I read an insightful article from Josh Bersin about the massive shift in how work, value, and status are defined, how organizations develop and deploy their peoples’ expertise, and how technology and the global marketplace for skills are radically reshaping the notion of a job. It aligns well with what I’m seeing at organizations (anyone looking for someone with mobile development expertise knows what I mean), and with my belief that increasingly shorter “cycle times” (to use Lean terms) are demanding a more data driven, faster, iterative, constantly learning approach to working as a team, and staying ahead of the competition. With something as agile and fluid as today’s market, the solid mass of a job description and people’s role scope simply does not work.
The entire article is worth reading, but I especially enjoyed this table:
I just finished The Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries and really loved it because of its focus on experimentation, reducing wasted efforts, learning as a team, and reflection. By reflection I mean the skill of articulating your hypothesis of what the customer values, figuring out how to test for it, and then building just enough of the product or feature to assess whether your hypothesis is correct. Having worked with tech companies for nearly 20 years, I know this is a much healthier approach to product development than the ego driven, hunch laden, ship-n-pray approach.
It also has applicability for how organizations design processes, build infrastructure, and influence their culture. At the heart of it is the art of reflection, of having the discipline to first describe what you hope will happen, building just enough to achieve it, and then reflecting back whether it and your existing product / process / team / etc. is now better off because of it. Don’t like it or got a bad result? Change it; it’s just an experiment.
With this kind of approach, it shifts the leaders role to setting broad strategic themes, prioritizing resource allocation, and most importantly creating a culture where meritocracy, curiosity, and collaboration are demanded and rewarded.
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Adaptive Talent is a talent consultancy designed to help organizations achieve amazing results and ongoing adaptability. Founded in 2008 and based in Vancouver, Canada we offer retained search, assessments, total rewards consulting, training, leadership coaching and development programs, and culture & organizational development consulting.