out Jobs offers an essential guide for doing so.
may 2022 |
I N TERVIEW
How can organisations determine when they have to make the shift to a new work operating system? William Gibson, the great author, said: “The future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed”. What we're talking about is challenging organisational muscle that is, in some cases, 150-160 years old. We tell all the organisations what you need to create a prototype or proof of concept to challenge the status quo and illustrate the art of the possible and there are typically three possible starting points. First is when you've got an operational process or a bottleneck, something's broken and not working. You can take the four principles and seven elements we talk about in the book and use it as a way to fundamentally
solve the problem in a different way. The second area is where you've made a decision to bring in a new technology. How do you ensure that when you introduce that technology, you've redesigned the work so that you get the maximum benefit from the technology? And then the third is a very simple one. We have so many talent shortages today. Instead of just throwing more money at the problem, how would you redesign the work? We've seen this with the shortage of nurses in hospitals and in manufacturing roles where it's difficult to get talent for these frontline roles. We still have the pandemic, people are still getting sick, and the work is hard. So how do we make it easier for people to connect with work? Those are three areas where there is an opportunity to prototype and try and do
BIG
Do you have real-world cases that show how organisations are embracing work deconstruction and reinvention? Also, how sustainable is it? We have many examples and cases of companies who are challenging the status quo, like Genentech, Unilever, DHL and Providence Health among others. Biotechnology company Genentech deconstructed jobs to increase flexibility, worker engagement, and retention. It was an opportunity for their progressive business and HR leaders to rethink their work operating model. They saw a terrible situation with the pandemic but realised it was an opportunity for them to challenge and question everything. We've seen this framework applied in manufacturing, distribution, pharmaceuticals, financial services, construction and airlines among others and the same ideas have played out equally well. In the book, we share the example of an agile data scientist pool in an insurance company, and showed how they had improved productivity by 600%. So, there are really big gains in performance and productivity that are possible. It's time for organisations to reboot their work operating system, and Work with-
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