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June 10, 2017
"A Young Perspective: Why It's Important to Invest in Millennials"
by Grant Skeldon, Dallas,TX
From the Desk of Steve Shultz:
 I really enjoyed this perspective from a Millennial leader, Grant Skeldon, who started the Initiative Network that helps train Millennials to be Christ-loving, city-changing, church-investing, disciple-making local missionaries.
We've posted quite a few articles from and to the Millennial Generation and will continue to do so. They are the next generation that will lead in culture and in Church. It's important we hear from them. In fact, we have quite a few Millennials who work for us here at the Elijah List...and they are an incredible asset to our team!
Grant takes time to write about some important subject matter toward Millennials. I would encourage leaders in the marketplace and in the Church environment to read Grant's article and let it encourage you to pour into this next generation and all God has for them. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Please forward this word to your friends! Encourage them to subscribe to the Elijah List right here: http://elijahlist.com/subscribe.
Enjoy!
Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News
http://www.elijahlist.com
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"A Young Perspective: Why It's Important to Invest in Millennials"
by Grant Skeldon, Dallas,TX
The Workplace and Millennials
I think we might need to accept that things have changed, and Millennials just don't stay in a job for that long. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it's true. Right now, "9 in 10 Millennials expect to stay in a job for only three years." (Barna Research)
So it begs the question: How much should we pour into Millennials if they're going to leave soon?
I'm a millennial so I know I'm biased, but my advice to business leaders would be to throw more money towards training and coaching so you can spend less money on recruiting and hiring. Here are 3 reasons to invest a ton in the Millennials (in the workforce and in Church and school environment), even if they may not stay long.
1. Leaders Go Where They Grow
Millennials have received a lot of coddling or a lot of criticism, but they haven't gotten a lot of "coaching". Unlike criticism, which just tells you what you've done wrong, coaching shows you what to do differently. Unlike coddling, which won't let you fail, coaches do let you fail, forward. Critics throw insults from the stands. A coach is in the game. A coach isn't just for you. He's with you. But he won't do the work for you.
If you don't take a coach mentality with Millennial employees, your staff will be tempted to be critics. Many negative things are said about Millennials, but one thing they're good at is telling if "someone is real or not". If young people sense they are being treated like projects instead of people, you might just be accelerating their departure.
Create a culture with a long runway of coaching and growth and you'll be offering them something that's hard to find anywhere else. They may just stay longer than you think.
2. Great Coaches Attract Great Players
Don't believe me? Just look at high school football, and how parents move their star athletes to specific schools to play for specific coaches. Notice that the same schools always seem to do well even though the athletes constantly change.
On the EntreLeadership Podcast, Jon Acuff asked Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-a (78% of the 60,000 employees are young people), "How are you able to consistently get teenagers excited to serve?"
He said, "First off, we are dealing with an employment base that is very different than we've had in prior generations in that we've got children who are being raised in single parent homes. We know this inherently presents a lot of issues for society.
"We've lost the opportunity to build the emotional strength of character and values that were intended to be built inside of the family. It presents some real challenges for us. So we have to kind of make up for that as an employer.
"We select operators that would provide the kind of role modeling we would like for our own children.
"That's really where it starts is a strong competent business person as the operator who becomes a kind of de facto parent, coach, and mentor. That's why we have such great talent coming in the door to begin with."
3. Deadlines Drive Decisions
I've noticed a significant difference between the approach of churches and nonprofit college ministries towards Millennials.
Churches tend to focus on answering the question, "How do we get young people in our building to get saved and become members?"
Nonprofit college ministries tend to focus on answering the question, "How do we get young people on campus saved and discipled?"
Both are noble and necessary but why the nuance between the two?
Time.
The Church is used to people joining as members and staying awhile. College ministries don't have that luxury. They get four years, at best. The Church tends to be more focused on reaching and retaining while time has forced college ministries to focus on training and sending.
So maybe there's a silver-lining to the lack of time? The great thing about urgency is that it makes you abandon the non-essentials and double down on the non-negotiables.
To Fellow Millennials
All your life you're climbing ladders. The less ladders the better. It's better to climb significant heights to a few meaningful places than climbing insignificant heights to a ton of great opportunities. You'll never sharpen your craft and achieve your 10,000 hours in a specific work if you're constantly changing what you feel called to do.
Just to get an idea, it would take around 5 years to reach 10,000 hours if you work 40 hours a week. That's if you're spending 100% of those 40-hour work weeks pushing yourself in your craft. Not just showing up to work every day for 5 years. You don't gain muscle by showing up to the gym. You gain muscle by pushing yourself to new limits.
Wisely choose a few ladders, put them on the right walls, and ferociously climb even when it gets difficult. In time, I promise you will see results. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Grant Skeldon
Initiative Network
Email: grant@initiativenetwork.org
Website: www.grantskeldon.org | www.initiativenetwork.org
In response to Millennials being labeled noncommittal, cynical, entitled, slacktivists, Grant Skeldon started Initiative Network in order to shift the culture of Dallas by training Millennials to be Christ-loving, city-changing, church-investing, disciple-making local missionaries. Initiative has impacted thousands of young leaders from over 540 different churches across the metroplex. Grant has traveled across the globe speaking to over 26,670 pastors, parents, and business leaders on the topic of engaging and empowering Millennials.
Grant serves on the advisory boards for Harvest America in Dallas and Movement Day Greater Dallas. He also serves on the preaching team at Mercy Street Church, a multicultural, urban church plant in West Dallas.
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