Transformational Change and the New Work Operating System

In the essay, “Transformation Through Work Without Jobs,” Dr. John Boudreau and Jonathan Donner assert that organizational transformation will “increasingly demand that work be unfrozen from jobs, and a system capable of reinventing and assigning work without formal job descriptions.”

John is a globally-recognized thought-leader, award-winning researcher, and Professor Emeritus at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Jonathan advises organizations (recent assignments include UN World Food Program and Amazon) about the future of leadership and organizational capability. They are experts on what the future holds for the world of work, jobs, and the role of leaders.

They write that this shift away from traditional job-based systems will “demand different capabilities from leaders” and that “workers will typically no longer be exclusively assigned to a leader through a stable job hierarchy.” Instead, leaders will assemble and disassemble teams of internal and external talent as needed “to achieve broader unit and organizational goals.”

The following excerpts are from their essay, which can be found along with the contributions of dozens of other authors in the book, The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, for which I am lead author.?

How Leadership Roles Will Change

C-suite leaders will still set the strategic mission of the organization and define standards, goals, conditions, and resources that drive transformation.

Functional leaders will still establish systems to align and support mid-level leaders, who prioritize and translate transformational goals into strategic objectives. Functional leaders will also need to define the work and how it is accomplished and shared, but now through fluid tasks/projects and capabilities, not through jobs and hierarchy. To avoid chaos, transformation strategies must now build an accepted framework for sharing and distributing power and accountability that must evolve in step with fluid work tools like internal talent marketplaces.

Front-line leaders will still organize and optimize the goals of their units and the needs and desires of their workers, but now in the currency of tasks/projects and worker skills/capabilities. They must become project leaders who perpetually deconstruct projects into tasks and assemble workers into teams that optimize their deconstructed capabilities.

There will be fewer places for leaders to hide, and more opportunities to be seen. Leaders and managers will be defined less by title and credentials and more by achievements and character.

Adapting To the New Work Operating System

Managers will source talent within and beyond the traditional organization, and rapidly assemble teams based on required skills and capabilities.

Workers will increasingly connect with projects virtually through technology, so this evolved project management will more prominently reflect automation, distance collaboration, and influence.

Hierarchical authority will be less prominent in transformations using the new system of work without jobs because workers will not be as tied to traditional reporting structures, and project-based work requires teams to increasingly self-manage.

With greater transparency of work opportunities visible, employees will demand work that meets their personal preferences and the freedom to shift between projects. Transformation leaders must set strong frameworks that balance worker empowerment with accountability to the broader task/mission.

Organizational transformation will encounter more frequent and visible choices between replacing, augmenting, and reinventing the human worker, often by giving humans new and more valuable capabilities that are only possible through automation . . . managers will need a more nuanced understanding of what humans can contribute in aesthetic creativity, cultural perspective, and innovative potential.

Transformation through a system of work without jobs presents far more frequent opportunities to choose, assign, reward, and develop team members, as tasks/projects and team memberships are perpetually reinvented. This approach could significantly enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts through more opportunities. Yet, if bias persists, this issue could simply produce more and faster non-inclusive choices. Transformational leaders must create processes for continually assessing whether work, and its remuneration, are distributed equitably.

To continually and successfully assemble teams in the new work operating system, transformational leaders must nurture a more transparent leadership brand. This brand will be revealed by leaders’ past projects, and embodied in marketplace ratings by former team members . . . The increased speed and granularity of work will prize leaders whose purpose is like the keel of a sailboat, steadying and guiding it toward a destination even as it tacks through shifting winds.

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The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, from lead author Ian Ziskin and with contributions from dozens of senior business leaders, HR leaders, experts, coaches, and consultants, shares insight, vivid stories, lessons learned, and best practices for what it takes to lead, survive, and thrive in periods of transformational change. Learn more at https://www.transformationalchangebook.com.