We regularly read in the press about large companies laying off hundreds or thousands of employees, only to hire other people.
Unfortunately, the most prevalent approach to these changes appears to be the least effective. If a significant part of a job is changed due to automation, most organisations believe it is quicker and easier to retrench the person in that role and hire someone new with the skills required. There are three flaws with this thinking:
There remains an inherent bias in our workplace that people can't change. In fact, the early scientific evidence was that our brains were 'fixed' as we moved into adulthood and therefore our capacity for change was marginal. Recent evidence has refuted this belief showing that the adult brain is 'plastic' and can re-wire itself to learn new skills.
Yet when it comes to job redesign after a significant part of a role is changed due to automation or restructure we assume that people won't - or can't - change to the new role.
We tend to give up on our employees too quickly.
There are a few trends that, if taken together, indicate that a better outcome may be reached if we focus on our existing people.
Employees are capable of learning new things!
First, our understanding of neuroplasticity mentioned above shows that adults are capable of incredible feats of learning. Dr Norman Doidge's seminal book, The Brain That Changes Itself is the poignant example of a man who had his left arm amputated after a crush injury at work but three years later was still experiencing such chronic pain in his phantom limb that he was hospitalised. As a last resort, a doctor created a mirrored box that, when his right hand was put in, mirrored so that it looked like his left arm. By looking at this image of his seemingly intact left arm, his brain formed new neural pathways and his pain disappeared. If our brains are capable of such incredible changes, could we not learn a few new skills in the workplace?
The importance of believing in your employees
Second, research by Rosenthal and Jacobson found that simply believing in your employees made them improve. Called the Pygmalion Effect, staff with leaders who believe they can change and improve will in fact change and improve. This is a profound leadership lesson. The original study was conducted with grade 7 teachers. They were told at the beginning of the year that a group of students (chosen at random) were 'late bloomers' and would do really well this year. At the end of the year the teachers reported that they were indeed late bloomers and did really well. The only thing that changed was the teacher's belief in those students. Moreover, a pre-post IQ test showed that those same students improved on average at a faster rate than their peers. So, if we believe our employees won't adapt to the new technological environment and can't learn new skills then guess what? They won't. We tend to give up on our employees too early, thinking they can't make the change.
The expectation that jobs will change
Third, there has been so much talk about the changing nature of jobs that people expect their job to change. It is impossible to miss as almost every day there is a new article about automation, AI or other technology advancements that change how work is done. There is an acceptance (albiet a reluctant one at times) that they will have to adapt and learn new skills. People largely acknowledge that they must take some responsibility to adjust to these changes.
The pendulum has swung from a person's career being entirely organisation-managed in the 80's and early 90's through to being self-driven in the 2000's to today where career development is a co-creation and joint responsibility between the individual and their organisation.
The main issue is that people feel trapped as they don't know how to adjust to the changing nature of work. It's a wicked paradox: What if you invest in learning new skills but those aren't what your organisation wants? But if you don't learn something new then will your skills be redundant in the future? It's the organisation's responsibility to identify the skills they will require for the future and help their employees learn these new skills. It's the individual's responsibility to adapt.
Technology and getting closer to your customers
Finally, job redesigns occur most often because of a technology or process that enhances the customer experience. The 2017 Mercer Talent survey found that 93% of companies will make organisation design changes in the next two years with the key reason cited being a desire for closer relationships with customers. The opportunity to help others is one of the key motivators at work as it provides a sense of meaning especially through the connection with others. Few organisations appreciate how valuable this rationale is and how much people will adapt and invest discretionary effort to help customers.
It is this final point that provides a real impetus for investing in helping people adapt to a new way of working and learning new skills rather than using redundancy as the first option. People want a sense of meaning from their work; the opportunity to learn new skills and be part of an improved way of operating. These contribute to a deep sense of meaning in their work.
It is likely that many of your staff already believe in the organisation and are committed to the core purpose. This culture takes a long time to develop, perhaps longer than it does to learn the new skills of a re-designed role. It makes sense therefore to start with the assumption that people want to contribute and give them every opportunity to do so when roles are significantly changed.
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What can the private sector do generally, and what can the attendees do specifically, to help meet the need for massive skilling/training/retraining needs of the workforce for the new world of AI-assisted work, which may be one of the defining challenges of our time?
- Davos Forum CEO Dinner Conversation Topic for 2018
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There are two discrete steps involved in bringing people along on the journey.
There are unlikely to be many jobs that won't change in the next few years because of the impact of automation and technology. As jobs are redesigned on an increasingly regular frequency, let's not give up on our employees too soon. Help them adapt and evolve to the new roles first and only use redundancy as a last resort.
Now we would like to hear from you. What are your experiences with changing roles and how - if at all - could it have been handled better? Has technology affected your role? Let us know in the comments section below.