There is a huge amount of research investigating the social changes in business all over the world and this survey is no different in believing that there will be big changes to come that companies all need to be ready for. The 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey explored what the next generation of leaders, The Millennials, think of today’s business strategies and where they believe it needs to change.
The study collected the views of 7,800 graduate Millenials in full time employment over 29 countries around the globe. Millenials refers to ‘the next generation’ which roughly includes those born between 1980 and 2000, however for this particular research all participants were born after 1982.
The aim of the research was to see where exactly the changes in business will take place by examining the values of our future business leaders. Three specific areas were-
- Leadership today
- How businesses operate and impact wider society
- Which individual characteristics make an effective leader
The Results
The study demonstrated some impressive results with a clear indication as to where business priorities will develop and change for the better. Millennials highlighted the importance for businesses to improve society, develop job creation while of course accepting that profit generation is the key –it’s what businesses are for!
In terms of Leadership styles, although the younger and older generation have similar priorities in terms of ensuring a long-term future for the organisation, Millennials found the current styles to be too traditional and inward looking. The future leaders showed a lot more emphasis on ‘employee wellbeing’ and ‘employee growth and development’ as well as prioritising the company’s impact on the local community and society.
By having such a large and diverse amount of participants from all over the world it was possible to find some really fascinating differences between cultures and genders. As a female I’m not sure I should get into it, I might get defensive but I’m happy to say the UK was the most equal country in the study! But take a look at the bottom to get plenty more facts and figures from the study, it’s definitely worth a read!
What does it mean for my business?
The views of the Millennials are supporting this CSR movement along with the inevitable changes in the market place that come with it, this has huge implications for every business across the globe. It is really vital for companies to understand that paying as much attention to people and purpose as it does products and profit is the new way of thinking and without it you will not survive in the long term. People are looking for that differentiation between brands and competing on cost, products and services alone won’t cut it.
Big companies may have the money to heavily invest into these changes that they’ll need to make but it’s us small businesses that have the edge –because we’re small! Imagine the time it will take to change the culture and values of a corporate that is spread over the world in comparison to a small local business. This means we can get ahead before the Millennials change the way of the corporate world and get that advantage! For more information on how your small business can do this take a look at the Organisation for Responsible Businesses (ORB) website
I may be biased because I am one but here at ORB we love the Millennials –they make our job a lot easier!
To see the whole report (it sounds a lot more interesting than it sounds) follow the link below- http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-wef-2015-millennial-survey-executivesummary.pdf
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