“ Gen Y and Gen Z groups will expect clear goals, and engaging variety of assignments to tackle and to work for organizations with a go-getting attitude.”
innovative organizations. Secondly, both generations expect you to more dutifully teach entrepreneurial, critical thinking, leadership and dynamic decision-making skills. Thirdly, they demand that you provide avenues that give them the opportunity to create positive, lasting change( not to mention, see how their contributions can affect change).
Clearly, millennials and members of Gen Z look at and interact with the world in far different ways than generations who have come before. But with a few simple shifts in perspective and positioning, it becomes far easier to connect and communicate with them on a meaningful level. n
FOR MORE ABOUT millennials, check out page 32 for insights from ISPA Foundation’ s Consumer Snapshot Initiative: Millennial Perceptions + Preferences.
Award-winning professional speaker Scott Steinberg is a best-selling expert on leadership and innovation, and the author of Millennial Marketing: Bridging the Generation Gap and Make Change Work for You: 10 Ways to Future- Proof Yourself, Fearlessly Innovate, and Succeed
Despite Uncertainty. Steinberg is among today’ s leading providers of keynote speeches, workshops and seminars for Fortune 500 firms. For more about Steinberg, check out akeynotespeaker. com or connect with him at scott @ techsavvyglobal. com or call 1.888.507.2246.
Strategies to Effectively Engage the Next Generations
Keep in mind that millennials and Gen Zers will hail from a wide range of age groups. A Gen Yer could just as easily be a college student as a young parent. When crafting communications and outreach efforts, take care to leverage common themes or points of reference that all can recognize— and don’ t assume that a one-size-fits-all approach will always be most effective.
Don’ t market or promote— instead, tell stories others can empathize. As several research results have already pointed out, millennials do not respond to routine advertisements or generic messages anymore. Instead, they’ re looking for causes and efforts that resonate with their values and those they feel they can connect with and support on a personal level.
Keep messaging short and to the point to grab their attention right from the get-go. To hold Gen Y and Gen Z’ s interest, it’ s best to lead with a strong, oneof-a-kind message— and, where appropriate, use vehicles such as humor or heartwarming tales to quickly differentiate. Highly visual, these generations also respond far better to short animations, videos, infographics, charts and other graphical points of reference than textual elements.
Make a point to stand out at a glance. Gen Y and Gen Zers are used to quickly dismissing the many messages they are bombarded with. To avoid falling into this trap, help them quickly connect the dots, and explain what makes you and your organization unique, what pain points or problems you can help them solve, as well as how they can quickly and simply interact with you to create positive outcomes. Give them points of shared interest and incentives to rally behind.
March / April 2017 ■ PULSE 31