3 Lessons from 2017 about How Work is Changing
2017 was an extraordinary year in many respects.
For me, it was year of embracing the pace of change in technology, the profound shifts in most industries, and in the ongoing transformation in how work is getting done.
I co-founded a company called GovDelivery back in 2000 and ran it until it was sold in late 2016.
After building and leading a great team as GovDelivery’s CEO, I will confess that I had a well-formed, but very narrow view about how work is changing before launching Structural in May of 2017.
I know I’ve gained deeper insight from the well over 200 conversations with leaders and employees in companies of diverse sizes and across industries this year.
Lesson 1: Big Data is a big mystery.
Everyone wants to use more data to get work done faster and better. We all know there is more data than ever, but why does it feel like the water cooler, intuition and the internal network still matter more than ever to the workforce? The challenge is putting data to use in ways that make employees and companies more successful and reduce the reliance on serendipity, proximity, and repetition.
From my conversations, it’s clear that we have a long ways to go, and my view is that focusing on compiling and organizing big data is distracting some organizations from focusing on the targeted data that could help the organization reduce repetition or, more importantly, move faster to close business or deliver a key project on schedule.
Ask this question in your organization:
What are the most important decisions we make when pursuing our most critical deals, forming our most important teams, coaching our top performers, seeking new internal leaders, and more and what data would allow each of us to make better /faster decisions in these instances?
Focus on making that data available when you need it vs. winning the “biggest pile of data” contest that many are playing.
For two more lessons I've learned about how work is changing, check out the Structural Blog.