Feature
Employees are not blind to changes on the horizon. In fact, they are typically the first ones to notice when their skills are becoming obsolete. Good leaders are transparent about where the company is headed and make the case for how those changes will have a positive impact. Transparency accelerates adoption because it gives employees the opportunity to realign themselves with the new course for the organization. Instead of conducting annual performance reviews that leave half the workforce updating their resumés later that evening, Scott is in favor of weekly touch points where information can flow in both directions. In those check-ins he learns what aspects of work employees enjoy, and then aligns their professional development with those interests. Scott attributes the success of his recent upskilling efforts to engaging with employees at each stage of change and setting realistic timelines for them to develop new skills. Anytime there is significant technological advancement, we see forward-thinking companies making the same commitment to employee education. As agricultural technology brought massive changes in farming practices, John Deere offered workshops and on-site education on the operation of new tractors and plows. Similarly, Siemens established in-house academies that partnered with vocational schools to upskill their engineers and technicians in mechatronics. Often considered the pioneer of online learning platforms,
IBM retrained over 100,000 employees shifting their work from hardware to software and cloud computing. More recently, AT&T invested $1B+ in retraining employees in its “Future Ready” initiative to prepare for automation and AI disruption. Also expecting major workforce transitions, Amazon launched Machine Learning University & Career Choice, which offers free training in data science, cloud computing and even medical fields. You get the picture. The companies best equipped to respond to change have one thing in common: they identify the skills people will need for future high-impact work and invest in developing them. Ultimately, employees want to know they are valued by their superiors and by the organization as a whole. They want to belong to something bigger than themselves. As the title of one McKinsey article succinctly put it, “Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave.” People want work that is imbued with a strong sense of meaning. They want to be aligned with their company’s mission and know that they are contributing towards the execution of that vision. Unpacking her extensive research in the field of organizational behavior, Amerson Associate Professor Kristen Shockley, distilled employee well-being down to three key components: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Employees thrive when they are given the tools to succeed in their role, are connected to their organization and its mission and are trusted to make choices that are in the company’s best interest. Automation and remote work are merely catalysts accelerating a deeper shift towards value-based vocations via increased bandwidth and optionality because they allow employees to shop around until they find a company that maximizes the three qualities Shockley mentioned. Firms can maintain competence through up- skilling and foster relatedness through transparency,
48 HARBERT.AUBURN.EDU
Powered by FlippingBook