How to Inspire the Youth to Help them rise to the top

India has the world’s largest youth population. More than fifty per cent of India’s population is under 25 years of age. By 2020, sixty four per cent of the nation’s population will be in the working age group with the average age being 29 years. The future seems to literally depend on the youth, which may be a wonderful thing considering the immense potential they possess. The need of the hour now, is to effectively tap this potential. While these so called “millennials” are the more educated and diverse than previous generations, they’re also notoriously restless, job-hoppers, dislike authority and distrust traditional bureaucratic processes. Majority of them get burnt out sooner than expected and quite a few do not realise their potential.

No matter where they are employed, the youth needs to be motivated appropriately so that they may take our nation to greater heights. Here’s how to inspire the youth to help them rise to the top:

Identify The Issues That Hold Them Back.

There are reasons for the behaviour and thought process of these youngsters which need to be identified, isolated and proactively acted upon. To motivate the youngsters one needs to think in sync with them and counter the negatives accordingly.

Connect with them.

It’s vital to establish contact with the younger generation and transfer ideas and issues to the seamlessly rather than giving only pep-talks. The youth is more receptive to ideas for improvement when they connect with the orator rather than when it’s a monologue. “If you can explain the whole picture, it connects the meaning to the person,” says Jeremy Kingsley, leadership expert and author of Inspired People Produce Results.

Provide Ownership to the Youth.

One must involve the youth in planning. The impact of ownership in shaping the future brings out the best in any person. If youth is involved in planning future events and policies there is more than likelihood of them executing the plan to the best of their abilities.

Give Encouragement and Feedback

The current generation needs continuous feedback and instant rewards. The need to be noticed and quickly rewarded is a constant. Positive feedback, a pat on the back, a thank you, upward mobility in ladder and monetary rewards are all tools to encourage the millennials. Organisations can create flexibility in their hierarchy by creating additional steps and titles in the ladder which can satisfy the urge of quick gratification and keep the hunger going.

A Conducive Work Environment

Providing ambiance at work place conducive to the mind-set of youngsters and giving them the flexibility to operate as per their life styles results in productivity and positive motivation.  Work-life balance is one of the most significant drivers which detests sitting at desks for 12 hrs a day in today’s world on internet and constant connectivity. Offering flexible scheduling, occasional work from home or more frequent vacation time can meet their desire for flexibility while also showing one’s trust in their capabilities.

Provide Professional Development.

Most youngsters identify good opportunities for growth and development as one of their top professional priorities. Assigning stretch projects, bringing in motivational speakers or sending them to leadership conferences will be especially helpful in learning and growing their skills.

Promoting Entrepreneurial Skills.

Developing entrepreneurial skills in young people can be a multi-faceted and sophisticated response to the problem of youth people unemployment and creative urge. It is about enabling young people to draw from business techniques to create a social purpose enterprise in a financially sustainable way.

Use of Social Media.

With the lightening spread of social media in last few years it would be an excellent opportunity to exploit this platform towards spreading ideas which bring positivity in the minds of youth and throws open various options for personal and professional advancement.

Our youngsters should decide what they want to do in this life. Right from our childhood, we are constantly chained by the thought of careers, or what we want to be and in that process forget some of the finer aspects that life has to offer. It is extremely important not to decide the purpose of life with the narrow objective to be something or the other. A precursor to do anything in life is to have confidence in the self and for any endeavor to attain the pinnacle of success, dedication to the cause is absolutely essential. Swami Vivekananda once said,

“To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. ‘I will drink the ocean’, says the persevering soul; ‘at my will mountains will crumble up’. Have that sort of energy, that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal.”

We are the most youthful nation in the world but simply that is not enough.It is necessary to arm our youth with the relevant knowledge and skill that will convert this mammoth potential to desired results.