As the world contends with COVID-19 and other socioeconomic issues, 2020 is proving to be a year that will surely be remembered. It is a year in which organizations are forced to not only think about how to survive and thrive in the new reality, but also how to reimagine their delivery models, and how to measure and maintain productivity in a highly remote environment. This is further compounded by the impacts on the workforce, and the influx of Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies.
The lasting impacts of COVID-19, coupled with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and other digital technologies require that we reinvent the organization of work, how it is done, and where it is done. This, in turn, demands that leaders make critical choices about what kind of future-focused workplace they want to create at a much accelerated rate than they had anticipated.
We foresee that leaders who are seeking to create a balanced workforce of the future will take a strategic approach that applies a digital mind-set to the reinvention of work. We are seeing organizations responding to the inevitable need to reinvent as AI and digital technology, and now COVID-19, demolish aging and soon-obsolete workplace structures.
While no one can predict entirely what will happen as the ‘new reality’ or post COVID-19 world sets in, or when we will get there, but what organizations can control now (or as soon as they get out of crisis management) is to plan for various scenarios that may occur and prepare for that future makeup of the workforce accordingly, one that will most certainly include forms of automation.
Within ‘Reinventing work’, we explore the unparalleled dilemma associated with navigating the future of work and discuss:
- The need to reinvent work and workforces
- The basic tenets of a digital workforce mind-set—an innovative perspective that will be critical in the race to build thriving, sustainable enterprises featuring flexible workplaces that are designed to survive the inevitable waves of disruption ahead.
- Examine the benefits of workforce shaping in creating a purpose-led culture where learning is constant and evolving
- Share some words of caution about the dangers of an emerging “quantified workforce” if not balanced within an ethical framework applied to work reinvention
Reinventing work draws attention to some of these “navigational markers” of the journey to the future and introduces some principles of reinventing work.
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