With millennials now holding one in three jobs in America, employers must find inventive new ways to train this generation of employees, according to Forbes.
Paul DePalma, CEO of Orlando, Fla.-based Adept Performance Systems, believes organizations should cater and adapt their training systems to suit the needs of all employees, particularly millennials. "In order for their training to have an impact, it has to be tied to relevance and practicality," Mr. DePalma said, according to the report. "Millennials want to know how it's going to impact them and their career, and also, altruistically, society in general."
Adept Performance Systems analyzed trends in training millennials. Here are the top five mistakes to steer clear of while training millennials.
1. Providing limited advice. "There's an assumption that millennials are only interested in technical training, but often leadership traits can be a mystery to them," said Mr. DePalma. Millennials want more than basic training — leadership, self-management and productivity training are key areas in which they look for advice.
2. Not discussing how the training is applicable. Millennials want to know how training will help them in the long-term as they develop their careers. Training programs will yield the greatest success if they not only target the particular skills required for the employee's new position, but if they offer skills and the opportunity for professional development that is more generally applicable.
3. Inadequate coaching. "For millennials there is a certain extent of desire to be the best and anything that falls short of that is a huge failure," said Mr. DePalma. Many millennials are looking for a mentoring or coaching relationship through which they can learn to assess their successes and failures.
4. Withholding a digital component. Millennials grew up in a digital era, so many of them are naturally digitally savvy. Training systems that integrate technology appeal to millennials. Dr. DePalma agrees: "This generation is interested in connecting and communicating everything they're doing on Facebook and online, because it's important that training programs can relate to that."
5. Giving little feedback. Feedback is a key issue for millennials — they want to know where they're going and how they can get there. According to Mr. DePalma, research proves millennials want more feedback than other generations.