Future of Work Project

?? You wouldn’t ignore 70% of your manufacturing costs—so why do it with your people? You measure. You optimize. You solve. Now it’s time to apply that same rigor to human performance. ???? “We call it engineering human performance.”– Shonna Waters, PhD | Fractional Insights on the Future of Work Project LinkedIn Live Forget wishful thinking around culture and retention—use data + behavioral science to make your people strategy a repeatable formula for success. ?? Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g_Ft4Sii #EngineeringHumanPerformance #HumanCapital #PerformanceOptimization #BehavioralScience #DataDriven #BusinessStrategy #TeamPerformance #Productivity #Efficiency #Leadership

No, we’re not the CIA…But what if your workforce strategy took a page from their playbook? That was one of the standout insights from our latest LinkedIn Live with AJ Herrmann —and it hit home for CHROs, workforce planners, and future-of-work leaders. AJ broke it down into 3 simple, actionable steps you can take right now to start building a more fluid, adaptive workforce—yes, even in 2025. It’s not about copying the CIA. It’s about adopting their mindset of agility, foresight, and mission-driven design—and making it work for your organization. ?? Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gFD7N3Wp #WorkforceFluidity #MindsetShift #JobRedesign #DynamicCareerPathing #FutureOfWork #HumanCapital #WorkforcePlanning #CHRO #HR #Careers

Was super insightful and inspiring to talk with AJ Herrmann, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Planning at Cleveland Clinic, about building a Fluid Workforce. With organizations faced with ongoing technology innovation, talent scarcity, and shifting employee expectations, traditional approaches to upskilling, automation, etc. remain siloed, inefficient, and often don't deliver the expected ROI. AJ offered a better way forward: workforce fluidity—a foundational strategy that embraces constant change as the new normal. Unlike workforce agility, which merely tolerates change when necessary, a fluid workforce actively practices, trains for, and learns from ongoing transformation. AJ offered three key components of building a truly fluid workforce: 1) HR-led technology adoption: Making AI and automation a workforce opportunity rather than a technical challenge 2) Task-level role redesign: Unlocking hidden efficiencies (30%+) while improving engagement 3) Dynamic career pathing: Creating a culture of rotational assignments that maximizes talent utilization AJ suggested, and I certainly agree, that organizations that master workforce fluidity gain a hard-to-replicate competitive advantages: reduced costs, faster technology adoption, more effective upskilling, and sustained engagement. Hope you enjoy, and reach out to me or AJ with questions or ideas, or comment below. To makin' great things happen! #workforceplanning #peopleanalytics #futureofwork #talentstrategy #workstrategy #workdesign #aiinhr #leadership #orgchange

Piyush Mathur of SkillsBridge.AI on Upskilling Employees as a Key to Enduring Success. Discover how to successfully navigate business transformation by upskilling your workforce to meet strategic goals. Piyush explores the challenges of identifying necessary skills and the importance of leadership in driving transformational change. Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gHDYQbeR #businesstransformation #upskilling #skillgap #strategichumancapital #leadershipdevelopment #corporatetraining #talentmanagement #workforceplanning #digitaltransformation #businessstrategy

Piyush Mathur, co-founder of SkillsBridge.AI, discusses his company's mission to address the growing disconnect between organizational needs and individual skills. With skills now having a half-life of just 2.5 years, traditional hiring and development methods are proving inefficient and costly. ??? Key Challenges in the Skills Landscape - Rapid skills evolution (2.5-year half-life) - High costs of external hiring - Cultural mismatches leading to first-year attrition - Outdated job descriptions and taxonomies - Difficulty implementing skills-based workforce planning ??? Skills Bridge's Solution Approach The company creates customized skills taxonomies that: - Reflect company-specific context and culture - Provide competitive intelligence on industry trends - Connect to external talent markets - Enable personalized employee development ? Real-World Impact Examples 1. **Microsoft**: Gen AI implementation helped senior engineers shift focus from coding to customer interaction and feature development 2. **Walmart**: Successfully converted cashiers to truck drivers through targeted upskilling, addressing a business need while significantly increasing employee income ??? Implementation Framework 1. Begin with CEO and CHRO articulating business needs and skills requirements 2. Involve HR business partners and talent management teams 3. Create a multi-disciplinary approach across talent acquisition, learning, and operations 4. Start with a pilot program focused on critical roles 5. Build customized taxonomies using various data sources (ONET, ESCO, industry-specific databases) ??? Business Benefits - Enhanced organizational agility - Improved workforce planning - Better employee satisfaction and retention - Cost savings through internal development vs. external hiring ? Action Items - Assess current organizational skills vs. future needs - Build customized skills taxonomy aligned with business strategy - Pilot skills-based workforce planning for critical roles - Contact Skills Bridge.ai for specialized solutions Skills Bridge's approach demonstrates how organizations can effectively navigate the rapidly changing skills landscape by combining industry knowledge with company-specific context, ultimately enabling both business success and improved employee outcomes. #workforceplanning #businesstransformation #upskilling #skillgap #strategichumancapital #leadershipdevelopment #corporatetraining #talentmanagement #peopleanalytics #digitaltransformation #businessstrategy

Engineer Your Team for Peak Performance with Shonna Waters, PhD of Fractional Insights. Discover how to optimize your team's performance using data-driven strategies and behavioral science. Stop hoping for results—engineer them! Learn how to measure, improve, and maximize your human capital. Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gNiG4beN #EngineeringHumanPerformance #HumanCapital #PerformanceOptimization #BehavioralScience #DataDriven #BusinessStrategy #TeamPerformance #Productivity #Efficiency #Leadership

Shonna Waters, PhD Shonna Waters, PhD shares how leaders can leverage behavioral science and what she calls, Psychological Ergonomics, to help engineer human performance and drive business success. This is a systematic approach to treating people strategy as both a human and business imperative, not a lagging HR concern. Summary: ?? Shonna Waters is the the Co-Founder & CEO of Fractional Insights, a strategic advisory firm she co-founded with Erin Eatough, PhD. ?? In this discussion, Shonna shares that people represent 70% of a business's operating costs, yet their performance is often treated as unpredictable or secondary to other factors like technology and innovation. ?? Shonna argues that by applying the principles of Psychological Ergonomics - designing work environments and systems to align with innate human needs and drivers - organizations can transform the "squishy human element" into a predictable and powerful lever for performance. ?? She provides examples of how this approach can help organizations achieve goals like driving innovation, executing transformations, and leveraging new technologies more effectively by addressing the human factors that often derail such initiatives. ?? Shonna emphasizes the importance of taking a holistic, systems-level view to identify and resolve the friction points that prevent people from thriving and performing at their best. ?? She highlights the financial benefits of getting the "people stuff" right, citing research showing companies that prioritize human capital outperform the market. ?? Shonna acknowledges the potential ethical concerns around "engineering" human behavior, but argues that this approach ultimately serves both the organization and the individual by removing barriers to progress and meaning. Other key take-aways: ?? 70-84% of transformations fail due to human factors ?? Technological investments will be wasted if people don't embrace and leverage the changes ?? Psychological support and intentional design of motivational environments are key to converting potential resistance into momentum ?? Treating human behavior as the most powerful lever for turning strategy into reality will help increase the probability that transformation efforts succeed over time ?? Designing environments that tap into fundamental needs like fairness, autonomy, recognition, and purpose ?? Leaders can make successful execution not just possible, but predictable ?? Importance of aligning decision-making processes and incentives with top business priorities ?? Ensuring the right information and goals are guiding key decisions Key Actions: ? Treat people strategy as a strategic advantage, not just an HR concern ? Apply the principles of psychological ergonomics to remove friction and unlock human potential ? Take a holistic, systems-level approach to addressing organizational challenges Learn more at fractionalinsight.ai #futureofwork #peopleanalytics #talentstrategy #hrstrategy #psychologicalergonomics

Revamping our newsletter to be even more timely, relevant, and actionable. Two live discussions this week. The first will be tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5th. Shonna Waters, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO of Fractional Insights, will be sharing then taking questions on Engineering Human Performance for Business Success. The following day, Thursday, March 6th, Piyush Mathur, Co-Founder & CEO of SkillsBridge.AI, will be sharing and taking questions on Upskilling Your Workforce to Uplift Your Business. Both sessions will begin at 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET on the Future of Work Project company page here on LinkedIn. More to come on the Future of Work Project itself, and hope to see you at these sure-to-be uniquely valuable and enjoyable sessions.

Shonna Waters, PhD on Engineering Human Performance for Business Success -- after a short presentation on the topic, ask questions and share your perspectives and ideas in an interactive discussion facilitated by Al Adamsen. Start time tomorrow, Wednesday, March 5th, at 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET here on the Future of Work Project page.

How Can Employers Do Wellness Well? Do you really know what your employees need to be well? Spoiler alert: You can’t—because well-being is highly personal, ever-changing, lasts a lifetime, and there’s no silver bullet. ?? Join Al Adamsen and Frank Ricciardi, founder of Maavee, for a fresh perspective on reimagining employee well-being—one that aligns with the way people actually engage in their lifelong aspiration to be well. Let’s discuss: ?? What exactly is wellness and the powerful role employers can play ?? Why most workplace wellness investments have low engagement and often yield lackluster results ?? How employers truly support the uniquely personal needs of each employee #EmployeeWellbeing #FutureOfWork