Preparing For The Future Of Work: Joanne Shoveller of IBU On The Top Five Trends To Watch In The Future Of Work
An Interview with Phil La Duke
Uncover hidden gems of talent — Building on the diversity theme above, the adage of “you can’t judge a book by its cover” has never been truer. Access to learning, to technology, to new challenges and new ways of doing things has enabled younger people to invent and disrupt. It’s allowed garage inventors, and it’s created entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. Within more traditional workplaces, there are the quiet leaders and unexpected innovators to be nurtured and supported. Rising stars can rise faster, but they likely won’t be whom you expect.
There have been major disruptions in recent years that promise to change the very nature of work. From the ongoing shifts caused by the COVID19 pandemic, the impacts caused by automation, and other possible disruptions to the status quo, many wonder what the future holds in terms of employment. For example, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute that estimated automation will eliminate 73 million jobs by 2030.
To address this open question, we reached out to successful leaders in business, government, and labor, as well as thought leaders about the future of work to glean their insights and predictions on the future of work and the workplace.
As a part of this interview series called “Preparing For The Future Of Work”, we had the pleasure to interview Joanne Shoveller.
Joanne Shoveller is the President of IBU, Ontario’s first independent, not-for-profit university built for small class sizes, personalized industry-centric curricula, and shorter learning timelines.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers like to get an idea of who you are and where you came from. Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where do you come from? What are the life experiences that most shaped your current self?
With 30+ years in the global post-secondary education system, I have a unique perspective on how talent needs are evolving, and how businesses and education institutions align and diverge in their understanding of that evolution.
I have held leadership roles at the intersection of academia and the business world spending significant time with alumni to understand the impact that their education had on their life, careers and success.
Hearing these accounts from thousands of alumni, business leaders and donors has given me a strong understanding of current and coming trends in the future of work. I heard the value they took from their engagement with their institutions and the shortcomings they found in their experience.
At Western University, 1987–2004, I had an incredible journey through a variety of roles, starting in Part-Time and Continuing Education where I worked with three pioneers in lifelong learning — Tom Guinsburg, Janet Stephenson and Mary Pritchard. They were at the forefront of distance and online learning in the early 90s.
I then managed the University’s Asian outreach and moved to Hong Kong with my family to work with Academic Director Joe DiStefano to set up the Ivey Business School’s Asian campus, Asian Management Institute and Executive MBA program. After that assignment, I spent three years leading the Ivey MBA program as Program Director, recruiting students from all continents.
Executive leadership roles with the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph in Canada, and INSEAD Business School in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi created opportunities to meet with business leaders around the world to understand what they wanted and needed from their employees, future talent and future leaders.
I have been a presenter and volunteer with organizations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia to help post-secondary institutions worldwide build more effective stakeholder relations that will inform their institutions’ insights into stakeholder engagement and effective change management.
After three decades listening to both the academic and the industry perspective, it’s with these gathered insights that I’ve embarked on my journey with the International Business University (IBU), Ontario’s first independent not-for-profit learning institution of its kind.
My career experience has evidenced what might be the crucial difference between industry and academic institutions: urgency. Business thinks and acts quickly. Academia is structured to sustain decisions across long-term outlooks, moving necessarily at a slower, more considered pace.
What excites me about IBU is the balance I believe we can strike. With a more agile bureaucracy and a tailored industry awareness, we’re able to work with businesses to understand their rapid evolution and tailor our learning experiences.
Our emphasis on personalized learning offers us the opportunity to respond to changing talent needs with the quality control and sustainability that the academy has always offered. We will keep a tight core foundation, then adapt to various industry specifics in the later part of the program through strong business and government partnerships.
The result for our students will be a clear path from education to fulfilling and life-long industry contribution, and our key deliverable to the students and to the employers will be exceptional habits in learning.
The student who graduates today cannot have all the knowledge they will need in even 5 years’ time. What will best equip graduates and employees for continuing success is a deeply engrained ability to stay current, to add new skills and knowledge and contribute to teams and organizations that evolve, innovate and attune to new technologies and market forces.
What do you expect to be the major disruptions for employers in the next 10–15 years? How should employers pivot to adapt to these disruptions?
Companies have elevated two strategic priorities on their watch lists: ESG and Cybersecurity. The need for talent to reflect these two areas is a substantial concern because the competence needed for these two strategic priorities is different than what was needed in the past.
Adam Grant, Wharton Business School, has observed “We’re too eager to bet on people who overestimate themselves — and too hesitant to invest in those who underestimate themselves. It’s easier to build up confidence than to tear down arrogance.”
Generational diversity, experiential diversity, and neurodiversity continue to ascend in their relevance. The talent required for key jobs is changing in its makeup, and industry expectations for how each person will do their jobs well are in constant fluctuation.
Employers need to adjust cultural expectations internally, train managers to lead in different ways, and create continuous learning environments that adapt to change while delivering on the business model and results.
There is an exciting paradigm emerging where leaders can be inclusive, nurturing, and supportive while engaging these very smart people in executing on metrics, results and KPIs.
Talented people want to be validated and recognized for their ideas and contributions, and the respectful space in which to bring diverse perspectives, needs, and competencies to the table.
The choice as to whether or not a young person should pursue a college degree was once a “no-brainer”. But with the existence of many high profile millionaires (and billionaires) who did not earn degrees, as well as the fact that many graduates are saddled with crushing student loan debt and unable to find jobs it has become a much more complex question. What advice would you give to young adults considering whether or not to go to college?
I believe strongly that every person must make a firm decision that they are in charge of their own learning pathway and seize it as early as possible. They need to understand who they are, how they learn, what they want out of life. It’s a process, so these answers don’t come quickly, but once a person understands that personalized learning is core to their success, they’ll have what they need to begin.
Learning comes from many sources — media, literature, the workplace, mentors — but what formalized education can do is teach students how to marry learning and everyday life, embedding it as a habit that can be practiced and, eventually, mastered.
Despite the doom and gloom predictions, there are, and likely still will be, jobs available. How do you see job seekers having to change their approaches to finding not only employment, but employment that fits their talents and interests?
The people I have watched thrive over decades of technological, economic and social change are avid learners. They are curious, inquisitive, ravenous listeners and readers. They are often the ones that aren’t the center of attention, but are definitely at the center of the action. They ask relentless questions, think deeply, then start the process over again.
Adam Grant also noted “The people with the most potential are the ones who know they have a lot to learn.”
Everyone, at all points in their education and career, should create patterns that put learning at the core of their personal strategy and life plan. They should work to establish personal networks on which they rely for advice, perspective and feedback. They should build curiosity and learning into their daily and weekly routines, build monthly goals and accountability methods, and build semi-annual personal strategy sessions.
You are your biggest asset, invest in yourself relentlessly and you will guide your own success.
The statistics of artificial intelligence and automation eliminating millions of jobs, appears frightening to some. For example, Walmart aims to eliminate cashiers altogether and Dominos is instituting pizza delivery via driverless vehicles. How should people plan their careers such that they can hedge their bets against being replaced by automation or robots?
Wayne Gretzky attributed his success to skating to “where the puck will be, not where it has been.” This is the same with employees and technology. Prepare yourself to go to where the action will be in 3 or 5 years.
McKinsey’s survey on the state of AI in 2020 indicates that we are in the early days of exploiting the full value of AI and machine learning. But leaders already understand AI as critical to transforming their businesses and essential to staying ahead of the competition.
Regardless of the stage of education or career, people need to stay abreast of these changes and understand where their own talents and interests can contribute to the effective use of AI within their company or industry.
Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise points to service, technology and manufacturing companies that are using AI to improve routine and mundane tasks, freeing time for creative thinking, decision making and analysis. 68% of executives in those fields surveyed reported a moderate-to-extreme skills gap. For example, much of the entry level work that lawyers and accountants once did is now being managed by technology. To interact effectively with those systems, early entry professionals need to have higher level skills in data analysis and decision-making interpretation.
Business leaders are looking for the right mix of talent throughout the organization. AI systems need to be built, deployed and integrated into processes. Results need to be interpreted, translating business needs into solutions. There is a high demand for people who can create AI solutions, invent new algorithms and systems, developers, coders, data scientists and project managers. But they also need translators: leaders who guide business problems into solutions, change management experts, subject matter experts, user experience designers and coaches/managers who will help teams exploit the advantages of the technology and data.
A Cisco executive told me 3 years ago that we are training people for jobs that don’t exist. That principle of learning how to learn, and putting curiosity at the core of your life philosophy, has become imperative. To know where the jobs you want will be, you must focus relentlessly on core foundational skills, stay abreast of the trends and technology, and understand how your experience, competencies, thinking style and strategy will best complement the technology and help your company seize competitive advantage.
Technological advances and pandemic restrictions hastened the move to working from home. Do you see this trend continuing? Why or why not?
The large-scale changes we have witnessed since March 2020 have been possible for longer than they’ve been needed. Incorporating digital communications into daily routines was previously the domain of early adopters and professionals whose work often took them on the road.
For example, my Executive MBA at Ivey Business School was through videoconference in the late 90s, but it was eventually cancelled. Ivey was a technology leader, but the market wasn’t ready for it. Now the market is ready and receptive.
What I think will be critical for companies is to invest in the examination and understanding of these new behaviors. Define and leverage the benefits of working remotely and emphasize the systems that are working to help people do their work more effectively and efficiently. Then do the same with the gaps in the remote work strategy as it stands. Understand with ruthless candor what is concerning employees, engage them in creating solutions and being architects of the new working environment. It may be hybrid; it may be fully distanced. Either way, it’s an opportunity for a creative solution.
Regardless of the outcome, companies can’t miss this moment. A pandemic has necessitated significant change and opportunities to re-invent. Organizations that just return to “normal” will have missed a golden opportunity to open big conversations with employees around what the new efficient and effective working environment can be.
What societal changes do you foresee as necessary to support the fundamental changes to work?
We have been talking about lifelong learning for a long time. We know that people are living longer; the demographics show the burgeoning number of aging people. That time is upon us. We need to think about learning and work as intertwined and continuous over longer periods of time.
I was intrigued to learn that the concept of the ‘teenager’ is an invention of the early 20th Century, before which a child went to directly being an adult. I think the same kind of social change can take place in the 7th and 8th decades.
People in their 60s and 70s have tremendous experience, insight and knowledge, they have already experienced decades of massive change. We are also seeing reverse mentorship where our digital natives are coaching us on how to use technology well and to understand the great benefits of diversity. Working in tandem, these two generational forces can pave the way for incredible and accelerated progress.
To make this work well, there needs to be a shift in how the older generation is perceived and employed, including the ability to promote gigs without losing benefits, pension eligibility and other incentives. We need to create room for younger people to grow their careers and establish financial security. Ultimately, we need to build intergenerational partnerships that promote shared learning, benefits and success.
What changes do you think will be the most difficult for employers to accept? What changes do you think will be the most difficult for employees to accept?
For employers, the impact of climate change is becoming a reality and cannot be ignored. Environmental urgency will have an impact on every business, and employers that are already addressing this will be ahead of the game. There are also international headwinds such as supply chain reliability and predictability of geopolitical certainties. And ultimately, cybersecurity is an omnipresent threat.
For employees, gone are the days of certainty. Employees who prioritize security and status quo will definitely be challenged. Those who set themselves up to learn, adapt and build a spirit of resiliency will not only succeed but will innovate and thrive.
For both employers and employees, trust is critical. In an ever-changing world trust is hard to earn and really easy to lose.
Focus on core values. Constant, transparent and honest communications that are data and fact driven will build trusting, resilient and high performing organizations.
The COVID-19 pandemic helped highlight the inadequate social safety net that many workers at all pay levels have. Is this something that you think should be addressed? In your opinion how should this be addressed?
Canada has a fairly strong social safety net but we still saw the impact on workers at the lower pay levels. They were, in many cases, the ones who carried the brunt of the pandemic’s impact. The crisis clearly exposed the consequences of ignoring developing nations and lower socio-economic sectors.
The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder has encouraged the development of stronger social systems that will “cushion people from future crises and give workers and businesses the security to tackle the multiple transitions ahead with confidence and with hope.” Social protection has proved not only an important pillar of social justice, but also a non-negotiable foundation for a sustainable and resilient future of work.
Developing a strong social infrastructure with health care access, mental health services, education, and family services such as child care and elderly care benefits everyone. It strengthens the economy, preserves stability, maps out a sustainable future and creates a talent, supplier and customer base on which businesses can depend for their future.
Despite all that we have said earlier, what is your greatest source of optimism about the future of work?
Necessity is often the mother of real innovation. There is evidence that we have fallen behind in educating our youth over the past two years of pandemic-era schooling. The NWEA has seen lower-than-average results for reading and math among third through eighth graders. At the university level, we are going to see students who are two years behind. The long tail of this problem will require different thinking, different assessment, and different support at each stage.
Luckily, signs of those changes in support are already taking place. Advances in technology have never seen a faster uptake. New education-technology solutions are providing exceptional student experiences. Our youth are well prepared to leverage those tools and access vast quantities of information — both inside of and outside of their learning institutions.
What we need now is to create openness to new ways of delivering education, greater flexibility, greater accessibility and a realization that a one-size-fits all approach to learning no longer works. There is talk about this, but systemic biases and barriers have slowed and prevented real change.
Decision makers in all levels of government, companies, educational institutions and associations have a unique opportunity to open the floor and re-think the rule books, asking what would truly prepare a resilient work force that can respond to technological advances with greater productivity.
There are organizations like the Future Talent Council based out of Sweden that are bringing talent professionals and academics from around the world together for virtual conferences and brainstorming sessions on how to embrace diversity, how to engage stakeholders actively, how to build responsive curriculum and how to address inequity in technology access.
These conversations are happening in the US and around the world, including with think tanks like Brookings. The challenge now is to introduce the ideas quickly and cost-effectively so that we develop the talent we need at the pace the world requires.
Historically, major disruptions to the status quo in employment, particularly disruptions that result in fewer jobs, are temporary with new jobs replacing the jobs lost. Unfortunately, there has often been a gap between the job losses and the growth of new jobs. What do you think we can do to reduce the length of this gap?
My colleague Norah McRae, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo, has developed extensive thought leadership in this area through a new Work-Learn Institute with research developed from work-integrated learning (WIL). She is promoting work-integrated learning and learning-integrated work with a plan to weave the two together continuously.
IBU is embedding work integration and real-time industry knowledge into our curriculum to help students identify the jobs that are emerging and aligned with their interests. We are meeting with employers and associations to design programs that equip their current employees and working professionals with the needs emerging 3–5 years into the future.
The key to success is constant two-way communication — asking, listening, responding, adapting — then being able to put the solutions into action. Theory is interesting but unless it is put into action quickly it won’t help our learners and our employers meet the current challenges or the future demands.
Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Top 5 Trends To Watch In the Future of Work?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
1 . Diversity at all levels — I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of the Curriculum Committee for the Future Talent Council for the past 3 years, affording me a front row seat to some of our most interesting industry conversations. In a recent presentation, a cybersecurity expert from HSBC revealed the importance of accommodating neurodiverse employees who excel in these quickly growing and critical fields. Another presenter revealed the tremendous opportunities of the intergenerational workplace with deliberate intention to have people of all ages understand each other.
Successful employers demonstrate a clear commitment to recruit, onboard and nurture people of all backgrounds, lived experiences, neurological profiles and generations, recognizing that they all bring something unique and valuable to the team. Leaving no talent behind is not lip service, this is hard work on the part of everyone on the team.
Over the past several years I have created means of being deliberately open to people at all levels and backgrounds on my team to ensure their lived experiences and unique talents would be valued and recognized. I trusted the authority to the people who stepped forward, made it clear that I had their backs, and helped them design approaches and programs that they want to see developed. The end results were far more robust, current, effective and ultimately efficient models than I could have ever designed.
2. Uncover hidden gems of talent — Building on the diversity theme above, the adage of “you can’t judge a book by its cover” has never been truer. Access to learning, to technology, to new challenges and new ways of doing things has enabled younger people to invent and disrupt. It’s allowed garage inventors, and it’s created entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. Within more traditional workplaces, there are the quiet leaders and unexpected innovators to be nurtured and supported. Rising stars can rise faster, but they likely won’t be whom you expect.
I have created intense, sprint-type consultations that go well outside the hierarchy to reveal the unexpected. White board sessions, group think tanks, quick brainstorming sessions and mini-projects have helped the groups I’ve worked with test rapid response and analysis and create the art of pivoting within the team while still focusing on core results. One recent example was a data management team who achieved amazing quantitative and qualitative results over the work from home timeframe, offering a tremendous resource of data that will form the foundation of many future decisions.
Leaders have to be vigilant with the systems they put in place to find these hidden innovators and change agents who add value quickly and help the project stay well ahead of the curve.
3. Protecting the organization is everyone’s responsibility — The pandemic has clearly shown that as much as business is about growth and innovation, a core part of strategy must be protecting assets.
In the Institute of Corporate Directors Education Program my fellow participants are revealing a hyper focus on cybersecurity as digital assets form a key part of companies’ and government departments’ business strategies. Headlines over the pandemic have shown how quickly reputations can be tarnished so an understanding at all levels about everyone’s role in maintaining and building the organization’s image and value is essential. The ability to protect supply chains and anticipate disruptive events has similarly skyrocketed in importance.
Risk management and mitigation is the responsibility of everyone in the organization and creating an open pipeline for concerns to be aired has always been essential. But social media, increased threats and disruptions create a higher level of urgency, making protection a company-wide imperative for any organization.
4. A continuous challenge of assumptions: is the game changing or are you changing the game? — I have worked closely with alumni entrepreneurs at INSEAD and University of Waterloo and have been impressed by their relentless focus on their customers. Are their customers who they think they are? Do they want what is being provided, will they pay for what is being provided? I’ve never seen these teams rest with an assumption; the urgency to challenge and test is palpable.
That model will only intensify as it continues to prove its success. Michael Porter’s five forces are now front and center in all decisions. And this is where harnessing diversity, particularly generational diversity, will pay tremendous dividends.
Older employees have invaluable experience. They have weathered storms and can provide perspective and earned wisdom. Younger employees see things as they stand; they can anticipate the storms that are coming with fresh eyes, and see new opportunities arising.
Rachele Focardi, a multigenerational expert who led “Leading the Multigenerational Workforce” presented ways that baby boomers, millennials, gen Y and gen Z see the world differently. She noted that if all generations are engaged well and openly, the workforce can address big problems in ways that provide different solutions and new opportunities.
Working with a smart, talented, honest, energetic team is my drug. I love building innovative, disruptive ideas on a whiteboard with a team, sometimes it explodes with the energy of the group. But at the core of that exercise is trust; in the process and in the people.
5. Build Learning Organizations Continuously and Deliberately — Quality management has built strong foundations for quality measurement, risk management, and continuous learning within companies. I am often confronted with people who dismiss some of the challenges we are facing on the grounds that things have always been complex. Their point is taken, but the change of pace, technological advancement, global connectedness and disruption are unprecedented, creating the novel challenge of keeping people abreast of the scope of the change. Successful organizations are embedding formal and informal learning deliberately into their operations on a continuous basis. Learning integrated work weaves access to webinars, seminars, think tank sessions and formalized re-training into the ongoing operations and execution of plans. Incentives, rewards, promotion and recognition are built into the continuous learning pathways to mobilize employees and command attention to this vital exercise. These will be pillars of the workforce as it continues to evolve.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how this quote has shaped your perspective?
At Ivey Business School, the motto for the MBA was “People care what you know when they know that you care”. It was attributed to a few of the profs, but it didn’t matter who coined it, the mantra lived well beyond its author. When I left the University of Waterloo a number of staff members wrote to me with the words that they felt heard, seen, validated and valued. This mattered so much to me, as I think the #1 role of leaders is to do and say what people need in order that they can fulfill their roles and purpose to the greatest extent they are able. To do so, care needs to be the first priority.
Shody Chow, former Managing Director of Swire Trading in Hong Kong, was my volunteer advisor during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. He emphasized “relationships, relationships, relationships” during that challenging time. Ultimately, we were successful in building the campus and program well beyond. What I learned is that the concept of relationships first is relevant globally. When you put people first, you can’t go wrong.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC Funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why?
Laurene Powell Jobs. I knew someone who worked with her at Emerson Collective and was a huge admirer of her personally. Since then I have watched how she has used her voice, passion and personal power to make real change. She understands that the issues of poverty, education, personal health and environmental justice are all interconnected. And she truly sees the potential in the undiscovered hidden gems, those young people whose intellect and talent have been held back by barriers that are historical, systemic, racial and beyond their control. She understands as long as those barriers remain, our society incurs an ineffable waste.
In a recent interview, Laurene identified the growing resistance to opening these pathways for development. “There’s been a significant breakdown in Americans’ ability to speak to one another and to hear one another,” she said. “That’s become much worse […] where there’s been full license given to the otherization of our neighbor.”
Here, I think Laurene makes a valuable contribution to the argument for establishing learning environments that seek and support diversity of all kinds; an anecdote to the kind of othering that will otherwise continue to hold the whole of society back.
She recalls the philosophy she shared with Steve Jobs that the world is not fixed and impermeable. Through deliberate intention and focus, it can be changed. So, with a lifetime commitment to promoting personalized learning as a force for change, I would love to enjoy a salad with her.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-shoveller-86880310/
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success and good health.
