If you’re a classic micromanager, the workplace of the future could get a little frustrating. Some believe we’re due for the biggest workplace overhaul since the industrial revolution, meaning nit-picky leaders will need to adjust to modes of working that rely on autonomy and trust.
According to workplace consultant and author Alison Maitland, the way we work will soon dramatically change to better reflect the rise of women within the workforce, as well as major shifts in social, environmental and demographic patterns.
“We see the shift as being comparable to the industrial revolution, when people moved en masse off the land into factories,” Maitland tells Women’s Agenda. She believes rapidly advancing communications technology will enable more widespread remote based working, and force a shift in organisational culture and structure to better reflect how employees prefer to work, rather than how an employer expects staff to operate.
Maitland, whose latest book Future Work identifies the key trends driving such change and how businesses and leaders can adjust and thrive, spoke to Women’s Agenda in the lead up to her presentation at the upcoming Women on Boards conference in May. She believes the most successful companies of the future will share a common trait: the ability to embrace a mobile and global workforce.
That includes adapting to how women want and need to work, which will not only see more women enter and stay in the workforce, but acquire more leadership positions in the process.
“When we’re able to work anywhere, when performance is determined by results rather than physical presence, and when we use technology wisely to enable a better fit between work and personal life, the opportunity for women in particular to emerge into leadership roles increases,” says Maitland.
Of course, we’ve been promised this revolution before. Much of the technology to enable remote working has long been available (albeit not as impressive as what’s expected in the future), so what’ll be different this time?
“These changes don’t happen overnight. And there can be a backlash, like Yahoo’s clampdown on remote working,” concedes Maitland. “The turning point will probably be when a critical mass of organisations sees the benefits and starts to shift to a whole new way of working.
Certain companies are already making the adjustment with Microsoft (where Rose Clements, the local HR director, recently outlined to Women’s Agenda what activity-based working means at the organisation) and Unilever leading on reinventing what we know about “work”.
Maitland says companies which “get it right” will treat the new ways of working as a business strategy and lead on it from the top. They will trust their employees to be able to get their work done remotely, at a client-based location or in their company’s office without having to resort to micromanaging.
For women, imagining the workplace of the future has long been appealing, given we know the workplace of today does not always reflect our needs. So, should Maitland’s predicted changes become the norm, would we evolve to see gender parity in leadership as a result? How long would it take?
“It would be rash to make such a prediction, since it has taken much longer than expected to get to where we are today,” says Maitland “We are seeing some hard-won progress, but we need more radical change in how we organise work, how we define careers and success, and how we manage people.
Not all can be winners in this workplace revolution. Indeed the micromanagers among us may find it difficult to adapt. Some organisations will get it right, others will not. It’ll require leadership traits and ways of working that do not necessarily reflect what it means to be a “successful” leader today, individuals who can inspire and motivate people both virtually and physically. Leaders who can provide the resources, information and necessary objectives to ensure their teams can survive and thrive with new modes of working, and are free to achieve their objectives in the ways that work for each employee.
“They will be connectors and collaborators with high emotional intelligence,” adds Maitland. “Yes, this is an opportunity for more women leaders, since research shows that women tend to outrank their male peers on many of these leadership traits.”
So who or what will ultimately drive change in an organisation? “Sometimes it’s a visionary CEO who recognises the need for a radical 21st century shift. Often it’s a business imperative, such as the need to cut costs on buildings and travel – but cost-cutting should not be the sole driver as this tends to create disenchantment and backfire. You have to bring people with you. That’s why it needs leaders who are committed and convinced and willing to demonstrate new ways of working themselves.”
Maitland’s presentation in Sydney will address the major forces driving the transformation of work, as well as where management attitudes and organisational culture will need to adjust in order to successfully manage the transition.