The Norman Broadbent Group was delighted to host a special breakfast briefing with Lynda Gratton, award-winning academic, writer and one of our foremost thought leaders on workplace trends and organisational behaviour. Lynda directs a world-renowned programme on human resources at LBS and is co-author of the bestselling
The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity. She advises corporations in Europe, the USA and Asia and, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sits on the Council for Designing 100-Year Life Society in Japan.
Lynda is currently working with economist Andrew Scott on her ninth book,
I, Human. She shared with Norman Broadbent clients and guests her views on three current game-changers in the workplace – and her top three future-proofing strategies.
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Three game-changers:</h3>
- Technology has transformed organisations and business models. Machines are taking over easy decision making and data analysis and artificial intelligence will reduce the industrial revolution to a mere blip in workplace history. But some human tasks remain irreplaceable. Empathy, high level hypothesis forming, questioning and judgement all need a human interface. Too often corporations have viewed their employees as robots. Now they are asking them to be humans and humans need healthy brains. To get the best from their people, employers need to reduce anxiety and provide a sense of calm. They also need to invest in upskilling and reskilling. Lifelong learning has to sit at the heart of human resource strategies.
- Shifts in demography are creating unprecedented challenges for human resource leaders. In The 100-Year Life, we said people were going to work until they were 70. Actually that was a lie. 80 is the new 70 – or even the new 60. And it’s great that we are all living longer and enjoying better health, but we also have to reframe expectations. We are moving from a three-stage life – full-time education, full-time work, full-time retirement – into a multi-stage life. For human resource professionals, that means learning to manage employee groups made up of multiple diversities in ages, nationalities and specialisations.
- Families are increasingly fundamental to our identities. We have seen what we call ‘unbundling’ in the workplace. People are freelancing, working from home more and building portfolio careers that no longer align them to a single brand. In that process, individuals search for a point of continuity that captures their identity – and that is often their families. Organisations need to acknowledge this and accommodate family priorities through flexible working practices.
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Three future-proofing strategies:</h3>
- Collaboration is vital to successful organisations. Employees, be they creatives, accountants, engineers or sales personnel, are increasingly specialist in their chosen careers. We expect these disparate specialists to work together. We also expect members of multi-age, multi-educational level and multi-national teams to cooperate with each other - often virtually. But these teams will only be truly effective in sharing knowledge and shifting workloads if they view their goals as compatible. Organisations need to be promoting a collaborative culture. My message to executives is to experiment with that and move fast to create pilot platforms that get people talking to each other.
- Engagement is a complex issue right now. How, in our increasingly global, diverse and specialised workplaces do we ensure people care about their jobs and the companies they work for? The answer lies in giving employees a narrative that explains the massive technological transitions they are experiencing. The role of executives is to be honest about jobs that are being replaced by AI, to be open about management plans and to reduce anxiety. Offer employees insights, encourage curiosity and you will win their trust.
- Change the agenda around flexibility. Two centuries ago, we created a working model around people co-locating in a factory or office for several hours a day. That model is highly persisting, but wrong for today. If you are going to work until you are 80, you want to be able to take maternity and paternity leave, have a sabbatical and enjoy a career break. Too many graduates are joining and quickly leaving corporations because they are rejecting rigid cultures. Large human capital firms such as Deloitte and PwC have created new flexible working patterns to keep their best talent. All forward-thinking organisations need to be doing the same.
If you would like to discuss this piece in more detail, the wider market, and/or your growth plans or challenges, please do not hesitate to contact Richard Jones, Managing Director, Digital via
Richard.jones@normanbroadbent.com or on +44(0) 7912 564 797
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Lynda Gratton
Professor, Management Practice, London Business School.
Founder, Hot Spots MovementLynda is a Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School and founder of the Hot Spots Movement.She has written extensively on the future of work and the interface between people and organisations. Her eight books have various awards and the most recent The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity was shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year.Lynda’s work is acknowledged globally - she has won the Tata prize in India, the HR prize in Australia, the annual Fellow of NAHR and the LBS Best Teacher Award. A fellow of the World Economic Forum, Lynda has chaired the WEF Council on Leadership and currently serves on the digital advisory board of Equinor.</td>
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