The Future Is Now

The future of work is already here, and that future is one of change.

Spring is now here in Canada where I live, and more than the seasons are changing- I would like to talk about these changes from the perspective of the workplace. Looking back at the famous RKO film "The Future is Now", which heralded new advances in machinery making some work and roles obsolete, it would seem this 1955 film is very pertinent today. As leaders of people, projects, and processes, for years we have heard about how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would tremendously change the workplace. The World Economic Forum had indicated over half the jobs we will be doing in the next decade had not yet even been created. Organizations would benefit from innovations like AI, ML, and block chain, which in turn would transform how work was done by people and what roles. What this means is a lot of change for these workers, where around 1 in every 6 jobs are to be displaced or eliminated in the next few years affecting some geographies and industries disproportionately.

Evidence of the potential impact of Digital Transformation technology has permeated our personal lives in the form of things like Youtube, PayPal, WeChat, and Instagram changing the expectations of how we interact, collaborate, and get information. The big accelerator for some of these changes we all had witnessed was the global pandemic, where the same technologies that were to be used for efficiency, like robotic automation and machine learning, were then focused on safety and customer experience. The remote workplace became a reality for many companies who could buy technology, but may have changed worker engagement when inexperienced management teams were initially ill equipped to lead remotely. With the shift away from physical workplaces, many found themselves unemployed or underemployed due to limits of physical workplaces, and talent pools were limited in mobility. Still some businesses were thrust into the spotlight and thrived. Who would have seen the new title of Chief Remote Workplace Officer a number of years ago? Every "C" level executive could have held the title of CCO of Chief "Change" Officer with the acceleration of investments.

Today the workplace is as fluid as ever and there is no shortage of drivers. Beyond a Digital Transformation, a "Digital Evolution" is continuing and technology has become more easily accessible in the forms like digital assistants, streaming services, social media, and ChatGPT via cloud computing and 5G, fuelling expectations that are driving both the need for certain skills while continuing change in the demand for some roles. Life expectancy is higher meaning individuals will have longer careers, with many more roles, and more frequent job changes. Today, turmoil in the economies globally due to inflation are causing organizations to review strategies, and workforce composition. Essentially, just as the we count on the seasons transitioning, change affecting the workplace is here to stay, and the pace is accelerating.

As leaders, what can we do, and how can we encourage resilience in our teams that we support??I would suggest 5 strategies to align to what may come:

1. Embracing and developing a growth mindset- The idea of a growth mindset has been around for over 30 years, but is very relevant today.?People with a growth mindset feel their skills and intelligence can be improved with effort and persistence.?They are also more open to more frequent feedback, for more people. Developing this attitude, and leading by example is a must in an ever changing business environment, with a velocity that is ever increasing. There is a lot of research that shows Leaders who have growth mindset are?better able to set their organizations up for success and to build a resilient workforce. And companies that have one react faster to shifts in the market and are well positioned to take advantage of new business opportunities.
2. Assessing your digital maturity- A few years ago, Dr. Gerald Kane discussed the concept of digital maturity, which at its core looks at success of digital transformation based on strategy, not technology.?Everyone can buy the same technology, so examining your personal ability and organizations ability to deal with risk-taking, and stressing collaboration, agility, and measurement will be differentiators. For example, what good is big data technology if you don't have individuals who can understand the information, create linkages to other data, and scrutinize for bias to ensure efficacy. Businesses with high levels of digital maturity are more likely to gain a competitive advantage in?revenue growth, time to market, cost efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction.
3. Delegating authority and enabling distributed decision making- While remote workers are more at risk of feeling isolated and lacking engagement, this could happen easily in any workforce. By providing for frameworks, tools, training and opportunities for team members to have some authority and independent decision making there are many benefits: 1) A large amount of uncertainty comes with change. Enabling your team members to have more control in a defined number of decisions in their work allows them to feel more in control, and in turn can increase their impact even if conditions are fluid. 2) Allowing for more agile decision making can create a more responsive organization for customers and clients, instead of concentrating all decisions with just a few leaders who are currently bombarded by text, emails, and notifications- all of which requires some sort of action. Those leaders are then also able to focus on higher priority actions. 3) The practice of enabling informal management and leadership development of team members, and creating more bench strength in allowing for delegation.
4. Creating a culture of learning- Famous TV entrepreneur Mark Cuban has talked about the ultimate skill of learning that should be embedded as a key priority for current and future generations. New roles of the future will need new skills, Around one third of those who may be affected by the shifting employment landscape can leverage current competencies and up-skill and re-skill. For example the title of data scientist was not even really around 7 years ago, and now it is one of the most sought after, and highest paying jobs. A SQL data base analyst has the right framework to move from a data analyst, to a data wrangler, to a data scientist, and this is true for many roles.
5. Playing to your strengths- I have always been a fan of the view of strengths as described by Marcus Buckingham, Many of us will undoubtedly change companies, roles, and titles more frequently. We may have move on because the job isn't needed anymore, to stretch and learn a new skills, or to find the right people to collaborate with the way you do best. It can be problematic when we, or the people we may lead, conflate personal identity to the job or title they had possessed. When the role is no longer there it can be devastating, unless we are able to comprehend that we are not our "title". We should be characterizing ourselves for who we are- the job is just the place for us to collectively bring our energy, and skills with others who share the same purpose. Who you are is creative, smart, analytical, social, determined, and kind. What you do is director, manager, analyst, producer, and engineer.

I will end here by saying that for me, the last tip was probably the most challenging concept for me to personally. I was one of those individuals who really tied my identity to a title, and I often reinforced this with others. Through force of habit, I have been guilty of having the one of the first questions I ask about someone when being introduced for the first time is about what their current career is, instead of what, or who, are they passionate about. So let me introduce myself- If we met at a dinner party I would share 3 things about myself. I am a father of 3, who can't wait for each of my kids to be parents so they might know how much joy I get from being a father. I am the guy who loves desserts and takes pictures of these for his Instagram account. And lastly, I define professional success by being in a role developing others, and developing myself.

I hope the information I shared here reinforced or validated your current practices around change, or at least got you thinking about how change may be affecting you or your teammates. Thanks so much for taking the time to read, and thanks in advance for those who take time to respond with comments.