Nearly 60 per cent [2] (700 million of the 1.2 billion estimated during the 2011 Indian Census) are millennials, under

the age of 30. Almost 300 million of them are part of the workforce. India will be growing younger into the 2020s

and 2030s and will come to have a larger workforce comprising present day millennials and the Gen Z category

(those born beyond 2000), who need special handling. Millennials matter because they are not only different from

those that have gone before, they are also more numerous than any of previous generations – Baby Boomers &

Gen X. With this large millennial population and the hope that India will be the future economic hub of the world,

taking advantage of the demographic dividend is an imminent imperative. The leadership challenges, of

channelling efforts of the millennial teams in organizations, are huge.



DETAILS OF THE PAPER

Understanding Millennials

It’s clear that millennials will be a powerful generation of workers and that those with the right skills will be in high

demand. They will choose the way they want to work and where and how they operate in the workplace. They may

therefore present challenges at work that many organisations may not have faced earlier.

Are millennials really any different from past generations?

Across generations the employee behaviour and priorities change and adapt as they age; but to dismiss the

question entirely on that basis would be improper. Millennials’ use of technology clearly sets them apart. One of

the defining characteristics of the millennial generation is their affinity with the digital world. They have grown up

with smart phones, laptops, internet and broadband, being the norm. Their keenness to collaborate on social

media and expectation of instant access to information is another facet that sets them apart. This is the first

generation to enter the workplace with a better grasp of some key business tools than earlier generation workers.

Typical Millennial Expectations

Mentioned below are some quotes, statements and descriptors of millennial feelings, behaviour, actions,

expectations and the manner in which they come across in workplace situations. These are based on interactions

with students and corporate employees during professional development workshop discussions and group

activities [7] conducted in last 2 years.

“My career will be one of choice. It will align who I am, with what I like to do.”

- Final year student at college

“If I’m working on something I enjoy and am passionate about, I will be motivated.”

- Fresher team member in an engineering company

“I want to feel valued, and be given tasks that allow me to stretch myself

to the fullest extent.”

- College student at a placement interview

making a career choice

There is no work time. There is no personal time. There is no work/life balance. There’s just life.

- Corporate employee of 5 years experience



Meeting Millennials Expectations.

Based on survey of employees in the developed world and in the Indian employment market as reported in various

press releases, it is evident that employers have to change what they offer employees if they expect to attract and

retain millennial workers. Depicted in Table 1 is the focus of generations past, millennials (present) and future.

Past Generations Millennials / Future Generations

My Pay check My Purpose

My Satisfaction My Development

My Boss My Coach

My Annual Review My Ongoing Conversations

My Weakness My Strengths

My Job My Life

Table – 1 (Source: Employee survey report extract from Washington Post, May 2016)

The Leadership Challenge

It is imperative that managers understand this generation of employees in the workforce and learn how to

inspire them—not just manage and deal with them. Managers, who learn how to truly enable and inspire

millennials to contribute their talents to address the many challenges facing organizations today, could far

outperform the competition. The typical challenges an organization faces are:

• Low levels of employee engagement

• High attrition

• Sub optimal performance by teams

• Talent development

• Customer engagement

The different aspects pertaining to the practice of inspiring leadership are discussed through the following case

study. The case study brings focus on application of leadership aspects in the workplace in context of millennial

workforce management. The case study highlights nuances of leading teams of millennials through the leadership

challenges, by applying the Gallup Strengths based Leadership® framework [1].

Don’t even try to manage millennials, the largest generation in the workforce.

Lead them.



The Case Study:

How to Achieve Business Results with a Millennial team using Strengths Based

Leadership.

The Challenge.

The HR team of XYZ Company is predominantly staffed with millennials having good technical and

management credentials. However in recent times they found that in most Business Units their performance

has taken a dip. Employee engagement is at a low and employee attrition level has gone up. HR is seized of

the matter and is looking for a structured solution to this challenge.

The Solution.

Develop a methodology to provide inspiring leadership to the millennial teams to deliver exceptional business

results aligned with organizational objectives

Methodology.

A special blend of situational leadership using Gallup® Strengths Based Leadership® framework [1] used to

inspire the millennial teams.

3 Phased approach [6]:

Phase 1. Individual Discovery & Strengths development

Phase 2. Build a competent and interdependent team

Phase 3. Effective leadership to inspire the team members

Benefits Achieved.

• Improved employee engagement

• Happy team delivering high performance

• Lower attrition

• Higher level of customer engagement



Methodology used - Gallup Leadership Framework

Gallop® advisory on leadership [1] is based on four decades of study of the subject and particularly after Gallup

researched more than 1 million work teams and interviewed 20,000 leaders and 10,000 followers worldwide

across 50 countries including India. It was found that best and most effective leaders do three things well [1]:

The Three Leadership Mantras

The Approach

A Phased approach [6] to deliver inspired leadership to the team members was followed:



• How to provide effective leadership with an understanding of dominant talent themes /

strengths of leader & team members


• How to meet the basic needs of followers


To become a better and more effective leader yourself, start by figuring out what your own personal strengths are.

Once you know what specific strengths you bring to the table, you can then start working on developing those

strengths and enhancing them even further. If you keep at this, you will be doing all you can to become a great

leader.

What effective

leaders do

differently?

Effective leaders understand the needs of their

followers in depth

1

3

2 Great leaders surround themselves with

highly competent people

Effective Leaders keep investing in strengths



Mantra 1. Effective Leaders keep investing in strengths.

Gallup’s research [1] has shown that when an organization’s leadership fails to focus on the individual strengths of

the people who work within, only about 9% (about one-in-eleven) employees become engaged. When the

leadership makes focusing on the strengths of employees a priority, the level of engagement rises to almost 73%

(three-in-four). This eightfold increase in level of engagement is significant. It can generate substantial gains for the

organization’s bottom line while simultaneously enhancing each employee’s individual well-being. In matured, high

performance organizations effective leaders keep on investing in their individual strengths and in the strengths of

their people.

As desirable as it may sound on paper, nobody has genuine world-class strengths in all areas. A much more

likely scenario is, you’ll find a leader who is world-class in one or two specific domains and then is average or

just slightly above average in all the other areas of the business.

The paradox is when leaders try to become competent in all areas; they actually end up becoming less

effective than those who focus on making the most of their strengths. From a personal perspective, if you

concentrate on extracting every last benefit from what you already do well, you’ll be much more productive

than if you try and get better at the things you are weak at.

It brings forth the following key points [1]:

• To lead effectively, you need to have an acute awareness of your own strengths and then

organize yourself to spend the maximum amount of time every day working in those areas of

strengths

• You can’t become an effective leader by striving to be like other leaders you admire (e.g.

Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela). If you try and emulate someone with

a different set of personal strengths, all you end up doing is taking yourself out of your natural

element. This can only set you up for failure.

As effective leaders focus on and reinvest in their strengths, it sets off a self-reinforcing cycle which

generates what can be termed a “cumulative advantage” that continues to grow over the course of their

careers. They are good at something, so they keep doing it. The more they do it, the better they become and

the more opportunities they seek out to use their strengths. This, in turn, leads to even more individual and

“If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. While our society encourages us to be well-rounded, this approach inadvertently breeds mediocrity. Perhaps the greatest misconception of all is that of the well-rounded leader.”

- By Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, Authors, Strengths Based Leadership



organizational growth. The cycle keeps on repeating itself over and over as leaders continue to capitalize on

these disproportionately good gains.


• How to provide effective leadership with an understanding of dominant talent themes / strengths of

leader & team members

Mantra 2. Great leaders surround themselves with highly competent people

Gallup leadership advisory [1] highlights that while each member has his or her own strengths, the most

cohesive and successful teams possessed broader grouping of strengths. Four distinct domains of leadership

strength [1] emerge:

1. Executing – they know how to make the right things happen.

2. Influencing – they know how to sell their organization’s ideas both to insiders and outsiders.

3. Relationship Building – they are good at keeping a high performing team together and fully engaged.

4. Strategic Thinking – they keep everyone focused on the possibilities and what could be.

It serves the team well to have a representation of strengths in each of these four domains. Instead of one

dominant leader who attempts to do everything or individuals who all have similar strengths; contributions from

all four domains lead to a strong and cohesive team. Although individuals need not be well rounded, the team

should be; leading to the concept of interdependence and collaboration in a team setting.

Clifton StrengthsFinder®

The StrengthsFinder assessment tool identifies the top 5 talent themes of individuals during the discovery phase.

Effective leaders can use these themes to clarify and understand the interests and motivations of individual team

members in a systematic way. Once you understand what themes are dominant in each team member, you then

have some clues on the best way to influence and lead those individuals. Team members will have a combination

of themes rather than just one theme exclusively, so different combinations and permutations are possible.

Each member will possess some strength in multiple domains. The Clifton StrengthsFinder® assessment tool [4]

can be useful in determining how all team members can maximize their contribution to the group’s collective

goals.

“What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call

on the right strength at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics

that describes all leaders.”

– Dr. Donald Clifton, leadership researcher & father of strengths psychology [5]



Maximizing the team

In this phase 2, strategies are evolved to develop millennial team members (A, B, C, D, E) using their individual

talent themes – in the order of their dominance, ie. 1 being the most dominant theme and 5 being a lesser

dominant theme within the top 5 for the individual. This provides the basis for the formation of a well rounded

interdependent team that has strengths across the leadership domains.



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EXECUTING INFLUENCING RELATIONSHIP BUILDING STRATEGIC THINKING



Great leaders achieve more because they assemble and develop a well balanced and focused team of

performers. They put together great teams and then harness the collective talents of the team to maximum

effect.

A strong interdependent team [1]

By understanding the specific themes in which your team members enjoy working in, you better position

yourself to exploit the collective strengths of your entire team. As previously mentioned, the central idea is not to

even try to get people to be “good enough” at everything. Rather, you want to get the right strengths on a team

and then let each person focus on doing what they do best. In this way, you can make the most of what

extraordinarily talented individuals have to offer.

Strong, high-performing teams are an asset to organizational productivity and they show following five signs:

Focus on Results

Prioritization

Embrace Diversity

Committed to Work & Personal life

Magnet of Talent

Five signs of a strong interdependent team


• How to meet the basic needs of followers

Mantra 3. Effective leaders understand the needs of their followers in depth.

Gallup leadership advisory [1] suggests that:

People follow leaders for only four reasons:

1. They trust their leader to do the right thing at all times.

2. They believe the leader genuinely cares about the rank-and-file employees.

3. They consider the leader is stable and can be counted on in times of need.

4. They have confidence in the leader because he or she makes them feel enthusiastic about the future.

Strong

Interdependent

Team



Achieving greatness as a leader is not just by solving day to day problems and issues that arise in the workplace,

but great leaders understand their people and intuitively provide them with just what they need to perform to the

best of their abilities.

In this phase 3, providing inspiring leadership to team members is addressed – taking examples of the team

members (A, B, C, D, E) with dominant themes – Achiever, Responsibility, Maximizer, Relator & Analytical and

meeting their basic needs [1] of Trust, Compassion, Stability & Hope. It demonstrates how leaders inspire their

followers on these basic needs.

1. Trust – Followers will not tolerate dishonesty in any way, shape or form. They need to feel confident they

can trust you to act consistently regardless of the circumstances or situation. If you’re not honest at all

times, there will be no trust and no respect. Trust significantly increases speed and efficiency in the

workplace. Don’t waste time telling someone you can be trusted – show them.

2. Compassion – You have to prove to followers you care about them and have their best interests at heart.

If you do that, your people will become far more engaged and productive. It may not be feasible to build a

personal relationship with each of your followers but if you can show them you have a heart, your followers

will like you better.

3. Stability – You must have a solid foundation. You need your followers to feel like they can rely on you at all

times and under all circumstances. This is especially important during times of rapid change. The more

stability you exhibit, the stronger your foundation appears to followers and the more anxious they are, to

get onto the bandwagon.

4. Hope – Humans are wired to feel enthusiastic about the future. If you want to be an effective leader, you

must instil hope in them that a bright future lies ahead. Great leaders respond to challenges, solve

problems, remove barriers and create impressive options for the future. If you want people to follow you,

fill them with hope that is realistic and inspiring.

Mentioned below are 5 dominant themes in 5 millennials who are part of the team to deliver business results.

Outlined below are strategies to influence and motivate them to deliver high performance while being part of an

engaged team

Trust

Compassion

Stability

Hope

Four Basic

Needs of

Followers



1. Achiever

2. Responsibility

3. Maximizer

4. Relator

5. Analytical

Taking the example of inspiring a millennial with Achiever as the most dominant theme - The team leader is

expected to lead the Achiever using the strategies mentioned below:

Leading a millennial team member with strong Achiever

Achiever

Achievers have stamina and work hard. They get

satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Strategies to lead them effectively

• Give them important projects

• Work with them to build trust & trust them to

deliver

• Call on them often

• Set up good metrics for tracking progress

• Give stretch goals periodically

• Surround them with good workers

• Let them set their own pace of work & work

hours

• Make weaknesses inconsequential; others

can pitch in when required

Leading a millennial team member with strong Responsibility

Responsibility

Those with strong Responsibility take ownership

of what they are working on. They are thoroughly

loyal totally honest about everything.

Strategies to lead them effectively

• Fill teams with committed peers

• Recognize them as self-starters

• Provide low levels of supervision

• Allow them to act ethically

• Keep adding to their duties

• Allow them to volunteer for more

• Leave them in hands-on situations/ roles



Leading a millennial team member with strong Maximizer

Maximizer

Maximizers focus on their strengths as the way to

achieve excellence. They like making good things

even better.

Strategies to lead Maximizers effectively

• Discuss their strengths in detail

• Strategize their next moves

• Provide a clear career path

• Have a good compensation plan

• Let them analyse your organization

• Let them lead teams / activities

• Have them help with learning and

development

• Take serious note of their suggestions

• Encourage them to mentor others

Leading a millennial team member with strong Relator

Relator

Relators are the people who enjoy building close

relationships with others. They find total

satisfaction by working hard with their friends to

do some great stuff.

Strategies to lead Relators effectively

• Identify their colleague’s goals

• Let them bond with top performers

• Put them into management roles

• Show you will always be there for them

• Highlight their generosity

• Create informal recognition systems

• Establish high expectations

Leading a millennial team member with strong Analytical

Analytical

These are the people who have to know reasons

and causes. They want to know every factor

which influences a situation.

Strategies to lead analyticals well:

• Always lay out the logic of decisions

• Provide sufficient details on everything



• Acknowledge their disciplined mind

• Always have the facts ready at hand

• Give them opportunities to present data

and analysis

• Take their view point seriously

• Endorse their work openly

Through inspiring leadership, team member strengths are further developed to achieve excellence and personal

transformation, which ultimately delivers business results to the organization. Through strengths based leadership

the millennial team member expectations are met and conditions made conducive for high performance and high

employee engagement.

Summary of Approach:

Building a strong team requires a substantial amount of time and effort. Getting the right strengths on the team

is a good starting point, but it is not enough. For a team to create sustained growth, the leader must continue to

invest in each person’s strengths and in building better relationships among the group members. The leader

must also provide inspiring leadership to the followers on their basic needs of trust, compassion, stability and

hope. When leaders can do this, it allows the entire team to spend even more time thinking about the needs of

the customers they serve.

Strengths based development & strengths based leadership frameworks are structured solutions for leading

millennials at the work place for delivering business results.

CONCLUSION

India is growing younger, and will become the youngest country by 2021. Young Indians will form 64% of the

workforce by 2021. The Indian millennial generation are the best-educated generation in independent India and

are well poised to steer the country to long-term prosperity by the middle of 21st century. But we have to deal with

the leadership challenges at the workplace now, to take advantage of the demographic dividend and the economic

opportunity that is unfolding. This calls for a paradigm shift in talent development in finishing students’ pipeline and

corporate India employees. We should be willing to embrace strengths based development & strengths based

leadership to take us into the golden age in a ‘New India’.

We are at our best when we operate from our strengths zone. It brings out our

full potential.



REFERENCES

[1] Strengths Based Leadership, Rath Tom from Gallup, (2008), GallupPress, New York, pp 7-27

[2] The Millennials: Exploring the World of the Largest Living Generation, (2016), Subramanian S.

Kalpathi, Random House, India

[3] https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

[4] http://www.gallup.com/products/170957/clifton-strengthsfinder.aspx

[5] http://strengths.gallup.com/110443/History.aspx

[6] https://www.satyssparks.com/

[7] https://www.satyssparks.com/testimonials/

https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/

http://www.gallup.com/products/170957/clifton-strengthsfinder.aspx

http://strengths.gallup.com/110443/History.aspx

https://www.satyssparks.com/

https://www.satyssparks.com/testimonials/

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