I am writing my blog after a long time. Have several excuses handy - work, play, golf, travel etc - but I will stay with the simple - good old laziness. Having overcome that, here we go ...
In my view the current economic crisis will have the same impact on the Long Term world view of management & Corporate Leadership as 9/11 had on the world view around terrorism. Lots will change the way the world will look at leaders, however, I believe that one of the more subtle but equally powerful impact of this will be on The Future Trends of Employment.
Oh, by the way, I just love the simple (almost simplistic format of 5 Top Trends ...) - just makes the piece about writing on such things so delightfully simple & so much un-imaginative. Anyway, I will talk about imagination & creativity some other day.
Trend #1 - Sexy hot jobs become uncool - Sexy jobs which seemed to have a quick success turbo charge bolted onto them will be seen with caution & some suspicion. The old fashioned question - " Is this job stable ?" is likely to be popped very frequently. In the short term this trend will get lots of traction.
Trend #2 - Risk Takers rejoice - Almost as a paradox, employers will seek people who can take risks. In the debris of the meltdown will lie many businesses aching to reach their old glory. Leaders will pay a premium to those who have flourished (or even survived the downturn), taken risks balanced with Prudence. This breed is going to be in hot demand, if you are one of these, I envy you :)
Trend #3 - Freelancers & Off -Roll -ers galore - There is an increasing disillusionment with the corporate world's see saw turn of fortunes. The new generation Gen M (born in the '80s) is likely to see this as a stimulus for increasing their freedom & reducing dpendance on formal jobs. They may actually get lot of support (even role models) from the older employees who may be exiting employment & taking up roles in the informal employment sector.
Trend #4 - People NO LONGER expendable - In my view this is the most counter intuitive trend that is likely to happen with a set of Organizations who are likely to pioneer this trend. So let me try & explain this - This time round every organization & his brother has laid off people. This has been even more painful because of the globally the whole situation was quite horrible. The "war for Talent" will resume in a few quarters & this time battle scarred employees & introspective Employers will evaluate each other. There will be a few (damn few, mind you) who have managed to keep lay offs minimal or at least have taken this opportunity to retain good talent.
As the full impact of this crisis pan out, many organizations may find their startegic ability to attract top talent severely constrained by the way they had wielded the axe. Short point, in a couple of years, the practice of laying off people in economic situations may be seen as a bad practice.
Trend # 5 - Trust, Inspiration & Authenticity - will be traits both employees & employers will seek in each other. In fact, this is, likely to be a key Leadership differentiator going forward alongwith my two evergree favorites - Strategic agility & Adaptability.
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