On the topic of Leadership Skills

Regarding the post from earlier today on the topic of What Generation Y is Looking for in a Leader.

If you are a corporate or business leader, and if you have Generation Y careerists in your organization (which I do hope is the case for you,) the survey results that we will be posting over the next week are simply a starting point for you. If you are serious about addressing Gen Y’s needs (and the needs of all employees in your company,) one of the best ways to start meeting those needs is to conduct a survey inside your organization using some very basic questions. The questions we addressed in this survey include:

1. What leadership traits are you most looking for in the leaders in your workplace? (one or two word response only)

2. What are the biggest turn-offs for you in the leaders in your workplace? (one or two word response only)

3. When you leave a company, what one thing causes you to leave? (one or two word response only)

4. If you stay with a company, what factors cause you to want to stay? (one or two word response only)

5. How can our organization best help you develop your leadership skills? (one or two word response only)

With the responses from earlier today, while these responses are certainly leadership traits that most people want in their leaders, our purpose was to actually go and ask a group of Gen Y careerists what their thoughts were about the topic. If you look at this list and dismiss it as cliche, you may be missing something very important about the leadership in your organization.

I would also encourage you to take the survey responses we are going to be providing you and actually use them in your organization. Use them in a 360 Degree Feedback Survey for your leaders (and get your Gen Y’s in as raters on the surveys,) or use these traits as a starting point for conversation with your young careerists. The best way to begin to lead from a much stronger place is not to assume you know everything about leadership or about what your followers really want…you have to ask them if you really want to know.

And…as I always say…if you are a leader, your followers’ perceptions are your reality. While you may disagree with their perceptions, your followers will determine if you are a great leader and will give you feedback about how you are showing up, but only if you ask them, and only if you really want to hear it.  Without the willingness to hear the feedback and actually address it, the process will not be worth the time or effort.

If you need assistance with this process, please send me an e-mail to bea@millennialleaders.com.