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Millennials offer unique views, approaches and expectations in their work—but who will groom tomorrow’s leaders into the strategic problem-solvers the industry needs today?
They’ve never known life without technology in their palms, and this fact alone separates the millennial generation from all preceding demographic groups in history. But is what they’ve been shaped by, who they’ve become and how they think enough to confront the big hospitality challenges they are facing?
Now in their late 20s to mid-30s, this generation is the largest in today’s workforce. Those who are growing into hotel leadership roles, including up-and-coming GMs, tend to exhibit the following attributes:
- Millennials are purpose- and values-driven, motivated by more than money and desiring to make a positive difference in the world.
- They focus on flexibility and work-life balance. They thrive under fewer rules, with less emphasis on the clock. In a leadership context, “millennial managers want to give employees opportunities to improve their skills, help them achieve work-life harmony, and keep them happy at work,” according to an article by Rieva Lesonsky for the online publication Small Business Trends.
- Millennials are socially well-networked and of a more collaborative mindset than their bosses and predecessors. “They are good at collaboration, and that means they don’t make decisions like the Lone Ranger,” says hotels strategy expert Cathy Enz, associate dean for academic affairs at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
- They define failure differently than previous generations. “They look at failure as experience, as information rather than as identity-defining,” says Enz. “They view mistakes as an opportunity to just reset, as in a gaming kind of context.”
- Millennials desire more and better feedback. A Gallup poll from 2016 indicated that only 19 percent of surveyed millennials said they received routine feedback, but nearly all millennials wanted feedback regularly. “This urge for feedback and understanding of feedback’s importance will likely follow them into leadership positions,” writes Forbes contributor Larry Alton, “except as leaders, they’ll have the power to institute a powerful [feedback] system.”
- They share a strong sense of diversity and global awareness, which comes full circle to where this list began: the values and ethics that influence how millennials define their success.
Strategic opportunities
How do hotel owners ensure that these promising young leaders will be able to apply these unique values and perspectives, and think and act strategically in a rapidly changing industry? “We are living in an increasingly competitive, global industry. Organizations need to know who they are and where they’re going,” says Enz.
Eventually, strategy will be in the hands of today’s young leaders, and the task will be immense, especially, according to Enz, as millennials attack one of industry’s biggest vices: imitation.
“Hotels tend to imitate each other,” she adds. “Instead of looking for unique differences, they homogenize the industry, which creates competitive convergence. That means the industry gets better and better, but it all looks the same. And when that happens, price becomes the game, not unique value. It’s a common trend for our industry, and one that we need to constantly work to break out of.”
If, indeed, millennials break from the urge to copy others, they’ll have a powerful opportunity to redefine brands in the future—perhaps in the same way they have defined their own originality as a generation.
Are millennials ready to lead?
The broad-brush list of attributes that characterize millennials impacts young leaders’ decision- making capabilities both at the front and back of the house. As their responsibilities increase, so will the demands on their skills. They’ll be tested by market-disrupting Airbnb; adoption of artificial intelligence, robotics and all things virtual; exploding trends in experiential travel; the power of social reviews; and more.
A number of specific opportunities and challenges confront them:
Applying technology and data: One of the great surprises that tech-dependent millennials discover early in their careers, says Enz, is that hospitality organizations are not utilizing more of the data they gather.
But applying data to better serve guests and to be more profitable is going to be tougher for this generation, which has always had so much information at their fingertips. The sheer magnitude of information available demands sharply honed skills for curating information, not merely finding it, but having the judgment to discard what’s irrelevant.
“Data never speaks for itself,” Enz asserts. “Data can tell you many different stories … that’s why asking fundamental, good questions is key.”
Resolving conflict among staff and colleagues: Interpersonal and interdepartmental issues are a reality in hospitality, whether related to pay, policy or personalities. Despite millennials’ affinity for feedback and collaboration, being able to settle disputes and foster cooperation is almost always a learned trait.
“Their approach to conflict resolution will be less of the ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” says Enz, “and much more of the enabling, empowering, coaching, facilitating and team-based decision-making.”
Managing employees both older and younger: Being in a position of authority over an older workforce taxes one of the millennial generation’s notorious weaknesses: demonstrating respect and communicating with traditional manners. Both matter to boomers and Gen Xers.
Millennials’ driving desire to incorporate more technology among a tech-resistant segment of employees further punctuates the intergenerational challenge.
Conversely, next-gen leaders seem to enjoy interacting with their Gen Z employees. “I think they are at their best when they place themselves in the role of being the mentor,” says Enz.
Getting better, getting ready
How can these emerging leaders best prepare themselves for the challenges ahead? Enz emphasizes that young professionals need a place to work on their skills and learn how to solve the myriad challenges hospitality management demands of them.
That need spurred the General Managers Program (GMP) at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y., where Enz oversees content and teaches strategy.
She notes three important distinctions of GMP that make it a valuable career-maintenance pit stop for serious hotel general managers all over the world, as well as for their successors:
- Content that focuses on strategy, leadership, personal brand, financial foundations, strategic human resources and the owner’s perspective on value creation;
- Hands-on engagement that includes simulations, case studies, team projects, videos and journaling; and
- Meaningful relationships and networks that will follow participants throughout their careers in a global industry.
“There is a magic about connecting to each other and learning from each other,” Enz says. “You bring 30 to 35 general managers from 20 different countries together for 10 days, they share and solve problems, they share meals … it is something that can’t be experienced online.”
Keep questioning
One of Enz’s mantras for problem-solving in hospitality—and a cornerstone of the program’s interactive, collaborative curriculum—is to continually ask more and better questions, whether it’s over data analytics, conflict and HR issues, or high-level strategic planning. And in the environment of rapidly advancing technology, increased volume of information, and growing disruptors in the hotel industry, she says, “The questions we ask are more important than ever.”
“Learning is about asking questions, not having answers,” Enz adds. “One answer leads to another question, which leads to another unanswered element. It is being OK with that inquiry that will make us true leaders.”
Cornell’s June 10-20 session still has seats available. The next GMP session will be Jan. 13-23, 2020. For more information, click here.