(Net)Working In The Digital Age
The rise of the Information Age sparked a communications revolution which placed transparency at the centre of consumers’ -and employees’- concerns. Today, anyone with an Internet connection has the power to connect with millions of others around the globe.
And yet ironically, as we shifted from the stability of long-term investments to the adaptability of short-term cost-cutting measures, loyalty became scarce, and relationships now rely on mutual self-deception.
“It’s just business”, probably thought ING’s executives while issuing a press release announcing their plan to lay off over 3,000 Belgian employees by 2021. Awkwardly enough, the cuts were presented as being part of a plan named “Thinking Forward”, aimed at digitizing more of the financial group’s operations.
A title to which LinkedIn’s cofounder and chairman Reid Hoffman would respond “A business without loyalty is a business without long-term thinking. A business without long-term thinking is a business that’s unable to invest in the future.”
Will the Internet steal our jobs?
In a study commissioned by Google, the Boston Consulting Group concludes that digitization “constitutes a great opportunity to boost the Belgian economy through new jobs and overall GDP growth if the country plays its cards right”.
More specifically, the group estimates that several industries on the rise could bring significant economic growth. These high-value opportunities include the Internet of Things (IoT), which connects a vast array of objects and allows remote monitoring and control through online platforms, big data analytics, advanced robotics, and new forms of visualization through augmented and virtual reality.
This potential economic growth, translated into job opportunities, could exceed 300,000 full-time positions in Belgium by 2020, making ING’s plan much less frightening.
Embracing these emerging digital industries could also bring value to society itself by creating new and improved products and services, better prices as well as better access to information.
But so far, these are nothing but speculations, and the consequences of failing to keep up could be harsh. If Belgium fails to embrace this transformative shift, say yes to open market initiatives and increase the pace of digitization by making it a priority, it could lose out in its home market to more aggressive players such as its Dutch neighbour.
Can we be honest?
Perhaps those of us who fear being replaced by robots or automated programs in the near future don’t fear new technologies as much as managers and their general lack of adaptability in today’s fast paced environment.
As LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh point out in their latest book The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, the relationship framework between employers, managers and employees is broken.
Employees are seen as job-hoppers and opportunists, while employers can fire their staff at any moment and for any reason. As a result, neither side trusts each other nor truly profits from the relationship.
The answer, the book suggests, could be found in a new framework rebalancing power, resulting in an alliance not meant to last indefinitely, as in the long gone industrial era, but as long as both the company and the individual benefit from it.
By speaking openly about both parties’ mission alignment, trust can be built and lead to better retention of valuable assets. By crafting personalized “tours of duty” matching each employee’s objectives and career goals, managers create teams whose loyalty and dedication to the job largely surpass the resources dedicated to managing them.
Depending on the type of job, industry and experience level, tours of duty can last anywhere between one to five years, and regular follow-ups allow for an open conversation to take place about everyone’s satisfaction (to download a statement of alliance template, click here).
The Alliance also underlines the importance of a strong corporate alumni network both for recruitment and customer referrals. But its most controversial advice might be for companies to start mining intelligence from their employees’ external networks to help solve problems, learn about emerging trends, competitors’ focus, or the outside world’s perception of their own brand.
Seen as risky or downright threatening to existing business structures, this approach could nevertheless create an environment of transparency and trust, where skills can be acquired rather than being a prerequisite, stakes are discussed openly and lateral moves made possible.
After all, technologies and our use of them have always been two very different things. How about using them to become better at what we do, and at how we treat each other?
Audrey Raby is a strategist and a storyteller. She has managed several marketing and creative communication firms in Montreal, after having lived in Brussels for eight years as an expatriate journalist.
