Work in 2100
More technology, more teamwork, more humanity
According to futurists, work life in the 22nd century will revolve around making the work environment “more human.” Essentially, with the advent of automation, concepts such as standardizing working hours and traditional management hierarchies will soon disappear as technology will push future workers to roles and tasks that resemble the tribal and community-oriented work structures of pre-industrial times.
“If you look at the way we lived nomadically early on, it was very important to be with other nomads who were good for you, helping you survive,” said Liselotte Lyngsø, founding partner of Copenhagen-based consultancy Future Navigator. “I think we can use that as a metaphor for the way we’ll organize our work life in the future; you need to be in a tribe where you are better at getting things done together.” — Fast Co.
Meaning there will be an emphasis on the “team” rather than an individual’s potential and how that team organizes together as a collective to focus and execute a task. Currently, companies scout for the perfect individual to complete a task within a centralized department or team. But imagine if companies changed their mindsets to hire for the team and not for the task at hand, and designed decentralized, smaller teams where leadership is less rigid and more fluid. Sounds nice, right!
The conveyer-belt method of hiring — hiring people for specific functions — is not the best way to maximize human potential and is a completely old school way of recruiting talent. The future of work is about getting the team to flourish as a whole rather than specific individuals succeeding here and there.
