Daily Work Life in 2020

A few weeks ago Gartner released their report on the key changes of the nature of work for 2020 and CIO Magazine did a story on it August 4th.

http://www.cio.com/article/602066/Your_Workplace_in_2020_Gartner_s_Predictions

As I read the top 3, I was struck by how often we say-- it is not the technology, it is the people and the process. Yes, technology can enhance but will never replace the human aspect of work.
And now, that seems to be new news.

Gartners' Top 3 Key Changes in the Nature of Work for 2020

1. De-Routinization of work
2. Swarming
3. Attention to Pattern

What do they mean by the De-Routinization of Work?
"The core value that people add is not in the processes that can be automated, but in the non-routine processes, uniquely human analytical and interactive contributions that result in words such as discovery, innovation, teaming, leading, selling and learning." The report goes on to say "Non-routine skills are those we can not automate. For example we can not automate the process of selling life insurance policy to a skeptical buyer, but we can use automation tools to augment the selling process."

Ok, so does that not mean that in 10 years (Really, 10 years??) we will be back to doing what humans do all the time-- we will use our own tacit knowledge and experience to innovate, collaborate, work together, lead and follow, team together and we will do that without the benefit of some type of electronic system? And, this is a new and upcoming trend we must prepare for now?

If that is the case, I have a whole new language for explaining to my clients about my work-- my current work--to guide them to the benefits of identifying and sharing critical tacit knowledge. Now I can tell them that to prepare for the new wave of the future, to be cutting edge, leading edge, they need to start learning to communicate well, to innovate, think originally and critically, share their ideas and their ways of thinking rather than share only their answers. They need to work on team work-- virtual, fast, effecient teamwork. They need to know how to advocate for ideas and how to listen and inquire about others innovations.

In other words, the message continues to be the same. Though I am heartened again to know we are on the right track but when did the need for human innovation and collaboration become such new thought? My deep desire is that it does not take us another 10 years to see the value of sharing our contextual, deeply held knowledge and to innovate using our experience, insight and creativity with the enhancement, not replacement, of technology.

We have the benefit in our society of incredible technology, brilliant advances in all types of systems and machines, that are continuously faster, more powerful, smaller and sexier.
Yet it all comes back to people, to what we do with what we learn and how we do that together in the most effective, effecient, mindful and respectful ways.

I'm glad to hear that I am cutting edge. It should not take a Gartner Report to tell us that we must be innovative, to be continually learning and that we need to do it together.