THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES VOLUME 34, ISSUE 1, FEBRUARY 2015

COMPETITION vs. ETHICS14 BLURRING THE LINES

24 EINSTEIN WAS RIGHT

38 MENTORING A/E/C MILLENNIALS

Global trend reports such as The Millennial Compass1 describe Millennials—people born between 1980 and 1995—as ambitious, highly-educated, and digital media-savvy individuals looking for the fast track to success. While senior-level marketers need to understand and adapt to their expectations, they also need to foster Millennial marketers as they adjust to the protocols of the business world. This type of mentorship will better prepare Millennials for positions of leadership, while creating a mutually rewarding environment for professional and personal growth.

No Shortcuts to Success

Millennial marketers are inspired, if not driven, to make contributions and be rewarded for them. Unfortunately, any vision of a superhighway to success will usually run into unanticipated speed bumps. For example, Millennials may interpret 24/7 online access to virtually any information as a great equalizer when it comes to authority. The reality, however, still stands that every company has its organization chart, with levels of hierarchy and responsibility. As experienced marketers, we are being called to communicate how business works, including the power structure of the firm and the goals and processes of the marketing function.

No matter how immediate the digital universe presents the world of business, advancement—like trust—is earned. Senior marketers earned the trust of their firms’ leadership through success and failure, and by proving their ability to assume responsibility and generate positive results. A Millennial may expect that career advancement or opportunities for project management will echo the speed of information, but most A/E/C firms continue to chart a process that values results demonstrated over time.

A Realistic Roadmap to Success By Maribel Castillo

Mentoring A/E/C Marketing Millennials

38 SOCIETY FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

110 Freeway, Los Angeles, CA.Paul Turang photographer, paulturang.com.

Camille Majors, senior corporate communications manager at Environmental Science Associates (ESA), is a Millennial who has participated as a mentor in a mentoring program. For Majors, the key is to nurture Millennials’ enthusiasm by encouraging their ideas about improving existing processes and using new technologies, discussing why these ideas may or may not work, and cultivating a professional understanding of the workplace.

“Millennials often approach senior leadership as more of a partner-ship than the traditional hierarchy. This approach can inspire a team environment in some settings, but it can also be very frustrating in more traditional organizations, or for leaders with a more hierarchi-cal preference,” says Majors. “Many of ESA’s committees, including sustainability and employee-ownership, are fueled by Millennials and their fresh ideas, while still guided by senior leadership who bring a solid understanding of the firm’s culture.”

Mapping the Process

When it comes to the Internet as an information resource, Millennials demonstrate tremendous ease with current

technologies. These skills—like running a blog or juggling multiple social media channels at one time—do not necessarily equate to critical marketing skills developed through years of experience, such as brand positioning, strategic analysis, or business development. No seasoned manager would hand leadership responsibility for a multi-billion-dollar project to an architect or engineer who has only been out of college for a few years. Similar logic applies to giving a Millennial with limited real-world marketing experience the responsibility for overseeing your firm’s digital marketing or social media initiatives.

Millennials benefit greatly from understanding why certain strategies, tactics, and communication channels are essential to a firm’s marketing efforts, and which key messages hold the greatest value. Conveying this knowledge can be an informal process that launches each new project or initiative. By involving Millennials in project planning, they will see how they can help develop strategies that lead to positive results.

Kirsten Sibilia, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, and principal at Dattner Architects, believes in exposing her coordinators to as much of the marketing cycle as possible. In addition, when time is taken to frame an initiative in its broader, strategic context, the results are not only more effective, but the task can also be more rewarding. Sibilia uses this approach for the development of new print collateral for her firm. After sharing her vision with her team, she engages them in an exploratory, participatory process: looking together at pieces developed by peer firms, larger firms with bigger budgets, and even firms outside the A/E/C industry.

“We look at print pieces and digital counterparts, talk about our audience, and discuss the various scenarios in which we’d be using the collateral,” says Sibilia. “I also share my belief that business development is like dating, and that each ‘touch’ needs to make the potential client want to learn more. The ideas that come back from my team are thoughtful and creative, and I can tell that when we are done, the results will surpass my expectations.”

MARKETER FEBRUARY 2015 39

Along with their preference for this kind of collaborative, team-based approach, Millennials also have a deep desire to learn2. Encourage them to attend job-related seminars, Webinars, and industry conferences, with the expectation that they will report back in detail on key learnings. From there, the next step is to discuss which insights relate not only to their professional growth, but also to how such information can support the firm’s current and future marketing efforts.

Mentoring is a Two-Way Street

Modern-day mentoring offers more of an information exchange, where mentees—whether on staff or in regional offices around the world—can offer value in exchange for the guidance they receive. A common example of “reverse mentoring” is when a Millennial coaches an executive about social media in return for wisdom about how to get ahead in the company3. Another best practice involves asking Millennials what they are reading, which can open doors to great discussion and provide meaningful insights into their mindset.

Millennials also benefit from separating from the screen in order to hone genuine interpersonal skills. As basic as these soft skills may seem to veteran marketers, they are not always second nature to the younger generations they lead4. Face-to-face time is to be encouraged. Advise an entry-level marketer to send a thank-you email (or better yet, a handwritten card) to the finance manager who provided much-needed information for a proposal, or to call their peers in other firms and meet for lunch. While everyone is busy, senior staff can demonstrate that it takes little time to stop in the hall to congratulate a colleague for a project win or promotion.

Moving Forward Together

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Millennials will make up close to 50 percent of the world’s workforce by 20205. Marketing leaders can help groom this generation to become more successful, sophisticated channels for communicating with others about themselves and the company. This includes specifying what their job entails as far as responsibilities and expectations of their performance. Doing so sets the groundwork for enhancing and elevating the marketing function and forwarding the business goals of our respective firms.

The topic of “mentoring Millennials” is too large and complex a subject for one brief article, so consider this the start of a longer conversation. It is a topic worth delving into because Millennials expect to stay in any one job for less than three years6. This job-hopping is not only costly to our firms, but also to the individuals who invest time and effort in the mentoring role. By sharing experiences from having spent considerable time on the path to marketing leadership, senior marketers can better train, sustain, and retain the Millennials who work alongside them. n

ENDNOTES:

1. www.mslgroup.com/insights/2014/the-millennial-compass.aspx

2. www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/executive-development/custom-programs/~/media/DF1C11C056874DDA8097271A1ED48662.ashx

3. www.management-mentors.com/about/corporate-mentoring-matters-blog/bid/89821/Reverse-Mentoring-Managing-Generational-Diversity-in-the-Workplace

4. www.trainingindustry.com/blog/blog-entries/millennials-need-soft-skills-training.aspx

5. www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/executive-development/custom-programs/~/media/DF1C11C056874DDA8097271A1ED48662.ashx

6. www.millennialbranding.com/2013/cost-millennial-retention-study

By involving Millennials in project planning, they will see how they can help develop strategies that lead to positive results.

I-105/I-110 Interchange, Los Angeles, CA.Paul Turang photographer, paulturang.com.

40 SOCIETY FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES