5 tips to successful communication with the millennial worforce

Heather Mostert

It’s a chicken and egg situation. But no matter how you cut it, the companies that are leveraging the talents of their millennial workforce will continue to be the companies that thrive.

More than 50% of today’s workforce is made up of millennials. Born between 1980 and 2000, this generation was using screens before they could walk. Digital communication is a basic condition of their home, social and educational lives. So why should it be any different in the workplace? To reach millennials and keep them motivated, your business needs to be communicating on their wavelength.

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Here are five powerful tips for managing and crushing workplace communication in the millennial age:

Go digital or go home

Millennials may live on their phones, but they seldom make or take calls. Instead they message – first thing in the morning, throughout the day and before calling it a night. All this time on their phones is an asset that you can use. Their lives are managed through apps so give your people the ability to connect with your business on one centralised platform that makes their lives easier. Streamline their workflow and communicate anywhere, at any time. Super handy. Super millennial.

Give them a purpose

Like other generations, millennials have a strong set of values that motivate them. When they can see what they are achieving, they feel valued and are hyper driven to perform. So, keep them engaged and connected. Give them the instantaneous feedback they want by using your app to track team and individual performance on leaderboards, to inform how your company’s delivering against its purpose. Show your millennials what they mean to your business and the part they are playing in the change you are creating.

The feedback loop

Let’s be honest, millennials have more opinions than most and aren’t shy about voicing them, so an open feedback process is essential. Your business needs to use an app that gives your people the opportunity to give and get feedback on their performance and on the business. And with the right measurement tools in place, you’ll be able to measure who is engaging with your content and when. That way, you can streamline your communications and ensure that your messaging packs a punch.

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Let’s get visual

Millennials are an incredibly visual bunch. GIF’s, memes and emojis are their language so it’s safe to say that visual stimuli work for them. So, use all the visual tools that you can and keep your communication simple and incredibly easy for everyone on your team – millennial or not. From personalised video to annotated screenshots and GIFs, business apps like Airshot have all the visual components for maximising workplace communication.

Recognition

Growing up with instant gratification, one of the millennials’ most distinctive features is their need to be recognised, by their superiors and (especially) by their peers. To motivate performance, recognise the teams and individuals that are achieving through incentives and rewards. You can use various mechanisms but one of the best is gamification. Invented by millennials for millennials, when you use this technology, your problem won’t be getting your people on the app, it will be getting them off!

Millennials are a different breed, but they are hardworking and dedicated and a huge asset in any business. You just need to make sure that you’re communicating on the same wavelength. Use technology, leverage their values and encourage collaboration and your millennials will be both effective and productive in your business.