WHERE'S WORK GOING AND WHAT'S THIS MEAN FOR ORGANIZATIONS?

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Enrique Rubio (he/him) at Transform as part of its Global Ambassador Program Interview series.

The focus for the interview was around the key trends I am seeing both at a local, national and global level and what this means for organizations.

Plus what are my plans as Leader Ambassador for the Transform Hobart Chapter ( see blue arrow on globe above for location).

While the future of the workplace is not an exact science, there are trends I am seeing and have been observing out in the field for the last 16 years.

I've also considered the multiple discussions with Leaders across Australia and Tasmania, and key workforce reports to help inform this article. Plus the research and insights gathered through developing over 2000 people since 2006.

Let’s dive into what I am observing in the organizational/ L & D development space and where I feel it will go.

EMERGING WORKFORCE TRENDS - LOCALLY, NATIONALLY AND GLOBALLY

1.??????

An expectation and need for teams to learn new skills + knowledge much faster than before.

This puts increased stress and pressure on people unless the support, conditions and capability are there to help deliver on Leadership expectations.

Burnout is real as is the risk of this Leadership expectation making it worse within teams.

Tread with care.

?2.?????

Leadership expectations around quick outcomes from new skill and knowledge are often largely misaligned with the workforce reality.

If you want the team to learn to use skills and knowledge quicker than before you need to provide different support, capability building and the tools to do it.

Responsible efficiency is a term I have coined – by all means expect something different from your teams but only if you provide the conditions to deliver it.

To do otherwise is being irresponsible in your duty of care to your people.

?3.?????

Off of the expectation to learn quicker teams are going to have to get much more comfortable with making mistakes as we are expected to learn/ do more within shorter periods of time.

And take on responsibilities and tasks we have never been exposed to.

Getting comfortable with making mistakes in the workplace requires a higher degree of trust and transparency.

To achieve this we need to re-wire the relationships across Leaders, Managers and their teams.

?4.????

To deliver successfully on the above means creating the processes, capability, conditions and environments to make continuous learning part of project delivery.

Rather than see learning as a separate, siloed function.

Training and L & D has been very segmented traditionally from roles and the daily delivery of roles and projects. It's an action that has happened on the side lines in the past.

That is now going to need to be addressed for people to be able to think in different ways and be increasingly responsive to change and challenge within the workplace.

?5.?????

Job Roles will evolve and be designed in real time to meet the changing needs of business and the talent of people.

This will be an ongoing experience where Leaders and employees deconstruct these roles and design a new reality together.

We will also need to make self reflection and the experimenting of ideas and knowledge a normal, measurable part of any role. This links back into the need for entrepreneurial thinking and doing mentioned in the point below.

?6.????

What organizations see as high value skills and knowledge is changing.

It will be about entrepreneurial, creative and critical thinking across all roles and positions to be able to find solutions to the simple and not so simple workplace challenges. As efficiently as possible without the risk of burnout.

Not just at Management and Leadership level.

?7.????

We will see more equitable focus on building capability across roles and teams.

This change will be vital to decrease risk across the business and create succession pathways that currently don’t exist through the dispersion of knowledge, skills and experiences.

Remember there is no succession plan without strong learning and growth cultures as the foundation.

8.????

The role of Managers and Leaders will change – if AI is going to automate certain tasks what does high value look like for Managers and Leaders?

This is my take:

• Fulfil the role of Coach

• Be the Trainer - sharer of knowledge, mindset and skills across teams
• Act as Mentor
• Be the facilitator of new ideas from their teams

?9.????

AI – will free up time but how are people planning on using this time? We need to have the talent available to fully leverage available time.

People talk of all the wonderful transformative projects and new ideas they will work on now AI is here to save the day.

Heads up to successfully do this will require a completely new skill/ knowledge set then exists currently within teams.

We need to build this intel first before we can leverage the time and headspace we plan on AI giving us.

10.??

There is a need to create the environments/conditions ( cultures) that can achieve:

• Re-skilling
• Up-skilling
• Continuous Learning that is nurtured and managed ( this is not about the acquisition of learning) but the application of skills/knowledge and experiences ongoing.

In real time.

?11.????

Have the ability to link learning agility to strategic agility - join the dots and look at organizational and people growth from a holistic perspective.

What's learning agility?

Below are the are elements most relevant to creating an environment of workplace learning.

Flexibility

How does it show itself?

Creating space and time to explore new ideas across teams and experimenting with these.

Speed?

How does it show itself?

Knowing how to identify a high value idea, testing it and then evaluating whether it worked it not.

Experimenting

How does it show itself?

Having a genuine commitment to playing with new ideas in the workplace and being comfortable to make mistakes.

Interpersonal risk-taking

How does it show itself?

Standing up and taking ownership for mistakes, sharing the lessons learnt and using lessons to do different. Collectively.

Reflecting

How does it show itself?

Making space and time to reflect on not only successes but the mistakes and lessons learnt. Using these lessons to reflect on individual and team performance to transform the business.

The future of the work is ultimately upon us now so what's your next move to meet the challenges presented in these trends? Remembering that every challenge is ultimately your opportunity when you know how.

Written by @Ali Uren – Founder of Kiikstart? Developing Teams Turning Challenges Into Opportunity. Without the Burnout.

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PS If you want to watch the interview when it becomes available please hit the bell on my profile.

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