At the moment most of the knowledge workers rely on digital tools to connect with colleagues and clients. Lots of discussions are bubbling around this topic and many more answers to come with time. But one thing is clear companies will not get back to the pre-pandemic way of working. The absolute fact is that we are yet to experience what will shape the future of work. While we are figuring out the best way to continue working productively we are changing our habits.
Studies show that we need to gain new skills not only because of the technological changes but also how population growth in some world-leading countries is not matching up for the workforce demand in 2030.
In the video below see Rainer Strack explaining how to solve the Workforce crisis that is waiting for us in 2030 if we do not take actions right now.
Do we learn more when we work from home?
The quick answer to this question is YES.
LSE professor Julian Birkenshaw’s study published in Harvard Business Review shows that during lockdown people took more ownership of their own tasks and focused on more value-added ones. This also means they spent more time on training and development. The study reads “While time spent on self-education went up during lockdown, this was mostly due to online webinar and course attendance — which helps build knowledge but doesn’t encourage the active experimentation and personal reflection that help us really grow.”
Skills required for working in hybrid
In fact, the pandemic has shown to leaders of organizations that employees can stay productive without tightening up to time and location. It is a possibility for creating a hybrid workplace with employees who can have different preferences for how to work. As many of us know, the hybrid workplace is the future of work but it requires certain skills to develop for leader and their subordinates.
Leaders should learn how to effectively communicate online with their employees, engage and manage hybrid teams, and coach them to work in the hybrid environment. They should be always in the frontline for innovations, new tools and apps for collaboration, and finding new approaches for remote and onsite employees.
All in all, companies understand that the hiring process is expensive, and therefore, it is wise to invest resources and energy into their teams by upskilling or reskilling them. The already hired team is the future of the workforce. Employees are mainly used to the traditional learning structure but they should necessarily learn how to manage and work in a hybrid environment. Leaders in companies need to develop coaching sessions with their subordinates to co-learn and co-work together.
Besides the skills for leaders, the critical areas for companies to consider are AI and automation. Companies might fall behind their competitors without developing skills to operate with these technologies. It is important to keep a finger on the pulse of technologies and tools that can provide effective communication for teams and leaders.
“Over the past year, no area has undergone more rapid transformation than the way we work. Employee expectations are changing, and we will need to define productivity much more broadly — inclusive of collaboration, learning, and wellbeing to drive career advancement for every worker, including frontline and knowledge workers, as well as for new graduates and those who are in the workforce today. All this needs to be done with flexibility in when, where, and how people work.”
Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft
At WeWent.com we help teams to upskill or reskill, better understand a team’s state, engage them better, or even disrupt their outlook to the future by providing them exclusive coaching sessions, workshops, and training with more than 200 skills learning experts who have 10+ years of experience on average. If a team needs help with skill learning for the hybrid workplace, WeWent.com is a great assistant on the learning journey.
Are you not sure how to manage the hybrid workplace going forward?
Then it is time to co-create it in a course from the Shake up the Workplace!. Join us at the “Co-creating a Hybrid Workplace” live academy this June.
Sources:
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. (2021). Thriving in the age of hybrid work. Retrieved on May 11, 2021 from the website: https://hbr.org/2021/01/thriving-in-the-age-of-hybrid-work
BCG. (n.d.). Leadership development. Retrieved on May 11, 2021 from the website: https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/people-strategy/leadership-development
Microsoft Terend Index Report. (2021). The next great disruption is hybrid work – are we ready. Retrieved on May 11, 2021 from the website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work
GetSmarter. (2019). Skills of the future of workforce: upskilling for hybrid jobs. Retrieved on May 11, 2021 from the website: https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/employee-development/skills-of-the-future-workforce-upskilling-for-hybrid-jobs/
