A New Reality Shaping the Future of Work

The world is out of balance. Wildfires, storms, floods, pandemic, global warming, depletion of natural resources, hunger, poverty and much more. The widening gap in health, wealth, and opportunities between rich and poor threatens to destroy the existing world order in the years ahead, unless action is taken to change the development.

We are out of balance. The inner world, our brain and mind, is challenged to the extent that depression, burnout, and stress-related illnesses have become epidemics. Some of us have too much to do, others too little. We are restless and feel we should do more, or we are helpless and believe we can do nothing. The mood is more fearful than hopeful. Dreams are more often forgotten or abandoned than pursued and fulfilled.

Now is the time. As the only species on Earth, we have the means to create a better, more peaceful and balanced world. Exactly now, after the ravage of the pandemic and before irreversible climate catastrophes set in, it is time to join forces. Beneath the surface of growing inequity and suffering, something is taking shape that has the potential to establish a sustainable relationship between cultural and natural systems.

Ironically, what has caused most of our problems — the work of generations — could also be our path to recovery and prosperity.

Work is changing

The concept of work has changed substantially over the years. From its distant roots in coercion and slavery, work came to mean the way out of poverty. People went to work to earn enough to pay for food, housing, and what else they needed. The reason for working was to survive.

Gradually, the work changed from manual to mental, from maintenance to service, from performance focus to experience design. The workers changed too. Each generation became smarter, leaner, and richer. Work became a way to express yourself. It gave identity and added purpose to life. The reason for working was — and for many still is — to succeed.

The future of work could be different. It may have more to offer than pay and promotion. Perhaps it can be even more meaningful and fulfilling. Perhaps we could work for other reasons and in other ways. As business becomes more conscious, we realize that work could be a way to heal. Changing work could actually change the world.

What if the purpose of working, in addition to survival and success, was to contribute to planetary recovery and prosperity?

The new reality

At first glance, the pandemic only added a new layer of suffering. It did, but it also gave us the opportunity to look closer at what we are doing to ourselves and the planet. The restrictions and lockdowns created fertile ground for new reflections and dialogues about how to move forward.

In the ruling paradigm, the recipe for success is strategic thinking, social influencing, and hard work. The question is whether this formula will suffice when the perspective is global, the stakes are higher, and the consequences are graver? Can we rely on the established business structure and culture when it comes to responsibility and sustainability?

Life in general depends on life at work. We spend many of our waking hours working and rely on the outcome to survive and succeed. Work can be larger than life when you and your team solve a problem or win an order. And it can be less than zero if you are fired or not get the promotion.

Massive changes are taking place, which will enable a genuine revolution in human life and work. Four of them are significant.

The fragmentation — from physical to virtual

Accelerated by the pandemic, the digital transition has spread everywhere. Remote working has become not only a theoretical opportunity, but also a full-blown necessity — and the new normal for many of us. The workplace has been transformed from a real life setting to a technical frame. The workspace has changed from a 3D full-body room to a 2D face-only screen. The environment has moved from wet and warm to dry and cold.

The changes have brought some benefits. Apparently, productivity is increasing — likely due to more flexibility and less travel. But the shift has also led to increasing fragmentation of work and isolation of the individual. There are many foggy brains and lonely hearts out there. Even declared introverts miss social incentives in the office. Defragmentation is sorely needed.

The dissolution — from hierarchy to holacracy

In society and in business, strong forces are pulling antiquated structures apart. What looks like anarchy at first glance is the end of hierarchy and the beginning of something we could call holacracy. What’s the difference? In a hierarchy, people are ranked by importance or status, and the decision power is centered at the top. In a holacracy, people are equal actors, and the power is distributed — often to self-organizing teams.

Instead of playing the finite game of following the leader and fighting to win another competition, the new generation of free agents and digital nomads are challenging institutions, traditions and illusions. They want more out of life than to climb the carrier ladder. They view themselves as more than performers in a corporate theater. They are ready to tear down the walls.

The equalization — from dominance to resonance

Just as no human being has the inherited right to dominate other people, so the human species has no authority to dominate other forms of life. This may be a controversial and uncomfortable truth for many, but it opens the door to ending the mental oppression, emotional dictatorship, and physical abuse imposed on fellow humans and other sentient beings.

The message is clear: stop dominating, start resonating. What can be resolved in an atmosphere of respect and cooperation is more sustainable than what has been dictated or implemented by force. On a broader scale, satisfying human needs should not cause unnecessary suffering to other living beings. You don’t have to be a vegan to share this view.

The unification — from exclusive to inclusive

In today’s business, competition is a strong focus. The thinking is linear, and the aspiration is to stay ahead of the others to win the race. No matter the cost. It is natural to create exclusivity by inventing, acquiring and protecting intellectual property. The logic is to engage with customer needs and create some sort of temporary monopoly in which experiences on demand can be paid for.

Business thinking is now shifting towards a more inclusive and sustainable mindset. Perhaps best illustrated by Kate Raworth's doughnut model. The model consists of two concentric rings: a social foundation, to ensure that no one is left falling short on life’s essentials, and an ecological ceiling, to ensure that humanity does not collectively overshoot the planetary boundaries that protect Earth’s life-supporting systems. Between these two sets of boundaries lies a doughnut-shaped space that is both ecologically safe and socially just: a space in which humanity can thrive.

Fragmentation, dissolution, equalization and unification are creating the conditions for a new agenda focused on balanced living and conscious business to emerge.

The new agenda

The time for a paradigm shift is now. For obvious reasons. Without a substantial change in behavior, modern man will go down in history as the mindless destroyer of life, not as the mindful creator. To accelerate and guide this shift, a new agenda is needed.

Governments and law makers are expected to deliver the framing and funding to drive the new agenda. In a circular and sustainable economy, companies will be bound to higher standards. But can they — and will they — deliver? We don’t know. In fact, we are all part of the equation and the solution. If you need some inspiration on how to drive the agenda, I offer four high level agenda points here.

1. Reconnect across borders and networks

The first step towards a more sustainable human civilization is to connect in new ways. To stay in the game as species, we need to learn, create and work together across all borders and networks, regardless of history, nationality, ethnicity, culture or other discriminators and dividers.

This implies an expansion of the concept of learning. It is much more than picking up a language or getting to grips with numbers. In a broader sense, learning is the process of bringing new information to life and creating new connections — in the brain, between people and in the greater system.

Life is a dance of energy in ever-changing patterns. Disruption is the norm; stability is an illusion. The concept of solid entities interacting in a deterministic world has been replaced by the idea of energy and information flowing within and between us in a relative and complex world. When everything changes constantly, the ease of learning and the quality of each connection become crucial.

How does the view of learning as the creation of human connection affect practices in education and business?

2. Redefine value, growth and work

We need to know what is valuable to us before we start defining what growth and work should be. Up to now in history, survival has been the crucial factor. First it was about food and shelter, stability, then came jobs, education, influence, reputation, experience, self-development, etc. Validated, understandable, and perfectly acceptable reasons for going to work and creating value and growth.

Behind this, however, lies a deeper desire for peace, love and freedom. In all of us. When asked why we do what we do and what we want from life, we end up talking about these qualities as valuable to work for and aspire to. If so, we could consider defining growth and working as a means to get it.

What if we designed work so that the wanted and needed behavior was perceived as meaningful and fulfilling?

3. Release the human potential in everyone

The term human resources, introduced in 1883, was originally used to promote the idea that human beings are of value. By the early 1950s, however, the meaning had changed to describe people as a means to achieve the goal of business. Today, the term refers to either the entire workforce or the department that manages it. The focus is on maintaining high employee engagement and developing talent.

Treating people as interchangeable resources never became popular outside the finance and legal departments. Treating people as talents wins more hearts, but the focus is mainly on capability, performance and achievement. Unfolding the nearly endless potential of humans is still not a success criterion of human resource management.

What would happen if HR stood for human regeneration rather than human resources?

4. Reconfigure the human belief system

Belief systems are the stories we tell ourselves to define and validate our perceived reality. They are the patterns our brain expects the world to conform to. Belief systems help us explain how everything is related and predict what will happen. This is how we make sense of the world.

As humans, we can hold all sorts of beliefs. Once formed, they tend to become absolutes that cannot be questioned without controversy. Confirmation bias blinds us, and we become insensitive to reality. Implicitly or explicitly, belief systems define what is good or valuable. Conflict between two groups, including war, may be defined as a battle between belief systems.

To end this dysfunctional behavior, we must become aware of it and address the cause directly. Belief, reason and experience are interlinked and interdependent. Experience needs belief and reason to be acknowledged, reason needs experience and belief to be formed, and belief needs experience and reason to be confirmed. The way to change our beliefs would be to change the context we are in and the concepts we refer to.

If we could reboot and reconfigure the human belief system, what would be the most life supporting and hope giving context to embed in?

Towards a balanced lifework

The world of tomorrow is created by the work of today. If we want the world to change in certain directions, we need to change work. The new agenda — reconnect, redefine, release and reconfigure — will tip the balance from work-life to life-work. A new priority order that might take us to the next level: life and work as fully integrated. The future focus will not be on creating work-life balance, but on having a balanced lifework.