The May 20th edition of Time Magazine ran a very interesting article on the Millennial Generation. In summary, they think different. And though they rate high on the narcissism scales, they are quite clever and overall nicer than us Boomers. I’ve worked at or with many of the agencies in the nonprofit space over the years. And one common challenge they all have is training new employees – especially Millennials.
Agency life is the definition of busy and hurry up. And training, no matter how much lip service it receives, is just not a priority when lined up against what needs to happen in a day. And Millennials won’t put up with our Boomer generated ideas of training.
But I have an idea I think your agency should try. Instead of having HR or some senior manager lead training at your agency, assign a sharp Millennial who has successfully navigated through their first year and put her in charge of training.
They are going to be light years ahead of knowing what the gaps are. And since they just ran the gantlet, they will have a better idea of what the training should entail. Plus, since it will be a big honor for them to do this, it might actually work.