Join me for this week’s podcast, where we are doing something a little different. Since we are starting this week with a holiday, I thought it would be fun to take a break from the normal podcast format and do something special. This week I am taking a look back at some of the advice we received from past guests over the last few years.
Most, if not all, of us have smartphones these days and we all have our favorite apps. Whether you like to use Instagram, Pandora, Google Maps, or Ebay, “there’s an app for that”. You may have noticed that every once in awhile your apps will update. Just like the apps on your smartphone, we–as individuals, leaders and employees–need to constantly update ourselves. We have to master learning how to learn so that we can keep our skills up to date. This is the way to succeed in the future of work and the way to futureproof your career.
In a world full of opportunity, technology, and distractions, what does it take to reach your true potential at work and be happy with your performance? Our community recently dug deep within themselves as we discussed how individuals can achieve peak performance in the new world of work. As personal satisfaction and a sense of purpose becomes more important for employees, people are on the hunt to know how prepare themselves to be the best employees they can be. A lot of what our community said came down to finding that elusive work balance and being prepared mentally.
There are countless conversations, concerns, theories and ideas about the future of work. Will AI and automation take over? Will we experience major job loss? Will there be a ton of new jobs created? Will we all be on Universal Basic Income and be able to do whatever we want?
It used to be physical job boards, then it was calling around on the phone, now it’s networking online and via social media. Recruiting and finding a job has changed over time, but how will it continue to evolve in the future? That’s the question our community tackled this week with a variety of perspectives from managers and employees.
Imagine walking into a car dealership and telling one of the sales representatives that you’re looking for a car. When he or she asks what you are looking for, you say that it needs to be able to fit five people, have great horsepower and torque, be painted blue, and have all the new modern features of today’s car. The dealer says they have something for you and then proceeds to wheel out a Frankenstein-like monstrosity that has five seats all on the left side of the car, a massive engine on the right side of the car, a steering wheel that’s attached to the roof, and splotchy blue paint. And they expect you to buy it! When you voice your displeasure, the dealer says the car has everything you wanted. Technically, it does meet the bill, but it is not at all what you wanted or had in mind.
We tend to view busyness as success. We are always talking about how many meetings we have, how many emails are in our inboxes, how many hours we work in a week, etc…In order to keep up with this pace we already augment ourselves with things like caffeine pills and coffee. We want to find ways to work harder, smarter and longer.
Over the past few years we’ve placed an unhealthy emphasis on deploying enterprise grade technologies. Although there is no standard definition of what this actually means, it usually refers to technology that is suited to the needs of a large organization versus being used by individuals or consumers (consumer grade technology). Ideally this means it’s more robust, more secure, more flexible, and more geared for IT professionals to manage and deploy. But really what this ends up meaning inside of large organizations is clunky, outdated software. I’ve seen many of these technologies, and I’m always amazed that people actually use them.
Business leaders at companies around the world are always asking, “how can we standardize corporate culture across all of our locations?” My response is, “do you really want to do that?”
There’s no doubt that work is changing–how we do it, where we do it, and what we do is different now than it was just a decade ago. In order to attract the best employees and stay current with trends and technology, organizations need to understand the evolution of work and adjust their own practices accordingly. Here are just a few of the ways that work is changing. […]