Leading the Workplace of the Future

workplace of the future leaderLeading the Workplace of the Future

A 2017 study reveals: Two-thirds of C-suite executives believe 40% of Fortune 500 companies will no longer exist in 10 years (due to digital disruption.)

“Workplace of the future” is not abstract.  McKinsey cites it as CEO’s #1 concern from their 2017 study.

Do you accept the challenge? Is your organizational culture poised to rise to fiercer competitive forces?  To create new rules for the future of work?

Do you know WHAT must change in your organizational culture, to accomplish this?

Leadership Training + Culture is the name of the game.  It requires strengthening connections and shared wisdom between generations.  Aligning diverse and valuable perspectives and thinking in new ways about hierarchy, efficiency, consistency.  Cultivating differences into strengths. The workplace of the future is happening right now, in every industry and geography.

Success vs. failure will be defined by three central goals:

(1) Agility. Developing physical and mental nimbleness, deftness.

(2) Rapid, continuous change as a capability. Transforming force-fed change management programs into ongoing adapt-ability, and new ways of defining success.

(3) People as human beings.  Caring about employees as more than human capital or head count, knowing this will improve the bottom line.

The dilemma: What defines success in the workplace of the future requires 180-degree polar opposite mindsets from what was valued, practiced, rewarded in business for the past 50-75 years:  Consistency.  Minimize change. People as expendable head count.

A new generation of employees is transforming the future of work, through one central belief: They OWN THEIR TIME.  This generation will choose freelancing (side hustles, sabbaticals), expect “work from anywhere” privileges, and ditch a company that doesn’t foster challenging and changing roles / assignments quickly and easily.

Built to last is over.  Build to adapt is the new mission.

For many, the journey seems impossibly complex – leaving executives scratching their heads. To which we offer a friendly reminder: Changing long-held beliefs and values is not easy work.

You need leadership training that can navigate faster change and shifting workforce expectations. Skills that demand untested thinking and bold moves beyond R&D and product development.

More than digital transformation – this is a journey of human transformation.  Engaging people in defining new rules about where, when, how, and with whom work is done.  Determining new ways of fostering efficiency and profitable growth.  Marrying people and technology in ways we have yet to imagine. (AI beyond Roomba and driverless cars.)

A journey that will surely be characterized by uncertainty, chaos and extinction of the majority of businesses today.

Buckle Up!

9 Core Skills for the Workplace of the Future

Hark! It’s time for a new kind of leader: One who is resilient, personable, flexible, courageous in the face of adversity.

Here are 9 skills that will characterize the workplace of the future:

  1. Dynamic, shorter planning cycles.
  2. Strong capacity to lead change as a capability, not an event.
  3. Ability to retain the right talent through good hiring, highly connected teams, challenge and flexibility in work assignments.
  4. Collaboration naturally occurs across functional lines to improve the customer experience, through enabling diversity of perspectives and ideas.
  5. Autonomy with accountability (especially through changes in how you measure success).
  6. Influence through relationship (not power) and results-focus to maximize innovation and productivity.
  7. Ongoing personal development opportunities for people. (HR is the new life coach!)
  8. Remote and mobile work options, enabled by video and work-productivity apps (eg, Slack).
  9. Creativity and idea-curating through continuous stimulus of team building, games, fun.

Corporate Culture Pros’ is dedicated to preparing change-leaders who can build the workplace of the future.

Workplace of the Future programs are customized to grow leaders in YOUR unique culture brand. 

(As only a great boutique with 20 years’ experience can)

  • Owned and delivered by YOU, after the pilot stage is complete.
  • Created to expand the 9 skills outlined above.
  • Aligned to your unique culture.
  • Experiential, interactive, applied learning (versus lecture-and-test learning).

Contact Lisa Jackson at lisa@corporateculturepros or (720) 815-6530 to learn more about our approach to leadership and enabling Culture as a Profit Center.