In order to adapt to the overwhelming number of local and global changes organizations have faced in the last few years, businesses have had to fast track their adoption of technology, management of disruption, and changes to traditional office structures.
Workforces are dispersed and employees are opting for flexibility, whether that be fully remote, fully on-site, or a hybrid model of both. No matter the current structure, mindsets have changed and organizations must invest in strategies and technology that allow them to evolve.
Evolve 2022 Conference keynote presenter Andrew Au, co-founder and president of Intercept Group, is committed to helping organizations prepare for disruptive change, find strategies for future success, and identify skills employees will need for the future of work.
“Looking ahead, businesses must do more with less,” he says. “Technology will play a large role when disruptions arise; however, it will take a shift in leadership and culture for organizations to sustain business as usual during these times. Successful change management and innovation won’t happen unless we start incentivizing the right things—progress over perfection and behaviors over outcomes.”
According to Andrew, preparing for the future of work will take serious strategic planning with a focus on fundamental strategies. “It starts with defining the hybrid office,” he explains. “Work flexibility has become an expectation for employees and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. A company’s hybrid approach should be based on their people and processes. Also, re-recruiting and re-onboarding employees are key steps to ensure your people are set up for success and connected to the company mission. Lastly, organizations should be utilizing data to drive experience improvements for employees, like creating individualized experiences across the employee lifecycle similar to what companies do to optimize the customer experience. Now it’s time we do the same for the employee experience.”
Along with these strategies, organizations will need to ensure employees have the right skills and training. “By 2030,” Andrew says,“10% of our jobs will be in categories that don’t even exist today. It means we must prepare our people for the unknown. The skills of the future are creativity and critical thinking. Technology is a commoditized tool; what people do with that tool creates value. Our employees will be tasked to solve problems they’ve never faced before. Therefore, the challenge becomes how to solve the right problem in the most creative ways faster than the competition.”
To conclude, Andrew admits change has never been this fast, but: “Change will never be this slow again. It’s going to continue to accelerate, so we must start today. It’s important to remember that ’future of work‘ is not a destination. It’s a continuous journey of iteration, improvement, and innovation. And we all must start somewhere.”
Want to learn more about preparing for future work? Check out Andrew Au’s session “Re-Working Work” at the 2022 Evolve Conference on November 16.
