Hot Topic Friday: Sept. 4

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Happy Friday! Here are our Sept. 4 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing culture or leadership.

Announcement!: Building Extraordinary and Adaptive Cultures Course Available Now!

Hot Topic 1: Are Knowledge Workers Really More Productive Working Away From the Office?

Source: Harvard Business Review. Julian Birkinshaw.

What It’s About: This HBR article discusses how researchers studied knowledge workers (KWs) in 2013, and again during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. They found significant changes in how they are working. What did they learn? 

  • “Lockdown helps people focus on the tasks that really matter. 

  • KWs spent 12% less time drawn into large meetings and 9% more time interacting with customers and external partners. 

  • Lockdown also helped people take responsibility for our own schedules. They did 50% more activities through personal choice and half as many because someone else asked them to. 

  • People viewed their work as more worthwhile. The number of tasks rated as tiresome dropped from 27% to 12%, and the number we could readily offload to others dropped from 41% to 27%.”

So What?: The jury is now out on whether to give knowledge workers more autonomy regarding their work. The answer is a resounding “YES.” I asked my 13-year-old grandson what he thought the research results might be. Since the lockdown has him learning from home, based on his experience, he thought KWs would be more productive. That was his personal experience as a student (a knowledge worker in his own right). The greater autonomy and the ability to choose how, and when he invested his time, achieved better results, including top notch grades. Focusing more on what really mattered, was way more self-accountable.

Now What?: Dinosaurs that want all KWs back in the cubes, nine to five, please look at the data. Stop managing time and place, versus coaching and creating conditions for people to thrive. 

One Millennial Response: These results are promising. Even if you prefer attending an office, it’s nice for leadership to know that there are now more data backed options. Now, autonomy really has a way to increase with confidence.

Hot Topic 2: Google Just Made a Lot of Universities and Colleges Pucker Up!

Source: Inc.

What It’s About: It was predictable that one of the big tech firms was going to take the disruptive lead in plundering dumpy, inefficient, too costly, and often arrogant post secondaries. As the Inc article notes: “Google made waves recently by announcing its new program, ‘Google Career Certificates,’ a collection of courses designed to help participants get qualifications in high-paying, high-growth job fields without attending university. Google has established a consortium of over 50 employers who can tap into graduates of Google's certificate program, inviting graduates to share their information directly with said employers. So far, participating employers include Walmart, Intel, Sprint, Bank America, PNC, Best Buy, H&R Block, Hulu, Infosys, Sam's Club and more. Google claims its certificate programs are ‘product agnostic and designed to help people land jobs at any company, across any sector.’ The company is currently inviting employers of all sizes with a variety of hiring needs to apply to join the consortium. Accepted companies will have access to exclusive job boards and will be invited to participate in interview days.”

So What?: This has got to be a giant “GONG,” wake-up call for post secondary institutions. Of course college kids go to University for other reasons beyond academics. However, these days are making that more complicated, if not unavailable. And is getting in debt $100,000, or more, worth a dormitory or Greek experience? Furthermore, at the end of the road, kids need paying jobs. Organizations are investing more in finding learning attributes and character with content skill development they’re willing to invest in. Content is changing so quickly, institutions end up doing it anyway. 

Now What?: Many more chapters need to be written yet, but I’m betting on Google. Wait until Amazon, Facebook, and others jump into the learning business. It is another lesson in having a highly adaptive culture. Don’t expect regulation, professional associations or some bureaucratic savior to protect your markets and business. Rapidly innovate, self-disrupt and adapt or be prepared to become a Kodak type footnote. 

One Millennial Response: Y’know, a future without young adults getting a physical collegiate experience would just suck. There’s so much life-learning, (tradition, sports, clubs, how to do laundry), that just can’t be offered through Google certificates. However, all universities need to recognize that it’ll be the fiscally responsible decision for debt-free seeking students to leave these institutions in the dust if tuition doesn’t smarten up.

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And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

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“And secure means without fear, not afraid to ask questions, not afraid to express ideas.” - Julian Birkinshaw.

Bye for now!

— Lorne and Garrett Rubis

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