Optimizing Millennial's Communication Styles

OPTIMIZING MILLENNIALS’ COMMUNICATION STYLES
Jackie L. Hartman
Kansas State University

Jim McCambridge

Colorado State University Millennials, those individuals born between 1980 and 2000, compose the largest cohort of college students in the United States. Stereotypical views of millennials characterize them as technologically sophisticated multitaskers, capable of significant contributions to tomorrow’s organizations, yet deficient in communication skills. This article offers insights for business educators to help millennials understand the influence of communication styles when optimizing communication effectiveness. Developing style-typing and style-flexing skills can serve as building blocks for millennials’ subsequent interpersonal skill development in key areas such as audience analysis, active listening, conflict management and negotiation, and effective team building. An in-class exercise highlighting communication style-typing and style-flexing is included. Keywords: millennials; communication skills; style-flexing

MILLENNIALS, THOSE INDIVIDUALS born between 1980 and 2000, compose the largest cohort of college students in the United States. Stereotypical views of millennials characterize them as technologically sophisticated multitaskers, capable of significant contributions to tomorrow’s organizations, yet deficient in communication skills. According to jobweb.com (n.d.), a career development and job search website for new college graduates, effective communication skills continue to be the top-ranked criterion for managerial success. Although this has been the case since at least 1964 (Bowman, 1964), today’s employers conclude these skills are most lacking in recent graduates (jobweb.com, n.d.). Therefore, a key question is what should business educators do to better prepare today’s students in this important skill area? Communication skills, including the ability to problem solve, work in teams, and adapt to various audiences, are critical

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Har tman is the director of community relations and assistant to the president at Kansas State University. She holds a tenured faculty position in the College of Business at K-State, and her primar y area of research is organizational/ 44 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY / March 2011 strategic communication. Address correspondence to Jackie L. Hartman, Office of the President, Kansas State University, 110 Anderson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506; email: [e-mail]. Jim McCambridge is an associate professor in the Depar tment of Management at Colorado State University. He is involved with teaching leadership and organizational behavior classes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in the CSU College of Business. Address correspondence to Jim McCambridge, Department of Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1275, email: jim.mccambridge@ colostate.edu. 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