I've always been passionate about the future of work and the potential it holds for improving ways of working, economies and societies. I can't help it.... I dream of exciting futures where work is purposeful and leveraging the full human potential augmented by technology and AI, where people work when and where they can and feel like they belong as part of a community.
When I think about the future of work, I think about the different landscapes:
- the nature of work is changing from the traditional 9-to-5 input-based approach to a higher focus on impact and outputs,
- the workplace (place where work happens) is shifting from the corporate office environment to "work anywhere and anytime"
- the workforce is transforming - from changing expectations to the dynamic between people and organisations.
Looking at these 3 landscapes I try to understand the trends shaping the future, their likelihood across different timelines and, even more interestingly, how the different trends interact with each other. I’m also reflecting on which of these future scenarios are possible, plausible or probable.
Earlier this week I chaired and spoke at a CIPD event titled Future of Work Reinvented - where does HR stand?
In that event I’ve talked about the work I do in my day job trying to understand in map trends shaping the future of work, dear likelihood and timelines as well as the impact on the nature of work, workplace and workforce. This allows me not only to understand potential futures, but also be able to understand how HR needs to transform and adapt to lead in such futures.
Ready or not, the future of work just arrived – triggered by socio-economic developments and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic at both macro levels (technology and societal transformation) as well as a micro level (human and organisational transformation).
- Technological Transformation - Upcoming technology trends, automation, robotics and AI tremendously impact future jobs and skills requiring smart ways to leverage data and technology to strategically plan and enable the workforce – at a fast pace and large scale.
- Societal Transformation - Attracting, keeping and growing a diverse talent pool from several generations, identities, backgrounds and circumstances with different needs and learning habits requires new ways of delivering learning, as well as creating workforce engagement and experience.
- Human Transformation - Evolving workforce expectations and habits, as well as shorter employee lifecycle times, force organisations to think in career landscapes instead of static career paths, as well as in ecosystem engagement instead of top-down talent mgmt.
- Organisational Transformation - Transformation towards dexterous organisations needs employee and leadership empowerment to adapt to new roles (e.g. agile teams and leadership), ways of working (e.g. cross-functional) and culture (e.g. openness for failure).
Organisations need a major shift in the topic of work in order to remain competitive in an ever-changing future!
I was delighted to share the virtual stage with some of the most brilliant people in the space of Future of Work and the Future of HR:
- Dr Wilson Wong
– Head of Research and Thought Leadership + Head of International Insights and Futures @ CIPD
- Prof Juani Swart
- Professor of Human Capital @ the Future of Work Research Centre - University of Bath
- Andrew Spence
-Global Transformation Director and Workforce Futurist @ Glass Bead Consulting
- Enrique Rubio -
HR, Tech and Future of Work expert and founder @ Hacking HR
The key messages they have shared with the audience were:
- Trend: leading internal change in context: Develop future-fit skills to thrive in a changing world, including agility and autonomy. Make horizon-scanning a priority and scan the external environment to anticipate upcoming shifts within the workplace (CIPD)
- Trend: appreciate the implications of technology and what they mean for digital transformation: develop analytical and data skills within the profession and build credibility in this area, and challenge other business areas to consider the impact of digital transformation on people and their work (CIPD)
- Trend: Changing demographics and D&I strategies: Take an evidence-based approach, especially when it comes to forecasting and understanding demographic shifts (CIPD)
- Trend: Sustainability, purpose and responsible business: Adapt people functions to reflect a widening remit on corporate social responsibility and increased demand in areas like sustainability, responsible business and organisational purpose and values (CIPD)
- Advice: "HR has agency to change and shape the future" - Dr Wilson Wong
- Perspective: Client Driven: an outside-in perspective looking at ways of working where employees and clients are working closely together to deliver high quality services and products.
- Perspective: Objective Driven (inter-organisational)- working across organisations in integrated project teams (ITPs) - a multidisciplinary group of people who are collectively responsible for delivering a defined product or process. IPTs are used in complex development programs/projects for review and decision making. The emphasis of the IPT is on involvement of all stakeholders in a collaborative forum.
- Perspective: Cause Driven (trans-organisational) descriptive of project Network Organisations (PNOs) sets of longer-term yet project-based relationships between legally independent but operationally interdependent partners leveraging key features such as: strategic coordination by project entrepreneurs, stable core project teams, and flexible ad-hoc partner pools.
- Perspective: Unleashing the Decentralised workforce influenced by eternal market trends and how organisations respond to these.
- Perspective: We're facing a huge opportunity for economic inclusion by thinking about work differently. From different roles such as: playbourers, Solopreneurs, content creators, livestreamers, platform workers, digital nomads, slashies, etc.
- Prediction: "the role of the people function will include enabling self-managed teams to operate using workforce technology, to make sure it's all legal and complaint and to make sure the business strategy is being delivered. So, instead of using the management processes we've inherited from the last century, leadership will change and will involve nurturing talent networks and ecosystems" - Andrew Spence
- Predictions: digital transformation should be seen on an exponential curve. We're currently at an inflexion point in shaping the future of work through technology. From this point forward we can expect an acceleration in technology where it will be significantly more difficult to keep up with the pace of technology advancements.
- Advice: there are 2 main skills we need to understand the future of work: seeing the invisible and believing the unbelievable, seeing a world of possibilities beyond the current horizon and let me get ready for something that could potentially happen. - Enrique Rubio
My final thoughts on this topic would be, as we navigate the current uncertainty in our organisation and the market, respond to the immediate needs of our business leaders, people and HR functions, we need to find the space to start thinking about and understanding the different scenarios for the future and how we prepare for them.
The key questions I'd like to ask yourself are:
- In 2030, when you describe the success of your organisation, what impact would you want to see in organisations, their customers/clients and the communities organisations serve?
- What skills and capabilities are the most critical going forward and offer us a true competitive advantage as HR people? Which ones do we need to own, partner and build at a surgical level?
- What are some of the key misconceptions about the future of work and HR that you often encounter? What is your approach to assessing and validating them?
- What are some of your personal hopes and dreams about the future of work and HR? What about your fears and concerns for the future?
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KEY RESOURCES TO EXPLORE THE FUTURE
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And here's the recording if you missed the event:
Queen of Biz Transformation?? | #GetSh*tDone | Helping Evolved Entrepreneurs to quantum leap business growth, without burnout | Award Winning Biz Coach | Entrepreneur Magazine Network
2 年Thanks for sharing this, interesting point!
Creator of Award-Winning Solutions to Help Your Workplace and Leaders Thrive | ISO Global Liaison for Psychological Health & Safety | Workplace Culture, Leadership, Resiliency & Burnout Expert
2 年Found it interesting, thanks for sharing it.
Senior Consulting Partner at Up Market Research and DataIntelo | Market Research | New Business | Consulting | Sales | Growth
2 年What a great post Ciprian
Marketing Automation | Engagement & Retention | Digital Marketing
2 年Appreciate you sharing this
Founder & CEO @ IDEA | Social Entrepreneur
2 年Really love your post Ciprian!