While you’ll find tried, tested, and true areas of project management, millennials are bringing fresh perspectives – leveraging technological advancements and placing additional focus in areas like economic, ecological, and social factors.

Alex Shootman, CEO at Workfront, a cloud-based enterprise work and project management solution provider, said understanding how to assist millennials is vital since “digital natives now rule, and definately will increase in power and influence within the next many years.”

“Just as with any immigrant and native inside a society, you’ll find differences, and people differences can change the office,” said Shootman. “Differences bring that digital natives see the workplace as egalitarian vs. hierarchical, they prefer telecommuting and flexible hours along with the opportunity to make-up work remotely, (i.e., from a cafe on a weekend or during vacation).”

“Natives like multitasking or task switching and like to find out ‘just-in-time’ simply precisely what is minimally necessary.” Shootman said millennials “interact and network simultaneously with lots of, even countless others. Egalitarian, flexible, task switching, just-in-time skills and highly networked. This is simply not the present work place.”

SEE: Millennials are doubly bored at the office as middle-agers, report says

Why the target around the role of millennials in projects?

“By 2020, millennials is likely to make up half the world work force, and also by 2030, they’ll are the cause of 75%. Millennials’ aversion to hidden agendas, rigid corporate structures and knowledge silos in conjunction with a willingness to discover new opportunities will fundamentally change the nature of work or severely cost businesses,” said Eric Bergman, second in command of Cheap Project Management Books at Changepoint, an experienced services automation company. “Gallup estimates millennial turnover costs the US economy $30.5 billion annually.” Bergman believes organizations will focus more extensively on employees as well as their needs so that you can address the negative impact of churn on productivity, quality, and service.

What does this implies for project activities that support business goals?
Bergman declared that last year, businesses realized their survival hinged on embracing digital transformation. Now, transitioning to shifting expectations means delivering IT capabilities that complement business priorities. Even the most agile, tech-forward businesses are rewriting their playbook in the face of evolving expectations.”
Marianne Crann, director, human resources at Changepoint adds “Millennials are disrupting traditional business models. We have seen this in HR for years. The good news is, everyday processes should be updated to accommodate new generations of talent. They work differently and possess different expectations. Firms that realize that sweet spot-the one which attracts talent without detracting from your success of the business-will gain happier staff and happier stakeholders, whatever the generation.” Changepoint has gone into greater detail on millennials and project management of their new 2017 trends report.

At GlassSKY, a business focused on the empowerment and development of women, founder Robyn Tingley believes millennials differ of their approach to timelines, collaboration, and communication. “Millennials have a very far better a feeling of work/life balance than Gen Xers,” she said. “This does not mean that they can won’t put in additional time once the situation demands it, or answer correspondence after hours, nevertheless they will definitely expect that is the exception.” Tingley declared that more so than other generations, millennials are drawing boundaries more clearly which this new attitude is at odds with all the old ‘all nighter’ mentality of project management deadlines. “It’s making project leaders rethink deadlines, how you can schedule work and wins, key milestones what is actually truly realistic and achievable once your key players clock out prior to when the best, and prior to when anyone within the older generations expect,” said Tingley. “It does mean selection should be placed on steroids…if the downline are going to be productive just for 8 hours, you can not have them spending 2-3 of those each day in meetings presenting powerpoints and flow charts to have consensus around change requests and scope adjustments.”

In regards as a result of collaboration Tingley said millennials excel: “They are true team players and prefer to solicit inputs and views and so are natural connectors.” And they expect tools to maintain pace. “Static whiteboards that can not be seen unless you please take a snapshot, SharePoint sites, Excel spreadsheets, and corporations that don’t have adequate video conference solutions are dinosaurs for many years,” said Tingley. “Project managers should embrace and support modernized software that may handle collaborative brainstorming, real-time updates, multiples readers and users, integrated video, voice and much more.”

Regarding communication, Tingley said millennials are “the true tech generation; gadget-friendly, always on, highly responsive tech connoisseurs, and they also communicate to put it briefly bursts of emojis and splintered spelling. Email just won’t work to align teams, manage inputs, and drive performance.” Using the rise of virtual workers and geographically-distanced teams, Tingley predicted that project management apps will become the newest norm. “The future just may entail millennials working on the local coffee shop, uploading a visible chart they merely drew or possibly a photo they snapped of something inspirational, along with the entire team is able to see it and build on it, click to vote yes/no, drag it to another location two-quarters out for a future phase, etc,” she said.
How can millennials see their role in projects and influence on business goals?

“The millennial generation may be dubbed the ‘selfie generation,'” said Daniel Malak, who utilizes Motionloft, a provider of hyperlocal pedestrian and vehicle traffic sensors. “I prefer to think it’s more the ‘self-starter’ generation. Young professionals recognize that in paying off student loans, advancing of their career, and establishing relevant experiences for growth needs a decisive attitude towards dealing with and leading new projects.”

Malack, a millennial, believes his generation has an interest in not only meeting expectations of your project, but exceeding them. “Millennials are nimble and can adapt faster to changes superior to others,” he was quoted saying. “Younger associates can oftentimes be a little more going to deliver, which presents an appealing situation through which projects become opportunities instead of hurdles…deadlines are managed with the implementation of new communication methods, which could both expedite the job and raise the important thing as well.”

What should companies take away because of this?

Millennials include the future, bringing newer perspectives and much more innovative approaches. Companies should harness their contributions and recognize the true potential they possess.
Technology is almost wired into the DNA on this tech savvy group with techniques the first sort generations might not exactly grasp and appreciate. This will make millennials a hybrid solution in of themselves and a powerful source of projects.
Millennials really should not be automatically mistaken as ‘not as experienced’, or unaware. They’ve appear through a business climate that is more diverse, complex, dynamic, e-mail, more stressful than other generations. This will make their experiences and contributions highly valuable. Project teams should leverage their varied insights for improved outcomes.
When companies can harness the full combined potential of previous generations and millennials, the result can provide a sustainable solution than depending on just one or the other.
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