All around us we are seeing the effects of transformative technologies in our daily lives 鈥� changing how we work, shop, communicate, and care. Every industry has been vastly revolutionized by advancements in automation, IT, and globalization to the extent that many only passingly resemble what they were four decades ago at the dawn of the Digital Revolution.
Tellingly, of the businesses on the S&P 500 in 1980, only remain, while many fell off to acquisition or bankruptcy from declining profits and inertia.
One of the effects of the pandemic has been an acceleration in the uptake of digital technology. Organizations that were already on the path to digital transformation have emerged as best positioned to adapt and thrive in an era of uncertainty.
鈥淲e are living in times of exponential change,鈥� says , best-selling author of the : The Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset to Lead Your Organization Through Uncertainty and chair for the Future of Work at .
鈥淓nterprises need to be able to adapt quickly to the pace and scale of change,鈥� says Bolles, noting that the ideal 鈥淣ext Organization鈥� of the future is one that can continually reinvent itself. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 poster child for a Next Organization may be tomorrow鈥檚 less successful organization if they don鈥檛 continue to adapt.鈥�
Bolles, a longtime resident, teacher, and writer in the San Francisco Bay Area, says he wrote the Next Rules of Work as a 鈥済uide to work for the post-pandemic era.鈥� The future of work is a domain of expertise he began in the 1970s while working with his father Richard Nelson Bolles, author of the popular job-seekers鈥� guide and career advice book Today, he also continues the family business as co-founder of , an online career exploration platform.
Decades of work in Silicon Valley as an executive and entrepreneur have given Bolles unique insight on the provocative subject of humans and technology in the future of work. Bolles鈥� position is unequivocally human-centered.
The key to unlocking business agility is not to develop more automation or faster technology, according to Bolles, who is known to say, 鈥淩obots and software don鈥檛 take jobs away; humans give them away.鈥� Rather, the real key, he says, is to unleash human potential.
鈥淭he Next Organization is focused on creating a next mindset, skill set, and toolset,鈥� says Bolles, highlighting what he terms the three pillars of the Next Rules of Work. 鈥淭he way it is doing that is to get its workers to shift that mindset to a process of co-creation, collaboration, and changing the roles and contexts for work so that it is more human-centric.鈥�
Mindset Eats Skill Set for Lunch
From artificial intelligence (AI)-filtered job descriptions to narrow corporate learning tools, workers are boxed and categorized by their known skills and legal employment status, whether full-time employee, part-timer, gig worker, or contractor. In the 鈥淥ld Rules鈥� organization, where a 鈥渒now鈥� skill set of technical expertise is paramount, there is often little flexibility and limited recognition of the worker鈥檚 whole self. As seen in the Great Resignation, workers are rebelling against a lack of agency to combine their whole selves, personal needs, and private ambitions, with workplace constructs.
鈥淭he totality of the whole self is extremely unique to an individual,鈥� says Amy Wilson, senior vice president of Products and Design at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, the leader in human capital management (HCM) software and home to a new cloud-based technology category called (HXM).
Earlier this year, Wilson attended Bolles鈥� thought leadership presentation to 麻豆原创 employees. She affirmed how today鈥檚 digital technologies are opening the way for the future of work. The Whole Self Model, for example, has transformed the way 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors innovates to put people at the center of business.
鈥淲e鈥檙e thinking much more about the individual as being a unique person, who needs a completely unique experience,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淭hey need to feel valued as individuals and to have a sense of belonging as unique individuals. That ties to DEI&B [diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging], as well, because the more we understand that each person is truly unique, the more you can feel comfortable being your whole self.鈥�
The Whole Self Model is one example of why mindset, more so than skill set, is fundamental to creating a culture that drives business agility 鈥� or 鈥渕indset eats skill set for lunch,鈥� Bolles鈥� preferred spin on the popular Peter Drucker axiom 鈥渃ulture eats strategy for breakfast.鈥� He says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity for organizations to help people understand the range of mindsets the organization has and for it to develop an opinion about the mindset it believes will be most effective.鈥�
Bolles urges organizations to start with a that encourages every worker to have a development path and think of themself as a life-long learner.
Hidden Skills Match with Internal Opportunities
The work-from-home culture of the pandemic brought an awkward awareness that there is much more to our coworkers than we possibly imagined, including hidden skills that were revealed in web conferences: the guitar hanging on the wall that hinted at musical talent, the hobby horticulturalist, or the sports photographer. In the Next Organization, these hidden talents and passions will be recognized as part of the whole human鈥檚 skills to contribute to the organization.
The challenge however, as Bolles notes, is that we are first and foremost icebergs to ourselves, with a range of skills and experiences we have ignored or forgotten. A comprehensive skills inventory can uncover hidden expertise.
鈥淎t an individual level wanting to know what our skills are and at an organizational level wanting to make a commitment to that whole human, that gives us a tremendous amount of information. Now we have far more skill set and capacity in the organization than we understood we had,鈥� Bolles explains.
Empowering Employees with Agency for Healthy Change
Internal talent marketplaces like , introduced in 2021, empower employees with the agency to seek internal opportunities to grow and invest in themselves within their organizations. Whether trying a temporary assignment, applying for a new role, finding a mentor, or taking a social sabbatical, employees can log on to the platform to find the next step in their development based on their unique skills and interests, as well as their strengths, styles, and passions.
鈥淐hange is something people want if they are in control of it,鈥� says Wilson. 鈥淲e believe that if we understand each individual and serve up opportunities for change to them based on their wants and needs, then we shift the whole dynamic. This way change is not being thrust upon people; much rather, it鈥檚 their idea.鈥�
Dynamic teams as a foundational organizational structure is another new innovation from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors. Cross-functional project teams have long been the source of creativity and productivity within organizations. However, they often remain hidden. They have no space on the org chart 鈥� although this is the way work is getting done. Without better transparency, it is impossible for managers to know how their investment is connected to what is being delivered.
鈥淲e believe that teams are the best way to learn and grow,鈥� Wilson says. 鈥淭hose times in your life when you鈥檝e been on a team of people with different backgrounds, skill sets, and styles 鈥� that鈥檚 when you鈥檙e able to deliver something really cool. Those are the most memorable times in your career.鈥�
Being a part of a dynamic team enables employees to co-create the future, says Wilson. 鈥淏eing able to bring those kinds of team opportunities to 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace is an essential part of growing individuals and creating a multiplier effect for change.鈥�
Humans Differentiate Organizations
Advancements in digital technologies are opening the way for greater agility as businesses need to adapt to exponential change. For Bolles, however, the future of work within the Next Organization is distinctly human.
鈥淒igital transformation has more to do with empowering workers than with specific technologies,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he opportunity is in the transformation of the human being that uses the technology. It鈥檚 the humans that are using the toolset that differentiate the organizations.鈥�
鈥淥rganizations need to be adaptive because individuals are dynamic,鈥� says Wilson, who believes that empowering employees is the key to business agility. 鈥淲ith HXM, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors is imagining a new way of experiencing work with human-centered experience at the core. By putting people at the center of business, organizations can unleash the vast human potential within their workforce to respond to new opportunities with agility, creativity, and passion.鈥�