Nationwide Study from Bridge Shows Millennials and Non-Millennials Agree on What Makes a Good Leader at Work

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bridge team at Instructure (NYSE: INST), a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, today announced the results of a study assessing what millennials and non-millennials value most in leadership at work. In contrast to widespread belief that millennials and older generations are fundamentally divided in their view of work, the nationwide study of more than 1,000 working employees and managers found that employees' expectations of leadership are timeless and defy intergenerational dynamics.

"In our study we found that views of management are largely congruent across generations, with a few key exceptions," said Jeff Weber, senior vice president of people and places at Instructure. "At Instructure, we care about improving the health and effectiveness of companies, and these new insights can help facilitate engaging work environments and happier employees throughout the age spectrum. These findings can also catalyze the implementation of more pertinent corporate training to managers and employees focused on staff needs."

According to the results, both millennials and non-millennials have higher opinions of the leaders with whom they work most closely, indicating that face-time matters across generations. Thirty-two percent of both millennials and non-millennials think their direct supervisor performs very well, as opposed to 23 percent for senior management and 18 percent for C-suite executives.

Additional findings of the survey include:

• Millennials and non-millennials alike value trustworthiness the most in a manager, with 59 percent of millennials and 73 percent of non-millennials dubbing it the most important quality.
• Millennials and non-millennials agree that managers are more effective in displaying industry knowledge and experience (42 percent say they are very effective) than they are at mentoring (25 percent say they are very effective) and utilizing all of employees' talents and abilities at work (23 percent say they are very effective).
• Millennials think leadership is less concerned about them. They also are less optimistic about the benefits of work. Only 23 percent of millennials strongly agree that management is concerned about them compared to 40 percent of non-millennials, and only 32 percent of millennials strongly agree that work is good for their mental health compared to 40 percent of non-millennials.
• Millennials and non-millennials share a cohesive vision about how leadership will change by 2020. Employees feel managers will 1. Delegate more assignments (most likely), 2. Empower their teams more, 3. Master more technical skills, 4. Develop better teaching capabilities and 5. Develop better gender sensitivity (least likely).

These cross-generational priorities can be met with better training of managers, delivered by a modern learning management system accessible on-the-go or in the office, like Bridge, created by Instructure.

The survey polled more than 1,000 employees across the United States to determine their attitudes about leadership, gender and training at work. The survey was conducted in October 2015 and had respondents in several industries, with an equal split of male and female respondents.

ABOUT INSTRUCTURE:

Instructure, Inc. is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximize the potential of people through technology, Instructure created Canvas and Bridge to enable organizations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of teachers and learners at more than 1,600 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world. Learn more about Canvas for higher ed and K-12, and Bridge for the corporate market at www.Instructure.com.

CONTACTS:
Devin Knighton, Director of Public Relations at Instructure
(801) 722-8187 | [email protected]
Twitter: @devinknighton | www.instructure.com

Jessica Hutchison, Method Communications
(801) 461-9779 | [email protected]

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SOURCE Instructure

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