I think differently from most people. It’s fair to say I can be a little like Marmite, you either love my passion or you hate it. But I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not ‘me’ that people hate, it’s the fear of change. Because when I start speaking about the future of work and what needs to happen to organisations right now, they can see I’m right – and it freaks people out. (Which consequently is why I got trolled today).
Last year, my business chose to belong to a larger group of businesses who shared our aims for the future (The Globalution Group), because they quite rightly (like us) believe that businesses need to remain in a constant state of re-invention and they (like us) intended to do something about those companies who haven’t yet managed it.
WE NEEDED TO LEAVE A LEGACY
We as a business have been saying Evolve or Die for years (which I know is very Darwinian of us), So when the recent PwC 2023 CEO survey found our C level execs & Shareholders aren’t spending enough time on business reinvention. I was like “hallelujah they’ve realised they’ve got a problem” – but also, YIKES!
This survey also found that 22% of all UK CEO’s believe their business will not be economically viable within a decade on their current course… and that (terrifyingly) a further 10% of CEO’s believe their companies have less than 3 years left trading if they don’t find a way to change!
DON’T FREAK OUT, WE’VE GOT A LITTLE TIME YET…
So when I talk to you on our Roundtables and Virtual coffee chats, highlighting the extent to which the pace of change will affect all organisations across the enterprise (not just in HR), and how that means significant interventions are essential for long-term viability and growth, I’m not trying to scare you into being flexible. I’m trying to get you to understand that if we don’t CHANGE how you operate with flexibility, the companies we work for will DIE.
I PROMISE I’M NOT BEING OVER THE TOP, JUST CURRENTLY QUITE FRUSTRATED… HERE’S WHY;
In the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, 10’s and now the 20’s we’ve found ourselves in recession, depression, market crashes and war. We aren’t learning from our history, which means we are doomed to repeat this cycle again and again.
What makes matters worse, is that our current business models aren’t broken, but what they are is limping along and let’s face it, they have been for the last 60 years.
‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!’, the old adage here in the UK is driving us all to bury our heads in the sand. To not take action. To not change.
DON’T MAKE US REDUNDANT
This reluctance to look in the horses mouth and deal with how we work / manage / balance the books, is the number one reason why so many businesses continue to lay off staff as soon as the world gets volatile – well if you hadn’t noticed, the world is always volatile, so broken or not – how we operate, educate and financially plan, is not fit for the future, let alone the future of how we work!
We are all so reliant on MONEY, yet we are not looking at how we can redesign our businesses operating models to remove ‘COST’ as a reoccuring symptom that directly contributes to all of the bad stuff that happens in our organisations.
WE ARE STILL USING PLASTERS, RATHER THAN DIGGING INTO THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR ILLS.
The top and bottom of it is, Businesses are operating with too much fixed cost. (ie. People). There, I’ve said it.
Most businesses don’t have a resource architecture that sits alongside their technology architecture, which means as AI comes for our White Collar Jobs (as attested to this week by Bill Gates), our businesses ‘People piece’ will dramatically reduce, if not completely cease altogether.
A technologically advancing world, means that our companies just wont need to hire as many people. And those people still lucky enough to be left within those digitally augmented organisations will find themselves void of the right skill sets to support the businesses needs and will need to re-educate, upskill, evolve to remain ‘in role’.
So, my fellow HR, Leadership and Learning teams, the questions we need to ask ourselves are;
· How will we deal with the de-employment that follows sticking with the status quo (you know, without making all of us redundant)?
· Where’s the plan to create a flexible resource architecture if we do agree that we need to change? (Ahem…)
· How do we get the skills we need, (personally and within our businesses) without creating a raft of exorbitant costs and salaries?
· How do we survive and thrive (with our business and as workers)?
· How do we support ‘work that works’?
· How do we find the flexibility within the organisations model to create opportunities for both Digital & Human workers and pay for it fairly?
IT’S TIME FOR SOME ANSWERS.
Whether it’s accelerating digital transformations (ethically), building greater supply chain resilience, or creating business models that are financially sustainable (ie. that are designed around a Flexible Resource Architecture), I’ve found that there are fantastic people and visionaries out there (like us), who can help businesses start the journey to a sustainable future.
Genuinely, and without sounding too ‘salesy’, we’ve (my business and the Globalution Group) spent time proving that the answers to the questions above are available to anyone ready to ask, so please don’t wait much longer.
Join our Globalution. Stop fearing change. Evolve or… (don’t make me say it again).
A FINAL THOUGHT?
Do you know what, I feel like we really do have the best kept secret, an answer that really needs to be shouted from the roof tops. It’s not right that only those in the ‘know’, know.
It’s time for change, it’s time to work in partnership, it’s time to Find Your Flex.
Frustrated rant, sermon, rally cry, over! (For now).
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