They ask for a promotion before having earned it.
They approach situations thinking about what’s in it for them.
They simply expect things to work in their favor.
We’ve all worked with an entitled employee. In fact, the word itself is often synonymous with Millennial employees. Whether early in their career, ready to retire or something in between, getting an entitled employee to see value in the work at hand can be a real challenge for managers.
Sometimes, a person’s greatest ability is hidden in their most frustrating tendencies. This means that behind every entitled employee is a super worker waiting to be set free. The key is knowing how.
The first step is understanding the entitled employee’s the inner voice. If you could hear their inner most thoughts and beliefs, what would they say? What truly motivates them? Once you know this you can identify their superpowers and put them to good use.
When working with a new generation of entitled employees, here’s what we’ve learned.
Motivators:
- Autonomy
- Personal development
- Freedom
- Opportunity
Superpowers:
- Seeks more efficient processes
- Doesn’t need direction or a title to take action
How To Manage:
It can be frustrating to manage employees who believe that external factors do not determine their worth. However, these employees can be innovative and creative because they often seek more efficient processes. To manage this type of employee and bring out his or her superpowers:
1. Set clear, detailed performance expectations of what good, great and awesome results look like.
2. Then, clearly relay those expectations by using a 360-feedback tool, which can provide anonymous feedback and data.
No matter the personality composition of your team, your job as a manager is to learn how to leverage each employee’s inherent talents and bring those to the forefront. To learn more about different types of employee personality types, how to spot them and how to manage them, download our free eBook here.
