t's ironic millennials have been labeled the entrepreneur generation, considering they're not starting businesses.
Why? For starters, they graduated college during the recession,
accepted jobs that didn't require a four-year degree, and can't pay off
the $35,000 they've incurred in student loans.
But here's the thing: our economy needs startups. Startups create new
jobs. And by 2025 millennials will comprise 75% of the workforce.
So it doesn't really matter that nearly 70% of surveyed millennials want to start their own business if they're not doing it.
Their bad luck aside, we need to take a bit of the blame. When we
started our businesses we had different challenges than millennials
face. We had more work experience, less financial burden, and didn't
need the preparation and guidance they seem to need to launch a startup.
As much as we'd like to, we can't just will millennials into becoming entrepreneurs. The Wall Street Journal's right: "We need the next generation to create and scale new businesses," it said.
And we need to prepare them for it.
Still not sold?
Your company thrives by preparing millennials for entrepreneurship. You
can't guarantee anyone will work for you forever. Getting a few good
years from an entrepreneur might be better than a lifetime of a non-entrepreneur.
With the entrepreneurial employee, you might develop products or services that you wouldn't otherwise have.
By treating your millennial employees like entrepreneurs, and by systematically training and allowing them to experience nearly every aspect of running a business, they'll be more apt to do it on their own.
The good news is they do want to become entrepreneurs. We just need to
nurture their entrepreneur sensibilities and prepare them for their own
startup. Here's how:
Foster an entrepreneurial spirit within your company
Give your employees a voice. Do this by encouraging collaborative
management styles and getting them to develop their own answers to
problems. Create a work environment where employees see setbacks as
hurdles and not impenetrable walls.
Explain this to them before they start. You'll want to get your
employees to commit to overcoming obstacles in your business. Then, when
they eventually leave, maybe they'll leave to start something new
instead of working for your competitor.
Action step: Start collaborating. At my company, we collaborate via
committee. If there's a group of people passionate about a project, they
become the committee chairs. They strategize, present their white paper
to the group, and then implement.
Get millennial employees to treat your business as their own
Nothing will get your employees to gain a sense of ownership of your business quicker than empowering them.
Include your millennial employees in high-level discussions and
operational planning. They won't necessarily be ready for these
responsibilities, but you'll coach them.
And yes, they'll make mistakes. That's pretty much the point. Use their
input to change the business and let them see the implementation of
their ideas.
Action step: Get employee feedback. My partners and I do all-hands
webinars because we're international and have multiple locations.
There's no excuse to not be accessible. We post a video of the webinar
to our intranet afterwards for anyone who missed it or wants to watch
again.
Google Forms is a great tool to gather anonymous employee feedback. Anonymous surveys give employees the courage to speak freely.
Create an entrepreneurial company culture
Google, Apple, and Facebook have proven that company culture
has an unprecedented ROI. It gets employees to work harder because
they're passionate about what they do — and who they're doing it for.
Get a group of people to share opinions and take charge of programs.
This atmosphere will generate happier employees because they're making
an impact on the business. When employees feel heard, you'll get more
creative ideas and stronger strategies.
Action step: Read "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon." There's a lot going on in this book, but try to focus on how Bezos creates a strong culture within his organization.
For instance, during the 1999 holiday season, Amazon's toy division thought they wouldn't meet the demand for Pokémon
toys. So they went to the Toys "R" Us website and purchased its entire
inventory. Amazon took a loss on the Pokémon toys, but had happy
customers (surely happier than those who went to Toys "R" Us).
Stay connected with your millennial employees
Staying connected to your millennial employees means it's not about
you; it's about them. Don't assume you know what they're faced with.
Instead of focusing on the challenges you faced when you were their age,
focus on their generation's challenges.
The only way to do this is to talk to employees. This will create a transparent relationship, which is what millennials want.
Action step: Build a personal relationship with every employee. At my
company, I walk around and talk to people every day I'm in the office.
If you have less than 100 employees, there's no reason you can't say hi
to everyone within the course of the week. My partners and I still sit
in during the new-hire process.
Encourage optimistic, out of the box and creative thinking
The major benefit of hiring entrepreneurial-minded millennials is they
naturally approach problems from a different angle. They have a sense of
optimism that helps when they're faced with challenges.
If you encourage employees to become immune to negative experiences and
opinions, they'll learn to develop ways around obstacles that would
have otherwise diminished their morale.
Action step: Promote creativity. We bring in outside resources to train
and promote out-of-the-box thinking. If my guys can prove the value of
something, my partners and I will pretty much let them do whatever they
want. If their way works, we'll roll it out companywide.
Matthew Kennedy Stewart is co-founder and CEO of College Works Painting,
which has grown from a small Southern California-based business into an
international company located throughout the U.S. and Canada.
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