Key to Happy Tech Millennials: Let Them Dream and Do

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Millennials will constitute nearly 75% of the workforce by 2030. Millennials, those born in the 1980s and early 90s, are not only emerging as the new breed of employee, but they are also contributing to the evolution of business and the workplace due to their adaptability and comfort level with tech. A generation that has been bottle fed technology, Millennials are rocking the tech world as some of the youngest minds making the biggest impact in technology today.

Tech-based jobs are naturally-suited to this group, and companies have a lot to gain from Millennials’ skill sets–lateral thinking, questioning spirit, and their drive to do what they do best. At the same time, they worry a lot less about job security, which presents a challenge for companies trying to recruit talent and then retain it. “How do we keep the Millennials happy?” is a question echoed among many. Here’s the answer: The key to keeping Millennials happy, especially those in the tech space, is creating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship where they can excel. A culture of “intrapreneurship,” if you will. So what is “intrapreneurship” and who is an “intrapreneur”?

Intrapreneurship – The new Force in Driving Innovation

Intrapreneurship is the organizational culture conducive to forming new ideas and innovations that garner profits and create new revenue streams, and an intrapreneur is that individual who is vested with these responsibilities. Simply put, intrapreneurs are entrapreneurs within an organization. In fact, nearly 94% of intrapreneurs think they have what it takes to kick start a business, reported the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

How IBM is Leading the way with Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurs are the faces of innovation today. I recently came across a very inspiring story of Lisa Seacat DeLuca whose credentials read: “Software engineer. Inventor. Mother of toddler twins. Nerd puller of late night coding jags. And, at 32, the most prolific female inventor at IBM with more than 150 patents in areas such as mobile, data, and cloud[.]” Impressive, and watching a day in her life truly shows how intrapreneurs can balance life and work by doing what they are best at, in a flexible environment that supports creativity and innovation. How many technology solutions will explode onto the scene if we give millennials what they need? I think Lisa’s story is an excellent example of how IBM is building and nurturing a culture of innovations by letting the creativity flow. Lisa seems very happy with her work environment, and the sky is the limit for a happy employee. IBM simply gets out of her way. They encourage and support their employees’ dreams – just what the free spirited and highly talented Millennial minds are looking for.

So what is IBM doing right? They have adopted innovation as their goal, and patents as their key strategy to achieve those goals, which means they acknowlede even a fledgling idea as a priority, identify the hidden promises, and encourage intrapreneurs to develop the idea into full-blown invention. DeLuca’s TED talk is an equally moving picture of what today’s tech companies can do to encourage their employees to become faces of innovation. “The speed of invention in the future will be as fast as we can dream up ideas,” she says. Surely a company that encourages their employees to “dream up ideas” and helps them create meaningful, useful products out of the whole process is the one that’s going to attract tech-immersed Millennials.

With the rapid pace of technological change and its drive to revolutionize business and the world in general, encouraging the Millennial work force to not only dream big, but allowing them to execute those dreams as part of their work experience is not only the key to keeping them happy, it is the key to keeping them.

You can watch DeLuca’s TED talk below – and it’s well worth the time you’ll spend doing it.

Disclaimer: I’m a fan of IBM and write often for their Midsize Insider site. This post was not written as part of that program, nor am I compensated in any way for it. I am a fan of what IBM is doing to foster a culture of innovation and impressed by their efforts from a corporate standpoint to foster intrapreneurship within the organization. I think we can learn much from their efforts in that regard.

Other resources on this topic:

What is a Millennial Mindset?
Millennial Think Tank: Spending Habits and Payment Preferences

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