Recently I attended a presentation about the future of work. It felt kind of scary and a bit unrealistic at first. But the more I reflected on it, the more I connected the dots with what I see, hear and read on a weekly basis with clients, coaches and other professionals. So I wanted to share with you the key insights of what’s coming for workers tomorrow, and what this means for us all. Strap yourself in!
With the rise of the ‘gig economy‘, the current generation starts having multiple jobs and income streams. We talk about portofolio career. Note that within 3 years, 40% of the US workforce is predicted to be made of freelancers, temps, independent contractors and solopreneurs (study by Intuit). That’s 4 in 10 of your friends.
The future of HR is also changing dramatically. Traditional recruitement is already greatly challenged by on-line platforms who offer job simulations and super fast placement. This works in a world where things are volatile and innovation-led. The more agile you are, the more you are able win. Within companies, HR will have more data about their employees, allowing them to tailor programs and monitor employees’ well-being. This may sound all too far-stretched, but it is just around the corner. We might as well get ready for it.
So how do you navigate such an environment? It is easy to go into fear mode: fear of too much control, of uncertainty and of complexity. But we don’t have a choice. We need to adapt and go with this flow, or we will be left behind. Yes, many companies will stay stuck in the past for another 30 years, but they are not the ones to build your future on.
Personally I find this new era of work fascinating and absolutely full of opportunities. It’s a much better time to be looking for work and re-engineering your career than it was twenty years ago after university. Thanks to on-line technologies, we are able to market ourselves and offer our skills on a totally different basis than the traditional ‘old’ system. We can network more easily. If you have an idea, you can test it and launch it. It can fail and you can move on. You don’t have to mortgage your house for it. If you want some time off, you can freelance for a while, or negotiate flexbile work. If you want to change careers, you can learn new skills on-line and reach out to strangers for introductions. Seriously, what’s not amazing about this?
The downside to these opportunities lies unfortunately within us. It’s our mindset and our conditioning. If we stay wired the way we are, we will struggle in this deconstructed environment. For people who like control, and having all the right steps in place before proceeding, the future will get tricky. Or if we like job decriptions, set working hours, clear directions from our boss and filling spreadsheets, we are a bit in trouble. To succeed in the next ten years, we need to be thinking on our feet and have a very open mind. And we need to be driving the boat, not just going along for the ride hoping for job satisfaction.
Ultimately, the most important element of our future working lives is our humanity. By that I mean what we bring to the table as an individual. Have you noticed all those speeches given to American graduates in the last year? Do they talk about hard work, upskilling and learning? No, they talk about finding what lights you up. They teach you to get outside of your comfort zone, to fail and pick yourself up afterwards. They encourage you to take initiatives and change things where you see a need. That is all my friend very aligned with the future of work.
The best news about that future is that our human skills are going to be the driver of success. Not our intelligence, not how much money or connections we have. Anybody can succeed in this economy, as long as they set their heart and mind to it. So more than ever, it’s up to you to decide what you want your career to be like. What YOU want to achieve. You are the only one that can use your ability. So what will you put it towards?
Once you have a goal, a plan, an end in mind, you will need to surround yourself with the right resources to make it happen. The right people, the right beliefs, the right environments. Remember it’s all accessible to us now. But we need to be discerning, and be resilient when it’s a bit tougher than what we would like. I hope we all grab this future in our own hands, and shape it the way we want to work. As Jacob Morgan says, “you don’t need to climb the ladder. You can create it“.
