Stephan Polomski is director human resources, coach and trainer

Do you know this impression: Wow, this young guy or girl is full of power, ambition, brightness, and confidence? Did you ask yourself the question: How can I lead and develop this agglomeration of energy and intelligence? And further: What do I do as a leader in order to integrate this – may be rules breaking -  impact and foster achievements satisfying all stakeholders?

Nothing astonishing asking such questions as you deal with a new type of young and clever academics who are ready to conquer business by realizing themselves.

The young academic workforce I am recruiting right now in our company comes across with a lot of similarities the descriptions about generation Y deliver: excellent in networking, multitasking, unorthodox, ethical, flexible, and with integrity and technological knowledge. Sometimes, frankly speaking, I meet great people during job fairs or job interviews, and I envy them, as they are gifted and cut edge and start right away. Of course, we are not talking of experience but of enormous potential.

The young crowd I meed, I perceive as mostly self-confident, holding a strong belief in their identity which is deeply defined by their professional passion. They know their own worth. They have faith and values. A question which drives them, is how to stay within one´s own realm of integrity while doing business? Sometimes I have great talks which give me the faith, that there are young talented people outside who will change the business rules towards more balance and care.

And because this young academic workforce is highly talented it is naturally also demanding: I am almost always asked for individual career development, autonomy with place and time to work, challenging tasks, work-life-balance and only then – secondary, but still important – money.

I like this attitude; for me it is inspiring meeting young talent and in fact learning from their approach to life and business. However, this generation also can give you pressure:

“So, how do you handle this pressure as a leader if you take this target group really seriously? – Especially in some certain cases when young academics challenge you with difficult questions or even doubts about the relevance of your own leadership or leadership and functional hierarchy at all. A crisis of authority depends in the end on your leadership style.”

So, how do you handle this pressure as a leader if you take this target group really seriously? – Especially in some certain cases when young academics challenge you with difficult questions or even doubts about the relevance of your own leadership or leadership and functional hierarchy at all. A crisis of authority depends in the end on your leadership style.

Of course there is no recipe, but I found for myself some basic – even very banal – rules which help me to definitely stay in the lead and stay there mostly conflict free balancing the cultural system of our company.

I do position myself as leader – team leader and/or hr director – through expertise. Not in a generalist way but in one or two very specific competency fields where I am really strong. In these fields I am the one who is asked. That it is. For the rest, often, it is me who is asking the questions: I try to grant trust by strictly delegating tasks as well as the responsibility for results. As leader, I deliver a structural and strategic framework and only do follow up for results – unless I am asked for more. I am not interfering how people have to do their work as long as the results are there.

I almost never use my position in functional hierarchy as a leadership tool in order to get a behavioral change or a certain result. Using functional power through instruction remains an exception. The rule is partnership, an inner attitude of equal relationships and mutual respect. In case of failure, I try to strictly apply professional feedback. Sometimes that is hard. However it is almost always useful.

I do not expect a thank you. That was a hard lesson to learn. But now, without hardly any expectations, this attitude gives me freedom and a clear focus and motivation as I am doing what I am doing for the sake of the task without condition and obligation for anyone except the defined purpose.

I foster – within my range of responsibility – the connection of different people in learning groups or professional learning partnerships. Especially in leadership trainings we need a social architecture of individuals which builds our company´s culture. Therefore, I also will introduce mentoring during the next months.

In difficult meetings I am coming directly to the point, no verbal fluffs and if a conflict raises respect is the key card. For me, still, contact and pacing the individual identity and emotional landscape is the best way to fulfill my duty as leader. And this is hard work, every day again. It is all about self-management and personal change. Over and over again, adapting yourself to new constellations of people or tasks.

And of course, I give recognition for achievements and I share my knowledge.

What will I try to enlarge, to develop?

Certainly, I would like to enlarge the space and the opportunity to develop new things, especially in people management. In my department we start projects on new career development tools, recruiting through social media, health management as well as the creation of a family oriented company. Here and there these themes might be stretching tasks, but we constantly test our potential and limits, the young Y´s, our teams and organization. This is my true belief, even if we risk mistakes.

It would be worth to countercheck my statements about myself with the perception of my team and our employees. Curious, what they would respond. – Let´s rock the knowledge society.