PWS Bulletin #4: How to future proof your career

Sitting at my desk today, looking out of the window I saw a woman walking her dog in the field opposite my house.? I know this woman.? She works for a well-known financial multi-national with offices all over the world. As the dog played in the field, she was in deep conversation on her mobile phone. I guessed that her call was work related. ?Before the pandemic, she commuted to London daily.? Now she is a hybrid worker, working from home two days a week, and in the office for three.?? It was a timely reminder that the world of work has changing radically and is continuing to change. ?It made me question how we can safeguard and future proof our career.

To get some answers, I consulted the Future of Jobs report 2025[i] which is hot off the press.

This is a seminal report brings together the perspectives of over 14 million workers from 1,000 leading global employers. The executive summary contained the following insights:

"Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential in 2025. This is followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, along with leadership and social influence."?

"Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, with 63% of employers identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025-2030 period"

"Supporting employee health and well-being is expected to be a top focus for talent attraction, with 64% of employers surveyed identifying it as a key strategy to increase talent availability."

These statistics underpin the importance of moving towards a Productivity without sacrifice (PWS) based model.?[i]

It also made me question how the PWS approach fits into the evolution of organisational development and leadership thinking.? I remembered a leadership model that I had created in 2019 after an inspirational meeting in London with Fred [ii], author of Quantum Leadership: New Consciousness in Business.

I located the model and spent a few hours rethinking it and updating it. ?The end result is this model:

For nearly 100 years Left brain logical thinking has dominated the way we structure organisations and lead employees. The influence of Right brain creative thinking is starting to have an impact. And on the distant horizon is a balance of left brain logic and right brain creativity.?

• We are shifting from Thinking towards Knowing.
• We are shifting towards more holistic organisational structures that understand their role in local communities, the country as a whole and the world.
• We are shifting towards people management that encourages shared prosperity and world betterment.
• We are shifting towards leadership strategies that see the beyond the constraints of organisational walls We are shifting towards more holistic organisational structures that understand their role in local communities, the country as a whole and the world.
• We are shifting towards people management that encourages shared prosperity and world betterment.
• We are shifting towards leadership strategies that see the beyond the constraints of organisational walls

Adopting a PWS approach to organisational design and working practices will ensure our organisations and people thrive as we move forward.

It will help us to eventually achieve shared prosperity and equanimity.? In the here and now it is designed to help organisations and busy professionals to stay ahead of the game by increasing clarity and focus whilst maintaining long term balance and wellbeing.

For many, PWS may be aspirational – a new concept yet to become embedded in conventional organisational practices, but its alive already and out there improving efficiency, promoting balance and making work feel more rewarding.

I was recently working with a large business that had twenty holiday centres based in the UK. ?The leader I was working with asked me how the PWS model could be put into action in her organisation.

This is how we applied the model ?

1. We spent time gaining clarity on the organisations purpose, intentions and values.?
2. Once established this enabled the board to see how their business impacted on the local communities where their centres were based, their employees and their customers.?
3. This helped them to identify future aspirations and high-level plans for the business.
4. Using the plan as an audit tool, they were able to identify and eliminate some organisational practices that created unnecessary stress.

They are now working on a new performance management (PM) framework that should identify individual development needs to improve efficiency. In addition, their new PM framework aims to find new ways to motivate, engage and reward staff. ?

What does this mean for us as busy working professionals?

The Quantum leadership ‘future state’ detailed in the evolution model above may seem a long way away, but we need to be sewing the seeds right now.

You might choose to:

• Evaluate your own leadership style.? Is it out dated? If it is how can you update your skills? More about this next newsletter.
• Explore the World Economic Forums 2025 report further and identify what your organisation needs to do.
• Research and implement ways to increase your self awareness and ability to manage yourself in order to be more effective at work. Mindfulness is a great starting point. (see PWS Bulletin #3)
• Evaluate how you integrate work into your life. Is the balance right? Are there any simple ways you could improve your wellbeing?
• Explore ways to make work rewarding in order to motivate and retain your best staff.

The point is, it does not matter where you start, you just need make a start.

With love from the big skies of Cambridgeshire,

Juliet Adams

Chartered Fellow CIPD, MSc Training and Performance

#ProductivityWithoutSacrifice #Leadership #Leadership Development #Futureofwork

Juliet Adams Events

? May 11th Mini retreat focusing on turning your dreams into reality. Contact me if you would like details

? May 17th & 17th Mindfulness at work teachers 2 day retreat.

An ??? outline of the retreat can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gkDFfRJ5 A few places are still available: PWS subscribers who are mindfulness teachers will receive a free copy of The Business Case for Mindfulness. If this is for you, please click this link, or contact me for further info. If you would like to book a place:

? Online 1 hour workshop: The neuroscience of purpose ￡15. Contact me for details and dates

? Online workshop: An introduction to the Productivity Without Sacrifice approach to working ￡15. Contact me for details and dates.

Mindful Leadership for Dummies 60% discount for Subscribers. Tantor have just published an e-book version of my book and for a limited time are offering a 60% discount for PWS subscribers

References

[i] Productivity without Sacrifice (PWS) helps organisations and their people to become more productive and effective at what they do whilst still maintaining wellbeing and balance in their lives.

PWS focusses on three areas:

• Efficiency - brain friendly tools, techniques and knowledge to help you to be more productive, getting more done in less time
• Balance - Getting the balance right for you in two dimensions: Work-Life balance and taking care of your health and wellbeing
• Reward - Financial, professional recognition, working environment, opportunities for development and growth

[ii] Frederick Chavalit Tsao (Fred) was born in Hong King and educated in the West. He campaigns for ?business reform. He shifted his relationship with wealth, from ownership to stewardship: an approach he unpacks in his Quantum Leadership book. Fred believes that “In our modern world, leadership, management, and business must consider all of the interconnected systems and redefine the needs of stakeholders. This is necessary to align and collaborate in order to create and sustain success. Alignment can only be achieved through a shared worldview.”? More information: ?https://chavalittsao.com/

[i] World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report 2025 overview https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf

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