Work is changing. And in the future, the nature of work may look drastically different.
Boston NPR Station
Work and careers follow a cycle. The numbers are stunning. What does U.S. Department of Labor say? We’ll have 5/6/7 careers in our lifetime. That’s phenomenal. The average job tenure is going to be 2/3 years. That means that each 2/3 years, we’ll move on to a new career that may be an extension of the present one or a completely new career opportunity. What drives each cycle? COVID. Globalization. Politics. Recessions. New business paradigms. New business models. Tech drivers. Outsourcing. Offshoring. Financial cataclysms. Climate change.
We liked the 4P’s architecture of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. We felt that work could be subsumed under our 7P’s framework, much like marketing’s 4P’s.
When there’s a systemic disruption like COVID in the economy or in one’s vertical (industry sector), a person may lose his/her job and look for a new one. Alternatively, the disruption may be driven by personal circumstances or personal decisions. However, every time a person goes through one of these changes, the 7P’s cycle or wheel starts again.
The cycle means that you have to understand the shifting Paradigms that are changing work; review the People element (how will the loss of work or a new job impact your family, etc).; understand how your Principles and those of the company match; learn new skills and develop new Practices; develop your personal brand (Product); learn new Processes or ways of working; and taskify and Projectize your work. So in each chapter of this book, you’ll discover:
PARADIGMS
COVID is the ultimate paradigm shift. Pandemic, globalism, workism, off shoring, outsourcing, competitiveness, artificial intelligence, automation, identity politics, and tech will also create new work, career, and job paradigms. So, what do you think organizations and work will look like after these paradigm shifts?
Predictions are made on quicksand because once they’re made, things change again. In Working It: Disruption Rules, we’ll introduce the significant shifting work paradigms, artificial intelligence and how they will redefine organizations, their business models, and the fundamentals of work. These shifting paradigms will introduce changes that will deeply impact how your work is done, who has work, and how you’ll interact with your co-workers and even buddy machines (cobots).
PEOPLE
Remember, work is all about people! Sometimes, it’s forgotten that people make an organization. People make critical buy and sell decisions. People develop new products. People service other people. People consume products and services. Without people, there are no customers, no consumers, no organizations, and no reason for work.
And when the COVID paradigm shift or COVID work disruption occurs, people are being blind-sided. They won’t see it because they’re in the box and can’t see the warping occurring in their work box.
PRINCIPLES
What’s your employer’s vision and mission? What’s your personal vision and purpose? Are your employer’s mission and yours aligned? Let’s first start with your employer. Should a business steward its resources for the benefit of future generations, share them with its workers, or maximize immediate financial returns for its shareholders? Think about it?
And, what’s your fundamental purpose for working in COVID time? Should your passions and principles be aligned with those of your employer, partners, and others? What should you do if there’s little alignment? Or, what should you do when the thrill is gone from a job or career? Or, what should you do if you can’t move up? Accept the conditions, move on, or start your own business? Or stay, because you need the salary? We’ll discuss these all-important questions.
PRACTICES
There are self management practices that can spell success in your work, career, and job. Self management is all about self-empowerment through self-control, specifically learning how to manage customer, time, quality, communications, risk, tech, and performance commitments, which are critical work practices.
Let’s look at one practice. Everyone is now a techie. Tech is both the biggest driver and facilitator of workplace disruption. Tech creates boundaryless companies, which result in flat hierarchies and boundaryless careers. Where a career was once a vertical progression in a company, it’s now the accumulation and implementation of value-added practices, information, and knowledge gained through diverse work experiences.
PRODUCTS
While it may sound callous, we’re all products or brands that offer value to a buyer. Each of us needs to develop and distill our value-added differentiators. We’re hearing buzz about the concept of Me-Inc. or Brand You, where each one of us either as a full time employee or independent contractor is essentially a value-adding, small business with products and services.
PROCESSES
A company’s core process is its business model – how it conducts its business or in other words, how it works day-in and day-out. In the U.S. and most of the world, startups and small business are the risk taker’s dream. Core processes are the basic building blocks of small business success. COVID now challenges all companies to see what it does in terms of intellectual property (IP), activities, policies, systems, people, etc.
In much the same way, each of us has a bundle of value-adding processes involving personal knowledge, practices, skills, and competencies. These core proficiencies are what you can monetize as side-hustles or sell to organizations to develop and monetize.
PROJECTS
Work and side-hustles are organized around projects. Project management is evolving into a critical self management skill to ensure the right work is done right on time and within budget. These activities must be accomplished quickly, effectively, and efficiently. A project may involve typing a letter, responding to a customer request, developing a killer app, or putting a person on the moon.
Eighty percent of the work in an organization may be project based. Organizations are going as far as projectizing all their activities including their core processes. Many creative, consulting, engineering, and medical offices are already 100% projectized. When customer expectations are sky high and competition is deadly, the conventional wisdom is that projectized teams differentiate winners from losers.
Work Lesson Earned: This is my stream of consciousness around the Future of Work. I’ve listened and curated many workplace conversations and placed them in the 7P’s framework. Do I have all the answers on work? No! However, I do want you to ask critical questions about the Future of Work and encourage new thinking of your Future of Work. Work is disrupted throughout the world. And hopefully, Working It can be your platform to understand and adapt to it.