‘Business is always interfering with pleasure-but it makes other pleasures possible.’
/William Feather/
Jacob Morgan, the author of the new book ‘The
Future of the Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create
Competitive Organization’ talks about possible employee evolution.
According to Jacob the work as we know it
is dead and the only way forward is to experiment new approach around how we
work, how we lead and how we build our companies. As a matter of fact the
employee today is totally different from the employee ten years ago.
Jacob, in his book highlights key elements that he thinks need to be challenged in the future.
Work any-time anywhere and use any device
This is called flexible work, where the
employee can perform their task from any place they wish and they spend time
they need to accomplish responsibilities by ‘focusing on outputs’. Companies
like Unilever, Aetna, and American express are already implementing flexible
work strategy called ‘agile work’ to their employees. Jacob Morgan believes
that future employee will only work this way.
The death of the ‘Ladder’ and customized
work
You have to climb the ladder for a few
years in the hopes that one day you will reach a position that you are happy
with. However with the freelancer economy, collaboration platforms, and new
management approaches; employees are now starting to shape their own career
paths and how they actually work. Companies like Deloitte offer something
called the Mass Career Customization Program which allows employees to change
their work preferences twice a year, changes include things such as making a
lateral move within the company or selecting how much time an employee wants to
spend travelling. Other organizations like Valve or Treehouse allow employees to
completely pick the projects they work on or who they work with.
Sharing is caring and anyone can be a
leader
Decades ago employees had no need to share
their knowledge, as it was their power and they kept all the information or
knowledge they had for themselves. Employees were also not encouraged to think
creatively, their jobs were simply to perform their tasks and show up at work.
Whether, for future employees it is completely different. Employees
share the information and organisations creating incentives to do this ranging
from internal incubators to entrepreneur programs to open innovation programs.
Going forward any employee can have an idea that can turn into a new product,
service, or opportunity. Once again, collaboration technologies play a crucial
role as they give any employee within an organization the chance to be a
recognized leader by sharing their ideas, thoughts, concepts, etc. Many people
have become leaders as a result of social platforms such as Twitter, Instagram,
or Facebook.
Knowledge vs adaptive learning
'If someone offers you an opportunity and you're not sure you can do it, say yes- then learn how to do it later.'
/Richard Branson/
The ability to learn and have desire to
continuously develop, adapt to new skills and qualities are far more valuable
than something that you know. Knowledge in current reality is just a commodity,
to be the world’s smartest person all you need is a skill to apply to new
situations and scenarios the learnings that you can get from your cell phone. Acknowledging
that today everyone has an access to highly developed technologies, like
smartphones, iPads, laptops and variety of sites, it is much easier for the
individual to learn what he wants to learn and teach in what they are uniquely
qualified in. Simply being able to connect employees to each other provides a
way for democratized learning and teaching in ways that was never before
possible.
Questions: How realistic seems Jacob’s
future plan for the employee, is it for everyone? Do you think it is possible
today to succeed in career following your own ladder, not the hierarchy? Do you
agree the future world of work will implement ‘agile work’?
Information source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/09/02/the-evolution-of-the-employee/
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