From my perspective, I see more short-term work arrangements between employers and employees. Increasing pressure is being placed on both parties to better serve their own interests.  In the past, both employers and employees leaned on human resource departments to ensure that professional development occurred.  Workers might have some discretion, but many just accepted what came their way, assuming their best interests were also being served.

That nice, neat cooperative world is not as common today.  Employers are more conscious of having the right people with the right skills in every position.  Employers are making shorter term hiring commitments, so they have the flexibility they want to keep hiring for specific needs.  Companies can retain their own employees, if they have been identified initially and the employers make the experience and training investments necessary for these individuals to grow with the organization.

But many companies are not perceptive enough to identify and invest in workers who will best meet their new needs.  That forces employees to be markedly more proactive on their own behalf.  Individual employees must perceive what skills will be needed in their next jobs and determine how best to acquire those skills. They are the ones who have to push their current employers to invest in them, or allow employees the time to seek professional development opportunities that will put them in good position for their next job, either at their current employer or at another employer.

Both employers and employees must actively engage in predicting future opportunities and preparing for them. Talent development is the key.  Both sides of the equation need to develop more insight into what skills need further development and how each can ensure that opportunities for that development occur.  The big change is that individuals must take on greater responsibility for creating their futures in the workplace.

Do you think that workers are prepared for assuming this expanded responsibility and willing to make commitments to assure themselves a brighter future?  What else might need to be done in this new world of changing responsibility?

Contemporary businesses must recognize, harness, and develop talented employees within a diverse, global workforce. The inherent differences between individuals from a different culture or even from a different generation are opportunities for leaders to consider and utilize multiple perspectives on how to innovate.

Capitalizing on these differences requires a knowledge and understanding of what motivates people from different cultures and generations. Approaching an emerging market with only a Western organizational model can quickly stymie efficient and creative problem solving.

Tammy Erickson and Timothy Bevins of Moxie Insight write more on this topic in this month’s featured White Paper. Read the abstract below and visit moxieinsight.com to download the full paper.

Abstract:

Many of our most powerful and lasting beliefs are formed when we are teenagers, when we first shift our focus from tangible objects and begin to wrestle with the values and ideas in the world around us. What we see and hear—and the conclusions we draw—influence for our lifetimes what we value, how we measure success, whom we trust, and the priorities we set for our own lives, including
the role work will play within them. Each country’s unique social, political, and economic events shaped specific views and attitudes among today’s adults. Understanding these country-to-country differences is critical to creating employment deals that attract and retain the best employees in each geographic area. Western generational models cannot be applied broadly to a global workforce.

“Know thyself” is an ancient Greek aphorism that has been useful in a variety of situations. Marsha Block, President of MBA-My Business Advisors, believes that prospective employees should pay close attention to this aphorism.

People no longer work at one organization for their entire career, so workers should develop a proactive career strategy. Ms. Block explains that potential candidates for any position must know their strengths extremely well and should be able to communicate them effectively. Knowing your personal brand is a great advantage in today’s workforce.

Next month, The Center for the Study of the Workplace will examine how emotional intelligence can help workers develop a strong personal brand.