Leadership Development:Key Considerations for Mentoring Millennials (50m Lecture)

Leadership development is a critical factor in ensuring sustainability of an effective and highly motivated workforce. Changes in the composition of today’s public health practitioners require leaders to understand the characteristics of the individuals being led and the implications to leadership development (Kur & Bunning, 2002). It is estimated that by 2014 Millennials will comprise half of the workforce.

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Mentoring has been identified by leadership experts as a best practice for leadership development (Groves, 2007) (Day 2001). Management and human resource studies as well as academic research are identifying evolving approaches to mentoring to respond to emerging demographic and technological factors of the modern workplace (Meister & Willyerd, 2010). Generational theory identifies key characteristics of the newest generation of workers referred to as Millennials, Nexters or as Gen Y. Difference in attitudes and values of each generation influences perceptions of good leader attributes, and preferences of leadership traits. Understanding the values and attitudes of this generational cohort is proposed to be a significant factor for leadership development (Sessa V, 2007).
A key factor in successful and effective mentoring is the quality of the mentor-protégé relationship. This presentation explores the complexity of the next generation of potential leaders with specific implications to mentoring relationships. Research into characteristics and leadership preferences of Millennials are explored and findings from the review of recent literature are critically reviewed for relevance to this segment of the workforce. Challenges with traditional approaches to mentoring are discussed leading into emerging ideas and novel approaches to mentoring. Factors influencing the quality of mentoring relationships such as age, culture and gender will be covered with a specific attention to implications for the millennial generation.
The presentation synthesizes the research and concepts, and concludes with concrete suggestions for best practices for mentoring Millennials, an important leadership development strategy for future leaders.