"The forces currently at play in today's workforce will change what it means to work and live."
In any other era this might have seemed an overstatement. In the current Information Age, the capacity for disruption, volatility and uncertainty in the workforce is greater than ever.
Huge Technological Change
With increased computing power has come the capacity for drones, 3D printing, smart phones, smart sensor networks and agile robots, to name a few. We also have the capacity to be locally and globally networked like never before.
Exponential growth in computing has now also brought the capacity to solve previously insoluble problems. In 2005 Frank Levy and Richard Murnane, two economists, described driving a car on a busy street as so complex that it could not possibly be mastered by a computer. Yet Google unveiled a small fleet of driverless cars only a few years later.
Humans no longer solve the same problems
The incredible problem-solving power available to us through technology has significant implications for the way we work and live.
How does the construction industry deal with the capacity to 3D-print ten homes in less than 24 hours for under $5,000 US dollars? Why did Boston Consulting Group predict earlier this year that by 2025 machines will assume more than 23 percent of jobs that could be automated? What does that mean for jobs that are currently too complex to automate but could be automated in the future?
Major Workforce Shifts
The unceasing acceleration of technological change is driving a significant restructure in the nature of the workforce. The global workforce is shifting towards global micro-businesses, greater mobile working and a larger number of small businesses that can now access significant resources online. Phil Ruthven recently predicted that by the second half of this century the term 'employee' will be out of vogue.
As Hillary Clinton said in her recent speech outlining her economic agenda: "This on demand or so called 'gig' economy is creating exciting opportunities and unleashing innovation, but it's also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future."
Another major shift is the declining need for generalist middle managers. Technology can now monitor performance, provide instant feedback and create reports and presentations. Gen Y workers, who will comprise 75% of the workforce by 2025, see little sense in reporting to someone who just keeps track of what they do. On the other hand they value learning from someone with deep skills – a master, not a generalist.
Future Challenges
Against this backdrop we have some challenges to address and some future-thinking to do. Do we know how to handle the complexity on the horizon that is already impacting our day-to-day businesses? Do we have a vision of agility?
How familiar are we with the skills that we will sustain a resilient, productive workforce?
'Smart failure' Education
We need to be a nation of businesses and individuals who value innovation theory and practice. Innovation should be taught widely in secondary and tertiary courses of all disciplines. Future generations and current ones can benefit from an increased awareness and tolerance of the importance of 'smart failure' – learning from what worked and what didn't work, adapting and continuing to learn. Innovation also teaches us to value diversity.
Innovation Grants
If Australia is to take its share of the innovation pie, our businesses need to be supported to try to be successful with easy access to grants and tax breaks – failure is a necessary part of innovation. The Australian Government would do well to support the incubator model, which doesn't guarantee a small business's success but can dramatically increase its chances, partially through a rigorous process of assessing the viability of the business idea but also through access to deeply experienced mentors.
Lifelong Learning
How do we develop mastery and sophistication? Through ongoing learning. These four plausible scenarios of Australia to 2025 all highlight the critical importance of a much stronger skills base in Australia. The Australia of the future will invest in its people both at work and in learning institutions. This is also what Gen Y and Millennials want. The attractive workplaces of the future will be the ones that offer highly respected learning opportunities.
There is more to be said about the need for familiarity with complexity, for professional resilience and for greater take up of remote work. These skills are crucial for us to live and work in a world of accelerating change. The future is not just superfast, it is getting faster.
The Australian workforce of the future needs to be smarter and more agile than the one we have today – utilising tried and tested strategies to improve productivity: investing in skills, measuring outcomes and working remotely. A few new strategies need to get a guernsey: teaching and supporting innovation, understanding of complexity and resilience.
This is the Australia we need to work towards because it won't be enough to hope that the current wave of technological change passes us by – we need new strategies. Otherwise that wave will feel more like a tsunami. However once we're ready, the Australian workforce will be in for an incredible ride.
About Nina Sochon
Nina Sochon is the CEO of Transformed Teams - a training, coaching and consulting firm creating incredibly successful professional teams. Receive your free Team Health Check for Conventional and Virtual Teams.
