Millennials, Process Continuity, Leadership and Discontinuity

I think we're all familiar with the impact of generational change in the workplace, but it never hurts to find an accessible and well written piece on the topic - in this case, Microsoft's Daniel W. Rasmus writes in NASA's ASK online magazine about the next generation workforce and project management. As well as offering some tips for retaining millennials he discusses the following issues:

• Process Continuity - The next-generation worker's interest in a diversity of experience may lead to high rates of turnover. This means that organizations will lose knowledge unless they can find ways to rapidly transfer it to new members, or to retain it in knowledge bases or other codified forms. We at Microsoft are seeing a growing use of wikis and blogs as impromptu knowledge bases.
• Leadership - Top-down or command-and-control methods will prove less effective for the next generation, but millennials can be brought together for a mission they consider meaningful.
• Discontinuity - The coming retirement of baby boomers will be an upheaval unprecedented in size and impact. Organizations that thrive will be the ones that use their imagination, adapt quickly to change, entice employees with opportunities for learning, and retain them because they continue to challenge them and empower them to use their knowledge and skills to benefit both the organization and their team.

Thanks, Mike.

Technorati tags: Daniel W. Rasmus, Millennials, Project Management, Mike Gotta, Enterprise 2.0