Do you work with Millennials?
Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 06:06AM Thanks to a post by my friend and colleague Shabbi Lutha, I downloaded a summary of the 2016 Gallup report "How Millennials Want to Work and Live." It's an important read.
Ranging in age from roughly 22 to 38, my son and the majority of my technical staff are among the 73 million Americans so labeled. As are a large number of teachers with whom I work. So studies like the one from Gallup are both interesting and useful.
Sadly, it does not look like we as leaders are doing a very good job of meeting this generation's workplace needs. The lack of engagment too often displayed in the classroom is now transferring to the workplace:
Could the cause of disengagement be similar - that we are not treating our Millennials as whole people? The most telling Gallup chart may hold some answers (as I think Shabbi would agree):
Could a similar chart be made of students?
My Grades - > My Skills and Knowledge and Understandings
My Accomplishments -> My Growth
My Teacher - > My Coach
My Report Card - > My Formative Assessments
My Academic Weaknesses -> My Academic (and Social amd Personal) strengths
My Schooling -> My Life
About a dozen years ago, an online book called Educating the the Net Generation published by Educause had a profound impact on my thinking about schools and libraries. (See "School Media Services for the Net Generation" Part One and Part Two, and the workshop Schools and Libraries for the Net Generation. The Net Gen was the description given to those born between 1982 and 2000 close to Millenials - 1980-1996 birth years.
The question I asked then and will continue to ask is "How do we as institutions need to adapt - rather than expect a large demographic group to adapt to us?"
It's still a great question and the Gallup work might be able to help us anwer that question.
See also: How Millennials today compare with their grandparents 50 years ago. Pew, 3-16-18
Reader Comments (3)
I think millennials still want libraries (as mentioned in the 2006 post) to be safe havens, guarantee instant connectivity, provide a cafe and social interaction hubs, and more recently maker spaces, unplugged zones (quiet rooms?) and green spaces (connections to outdoors). I see is an uptick in literacy outreach, little libraries, and mobile internet hubs on school buses that park in various locations nights & weekends for students who don't have internet at home.
The other thing at play in your post, is "growth mindset." I love your chart that compares how learning attitudes could change if fostered systemically early on. Perhaps lack of engagement has been educators' fault, in that we haven't fostered intrinsic motivation to learn. Much of what we do is ask students to fill in the boxes, and if they meet the bullet points, (minimally), they're good to go. It happens in grad school, too!
I will again be working this summer, directing a technology camp who's instructors are almost 100% millennials. I have already made a pdf copy of this article and will be using it from day one (especially with my assistant directors).
...by the way, I hope you don't mind me using it - so I will officially ask your permission...
Hi Vicki,
I appreciate the comment. I also think libraries - the right kind of libraries - will continue to be used by today's kids and YAs. But they won't be the same libraries that the Baby Boomer librarians might feel comfortable with. Thus the tension. I am seeing wonderful changes, however, in school libraries encorporating all the ideas you have shared.
All the best,
Doug
Hi Kenn,
Everything on my website blog in under Creative Commons license. Help yourself and hope you find things useful.
Doug