Could Millenials sharing habits benefit organizations?
Older members of the Millenial generation have been in the workforce for a few years now and their unique attitude toward work has caused both frustration and admiration from their Gen X and Baby Boomer co-workers. One tactic that Millenals use is the art of sharing their work and work progress via social networking outlets like Facebook and Twitter. This sort of practice is completely foreign to older generations who tend to privatize their work life. Andrew McAfee of the Harvard Business Review writes that this sharing can actually be a benefit for organizations. McAfee points us to a quote from Matt Gallivan, a senior research analyst for NPR, "there are too many benefits to living with a certain degree of openness for Digital Natives to 'grow out of it.' Job opportunities, new personal connections, professional collaboration, learning from others' experiences, etc., are all very powerful benefits to engaging openly with others online, and this is something that Gen Y understands intuitively."
McAfee writes that being open in work provides two benefits. First, people who narrate their work become helpful to the rest of the organization, because the digital trail they leave makes others more efficient. Second, by airing their questions and challenges work narrators open themselves up to good ideas and helpfulness from others, and so become more efficient themselves.
How have you see Millenials sharing positively affecting your organization? Are you wary of sharing your work status via social networks?