Moreover, suppose the firm does find the right person--a hexagon shaped worker to be fitted into a hexagon-shaped slot. Then the firm may abruptly discover that some new computer language or tool is required--say Python. So now the firm needs octagon-shaped workers. Do they then throw those hexagonal workers aside and advertise for octagonal workers i.e. with five years experience in Python?
One part of the solution to this tangle of issues is for firms to start doing what they once did, namely, gulp, retraining existing workers. What a strange idea! This comes back to the management mindset issue that I mentioned in my presentation on the Creative Economy last Thursday. In the new workplace, the team becomes the asset, not the product they are working on. Nurturing and upgrading the skills of the team becomes a central management preoccupation. That's what we saw on the site visits of the Learning Consortium for the Creative Economy.
Forbes blog: http://blogs.forbes.com/stevedenning/
The Leader's Guide to Radical Management
http://www.stevedenning.com/Books/radical-management.aspx
Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevedenning
Email: steve@stevedenning.com
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On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 11:25 PM, Curt Carlson <curt@practiceofinnovation.com>wrote:
Team: Here is a rough outline of one of my big take aways from the conference (in David’s formulation for a meme: name, definition, narrative). Other names are welcomed. More in a bit. What am I missing?Name: Empowered worker communities (EPCs)Definition: The emerging virtuous cycle between networked workers, available work, and skills development on emerging Internet, h/w, s/w, and AI enabled platforms.Narrative: The advent of online web applications that connect workers with work plus the advent of individualized digital education creates a virtuous cycle where workers can find work, advertise their unique skills, and asynchronously develop new skills to make themselves continuously more valuable. It puts power back in the hands of the worker and allows more freedom and choice. Importantly, this generation of learning platforms (e.g., Cornerstone Math) promises dramatic improvements in skills development, an enabling technology.The learning platforms can include academic topics (algebra), tools (spreadsheets), and also collaborative learning and value creation systems and networks. These collaborative networks can be built by individuals who can then leverage the genius of their extended team to add more value to their offerings. These global collaborative networks can ultimately make the world “transparent” so that a great team can be assembled for every project. The teams can be either proprietary or open to the world. Workers can be both participants on other's teams while leaders of their own teams.These emerging empowered worker communities have the potential to transform the rate of innovative success around the world. They open the possibility of a completely different kind of company — one composed of “gigers" but who all share services, insurance, healthcare, and opportunities for new business. This represents a merging of the best networking ideas, the best value creation principles, and the best principles from the learning sciences (see here Doug Engelbart and the idea of a NIC). Clearly it will also transform how established companies work and innovate.Top down government employment programs are only of marginal help in the Global Innovation Economy, which moves so fast and that has so many possibilities for unique work. Only the worker is aware of the unique kinds of work to be done, their individual motivations and abilities, and the skills required to add more value to their offerings. The government cannot build powerful collaborative network communities, where real genius resides. These platforms are on the path of creating meaningful work for millions.On Jan 31, 2016, at 7:11 PM, Curt Carlson <curt@practiceofinnovation.com> wrote:Dear David, Robin, Vint, and Team,You are the best. This was a terrific conference. It is inspiring to see all the progress over these years. Seeing real solutions come out of the fog of only a few years ago shows how prescient you were in developing this area and in giving it a unique twist, not only in terms of content (e.g., the importance of narrative) but also format. The quality and passion of the participants is a testament to the importance of the issues and the value of the meeting. Mazeltov to the Nth power!All the best,CurtPS Steve, What am I missing?Curtis R. Carlson, Ph.D.Founder and CEO Practice of InnovationPresident and CEO SRI International, 1998-2014Website: www.practiceofinnovation.comOur most important innovation is the way we work