Akalytics Top 5: New, New Work in 2022 and beyond - Key challenges for leaders.
AKALYTICS TOP 5: New, New Work
1) TALENT INSPIRATION
2) HUMAN FOCUS & COMPUTATIVE INTELLIGENCE
3) HYBRID PERFORMING TEAMS
4) RACE TO RESULTS
5) CAREER & PURPOSE CREATION
Akalytics takes an analytic, strategic and future-oriented approach to corporate success, leadership development, employer experience, digitalization and career coaching. Akalytics is the partner to navigate into a successful future. As we start into the year 2022, the attention to pandemic pains and challenges prevented us to realize that we indeed entered a new decade already two years ago. The approach of New Work needs to be revisited and adapted. In 2022 we are in the midst of the New, New Work. This blog presents Akalytics key challenges for leadership. It’s Akalytics Top 5 of the New, New Work.
1) TALENT INSPIRATION
The term “war for talent” was coined 25 years ago (yes, this is a quarter of a century ago…) and it is nothing more but a thing of the past. Talent acquisition is no more a war, it is a highly skillful craft and an upmost human endeavor. The pace of new skills is accelerated by digital technologies and the top management striving to win in the market, needs better advise. Well-trained and technologically-savy job seekers today feel empowered through a multitude of job choices. To really win great and distinguished talent, corporate leadership needs to inspire its prospective candidates. Tuture talent does not only seek great compensation and better recognition, they long for work inspiration.
It is one of the most overlooked facts of successful recruiting: You need to inspire your talent. Without inspiration the best talent will choose competitive offers and might leave the current employer. Winning inspiration requires a real team effort and cannot be included in the compensation package nor communicated by just one person. It is not just one of many intangible benefits, inspiration is a deciding factor. Inspiration that flies requires up-to-date coaching skills and a leadership team that puts inspiration in the workplace first. Follow akalytics future blogs to learn more.
2) HUMAN FOCUS & COMPUTATIVE INTELLIGENCE
Terms such as digitalization, industry 4.0 or artificial intelligence are ever-present in corporate future planning and transformation projects. The corporate future success depends on technology and innovation. However, without highly committed and motivated team members, the corporate future will look more than bleak. The leadership of 2022 will need to provide win-win-win strategies which unite employee experience, cost efficiency and innovation. In 2022 and beyond the fragile human (employee) wellbeing and the game-changing powers within new computing technologies must be aligned. Human focus which addresses the employee’s skills, minds and souls is more critical to corporate success than ever before. On the other hand, the opportunities within computative technologies are also success factors for future corporate performance.
It is a key management challenge to align new tools of artificial intelligence with human personality and power. People matter and technology counts. Today’s leaders must show compassion with their all team members and they need to strengthen the value of computative intelligence. Technology cannot replace human (work) experiences neither is it desirable to eliminate personal interaction, training and coaching. The key task for the 2020s is to create the best work environment through personal and skillful attention to team members while leveraging the powers of tomorrow’s technology. Projects which make the difference gain speed and data reliability through AI technologies but top experts draw human conclusions, add individual attention and personlity.
3) HYBRID PERFORMANCE TEAMS
Excellent people and high-performing teams get any job done. This has been holding true for many centuries of corporate history. Creating high performing teams is and will remain a top priority for business leaders. However, the impact of the previous decade’s New Work models and a worldwide pandemic turned well-established job realities into a rollercoaster ride. Home office, remote work and digital team meetings have changed the rules of daily work for ever. The future work, next years's office reality and a “new normal” are far from certain or being known. However, it seems certain that the future will be “hybrid”. Akalytics predicts that corporate success will depend on teams that master high performance while taking advantage of technological opportunities and hybrid work realities.
In the corporate future hybrid performance teams will make the difference. These hybrid performance teams will leverage digital interconnection and they will successfully bridge the brilliant input from highly diverse team members. Diversity is not an academic target, but a corporate necessity. The successful hybrid performance team will unite members from different regions and countries who provide professional expertise, passion and cutting-edge know-how. Akalytics understanding of a hybrid workforce extends beyond just a mix of office and remote work.
The successful corporation of the future will also integrate team members from far-away locations (e.g. offshore team members) and from diverse collaboration networks which includes think tanks, start-ups and technological or methodological experts. The future team collaboration is hybrid and diverse. Productivity and results achievement are core targets which will be only mastered with new generation teams. Effective coordination, personal interaction, social sensitivity and cultural understanding are key. Work from anywhere, focus on results delivery and hybrid team power will take corporate performance to new levels.
4) RACE TO RESULTS
The rise of digital communication and mobile devices built our expectation for immediate reaction. Today's customer want instant-demand-fulfillment, prompt product availability and 24/7 services. Instant availability from anywhere have become corner stones of the 2020s. Corporations and its leaders feel the pressure. They constantly track production processes, monitor products delivery and track client happiness. New technological tools strive to even further accelerate speed of production. Service availability is being regionally extended and delivery time constantly shortened. News travels instantly through social media channels all over the world. We even wish for highest speed as our food is being delivered to our work place or to our homes.
Speed is everything. This feeds an ever increasing pressure to further accelerate processes. The Race to Results just started. In recruiting speed has developed into a major performance and success indicator. Speed of processes is perceived as a measurable element of excellence. If you want to win top talent from the outside, you should better be much faster than the competition. Speed will impress even the very best candidates.
Same holds true for internal team and career development. The high performers strive for quick impact and expect their employers to honor performance excellence on short notice. If you put your best team performers off and tell them that new roles, recognition or promotion will “come at a later stage”, the company faces the risk of loosing the performer to the competition.
The race for results will further accelerate. Better prepare your organization to meet demandits for speed . Recognition of talent and performers is the most critical success factor for hiring and retention. And you better be quick. Patience might qualify as a great personal trait, however, the 2020s are characterized by ever increasing need for speed. The pressure is on. There is no other option than to whole heartedly enter the Race for Results. Better be smart. Set priorities and focus. Leadership and people managers will be judged by their excellence in the Race for Results.
5) CAREER & PURPOSE CREATION
In my experience the most often used excuse, why a top applicant did not sign the contract offer is that “the competition’s package was better”. In reality, the reasons why some companies loose in the market for talent, are much more people related. The new work model illustrated the fundamental shift of employee needs, desires and requirements. Once the pandemic challenges fade away, it will prove even more demanding to retain top performers within your company. And even if employees decide to switch companies it might be even more difficult to attract them successfully to your company. Employee expectations are getting more and more complex. The Harvard Business Review states that “employees have been asked to bring their whole self to work, as organizations try to create a more inclusive and productive work environment”. The HBR continues to suggest the rise of the “Chief Purpose Officer” on CxO level.
Akalytics prefers a less institutional approach. The future and fate of companies will depend on the leadership’s ability to create sustainable career and purpose perspectives to top performers (being candidates or current employees). People who express team or corporate commitment need to experience that the employer and the boss very much cares about the individual career development.
In addition, future employees will judge team leads, supervisors and company leads on their willingness to adjust business decisions to new social themes such as equality, inclusion, climate footprint or sustainability. A company which ignores social responsibility and purpose is bound to head into stormy conditions. Business targets will only be met with great talents. To win and retain them in 2022 and beyond requires a new approach to career and purpose creation.
The New, New Work of 2022 and beyond will require fundamentally revised sets of managerial skills. The transformation of today’s companies is already underway. In order to win new talent and retain your most valuable experts, corporate leaders need to embrace New, New Work. Get ready for a very different future. Get ready for your team’s new future. Get ready for your new future.