Generational awareness helps leaders understand the needs of emerging groups that follow in the footsteps of employees currently in their 20s.
Get ready to develop practices and policies that aren’t standardized for all employees. It’s also critical to prepare for how each generation prefers to receive feedback. Same thing applies for training.
Soft Skills versus Hard Skills
In the past, we’ve relied on the overlap between knowledge and skills to identify the best candidate for the job. In his book, ‘The Human Equity Advantage’, Trevor Wilson re-introduces The SHAPEV Talent Model and adds what we’ve been calling the intangibles. That is, those things that are unique to each person and impossible to replicate anywhere else. In other words, it puts a label on the intangible attributes so that other people leaders can also begin looking for these traits.
Instead of long-term careers with stable employers, college graduates seek employers who will give them the most knowledge the quickest. These graduates also look for flexible compensation, a fantastic work culture and choices for work/life balance to suit their individual lifestyles. But if you do all this, how do you make sure Millennials will integrate well amongst other generations working in your organization?
You need to train them on soft skills.
Great Model for Training Millennials
The V-shape Talent Model focuses on five elements:
- Strengths: where do you naturally excel?
- Heart: what do you love to do?
- Attitude: what is your attitude towards work?
- Personality: what are your character traits?
- Experience: what is your unique life experience?
- Virtue: do you live the organization’s values?
You should be focusing on developing your millennial’s soft skills.. You can tailor your training based on their answers to the above questions. However, these questions are best answered by using assessment tools. We recommend using the tool ProfileXT®. The PXT assessment measures how well an individual fits specific jobs in your organization. The PXT “job matching” feature is unique, enabling you to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. In fact, amongst other relevant information, it will answer the five elements of the V shape Talent Model.
Top talent will not settle for working with antiquated technologies. An employer of choice must keep pace as technology change gains momentum. The majority of desirable workers are upwardly mobile, seeking an environment of learning where they can enhance and develop their expertise, learn new skills and take on additional responsibilities. Stay ahead of the pack and start building now the future!
