Hint: It’s not about you. It’s about them.
By Ashley Keating
Not all millennials are into themselves, but narcissism has risen 30 percent since the early 1980s, according to research in The Psychologist-Manager Journal. (Just sayin’.) When it comes to corralling the millennials in your office, you can use a little of their self-love to your advantage.
Research shows millennials tend to avoid negative feedback that indicates systemic change, but they’re more likely to process such feedback when it’s short-term or task-oriented. So to build buy-in across the board, make your feedback about them.
Their M.O.: “What’s in it for me?” Well, everything. Establish that your constructive criticism connects to their individual goals, and not so much the organization’s at large.
And here’s a bonus millennial hack: Less is always more. Millennials don’t make time for a massive data dump in a long presentation; instead, distill the information down to a few crucial pieces of content and they’ll better retain it, research says.
