Cultivating the Imaginative

The Millennial Intrinsic Value: Self-Expression

Millennials value self-expression. They have both a desire and a need to make their mark on the world. They enthusiastically embrace change and thrive on brainstorming, creating, and problem solving. They have high expectations of themselves and the organizations in which they will work. One of our Millennial managers expressed it best, “I don't like just being at a job and if I'm doing a good job, that's great, but if I come into a job that's running well, and it continues to just run well under me, I'm not happy. It needs to be like wow—I am making a difference. It's not so much that I want my name on it; I just want to feel like I made an improvement somewhere.” (See Table 7.1.)

The Bias of Experience

In some instances, bad decisions can be the result of an overdependence on experience. Neuroscience is demystifying how good managers can make poor decisions. Our brains are hardwired with two processes for decision making—(1) pattern recognition and (2) emotional tagging. Pattern recognition allows us to analyze a situation, and emotional tagging tells us whether to react or to ignore the information. Experience is the software the brain uses to recognize patterns. If you have done something long enough, your capacity to be able to anticipate and make quick decisions increases.¹ An obvious danger resulting from the bias of experience is getting stuck into one pattern of thinking—when we get stuck, we suffer from a regression of the imagination. That is to say, we cannot see things differently than they are presently or how they have always been. Even the most experienced and seasoned people can suffer from an overdependence on their own experience. Another danger bias is when emotional tags cloud judgment or overrule proper analysis.

Peter Gruber, director of the movie Gorillas in the Mist, tells of the nightmare of shooting on location in Rwanda with 200 animals that wouldn't “act.” The screenplay called for the gorillas to do what was written, and when they did not, the only option was to fall back on a flawed formula that had failed before—that of using dwarfs in gorilla suits on a sound stage. It was during an emergency meeting that a young intern asked, “What if you let the gorillas write the story? What if you sent a really good cinematographer into the jungle with a ton of film to shoot the gorillas? Then you could write a story around what the gorillas did on the film.” Everyone laughed and wondered what the intern was doing in a meeting with experienced filmmakers. But ultimately they did exactly what she suggested, and the cinematographer “came back with phenomenal footage that practically wrote the story for us.” Gruber says, “We shot the film for $20 million, half of the original budget.” The moral: The woman's inexperience enabled her to see opportunities where others saw problems.² Gruber's experience did not allow him to think of filming before scripting, and his emotional tagging almost caused him to dismiss a great idea.

Creativity and Competitive Advantage

Companies often equate innovation and creativity with competitive advantage. Scores of articles and books have been written about how to spark creativity and innovation in the workplace. The mantra of thinking outside of the box has become somewhat cliché-ish, but the idea of suspending what has been to explore what could be will always be prescient. Peter Gruber's intern illustrated the clear advantage Millennials can have over the most seasoned of experts; she was not encumbered by her expertise or experience, and she was not afraid to pipe-in even though uninvited. Managers intuitively understand this, and that is why creativity and willingness to change are the two areas in which managers consistently compare Millennials favorably to other age cohorts. When it comes to creativity and using one's imagination, Millennials are plug-and-play. They are already outside of the box. The challenge is to not let them get bored or lose their energy.

As you well know, creativity doesn't generally fit a mechanistic or efficiency model. Many managers struggle with cultivating the imagination of Millennials because they manage job descriptions rather than people.

It is not surprising that many of the managers we interviewed described leading Millennials as equivalent to cat herding. The energy Millennials bring to organizations is sometimes experienced as distracting, but we find that most of the leaders we interviewed really do not want to suppress their energy and imagination. One manager playfully commented, “Just when you get one focused and engaged in a task, four more are floating off into ‘who knows what’? They're all over the place. Usually it's fun, but sometimes it is just incredibly trying. I wonder sometimes if they forgot to take their meds on those days, or if this is just normal for them!”

Managerial Best Practices

Creative people benefit from being allotted chunks of time for focused thought and problem solving. They need time uninterrupted by the intrusion of organizational policies and mundane routines. If you give them the room they need, you will generally be impressed.

Let Them Know What Happened with Their Ideas

Millennials have a preoccupation with feedback, especially positive feedback. Their desire to make a contribution causes them to doggedly track the life of their suggestions and ideas. They want to know that they are taken seriously, if their ideas are being implemented, and if not, why.

One manager told us about inviting his team into a hiring decision. He formed a small ad hoc committee that met a few times to discuss what it was looking for in its search. When the manager settled on the lead candidate for the job, two of his team members became upset. They felt their advice was ignored, and more important, they saw the choice as a signal that the manager was taking the organization in a direction they did not think it should go. One of the disappointed team members resigned and left the organization. The other stayed but is reluctant to give energy to activities outside of his primary responsibility. Some may read of this manager's plight and say, “no good deed goes unpunished.” In our opinion, his invitation to engage his team members in the hiring process was an excellent strategy. Early in the process, information was plentiful and thoroughly discussed among the team members, but the closer he got to the final decision, he relied more on his gut and had difficulty communicating what he was thinking and feeling. The manager's reluctance to communicate was interpreted as shutting the team out of the final decision. In the end, he became defensive about his decision and said his team was just going to have to deal with it. Here is a great example of doing something right, but because each of the players had a different understanding of the process and expectations for their involvement, it backfired. Here are a few things to consider when inviting Millennials to the table:

• Clearly state the process for decision making.
• Ask them what they expect to receive for participating.
• Communicate what you expect from them.
• Use what-if scenarios …
  • What if I don't take your advice?
  • What if I make a decision you do not like?
• When you are close to a decision, increase communication.
• Always have a debriefing meeting to discuss the decision that was made.
  • Identify the contribution of each team member.
  • Ask them what they learned from the process.
  • Tell them what you learned from the process.
  • Explain how you came to a final decision.

Let Them Have Fun

A study was conducted on creative groups of people and the function foolishness plays in their genius. Listen to a description of their behavior:

They get silly. They may suddenly decide to take an afternoon off for a picnic. They may play some light-hearted game on company time. They may decide to redecorate their workspace in weird, wild ways. Every now and then, they may break into uncontrolled laughter. They may put together a spontaneous party when they need to come down off of a high, or when they have worked extremely hard for an especially long time, or when they have made a breakthrough or hit a wall. They are prone to short bouts of ridiculous behavior.³

Jean Lipman-Bluman and Harold Leavitt explain the function that foolishness plays:

1. The escape into off-the-wall fun and games is thinking time. Temporary playfulness among adults clears the air, so they can begin to see the world in new ways. It disinhibits.
2. It is a way of moving toward deeper, easier, and more uncensored communication.
3. It's a relief valve, reducing the tensions imposed by the pressures of intense consuming work.

In a Nutshell

Millennials may not have a lot of experience, but sometimes that can work better for you when it comes to creativity. Realize that Millennials are going to get bored so be prepared with a new challenge. If you do not seriously want their input, do not ask for it. Let them know what you think about their ideas. Let them have fun. It serves an important function for allowing the imagination to work.