What is work 5.0?
Having spent more than three decades helping make improvements to the way human beings work together, the following enlightenment came to me:
The way we think about work as individuals, determines how we think we should work collectively.
The problem with this statement is, in my experience, for most individuals, our thinking on this matter is mostly flawed.
Through a combination of socialisation, education and sector specific working experiences, many people have no idea that there are significantly different ways to approach work. Fewer of us still understand that these different ways of working can lead to dramatically different outcomes. I am going to to assert that if only that knowledge was more widely spread, the resulting changes could make a difference to economies at the global level.
In my book Work 5.0 I propose five distinct models of human working 1.0 to 5.0
1.0 Artisanal - seldom connected individuals doing their own thing their own way
2.0 Craft - Individual working to common standards and principles
3.0 Push Flow - Division of labour with value flowing to build step-by-step
4.0 Pull Flow - As above but flow is triggered by demand and labour flexes to suit
5.0 Flexible Flow - Adhocracy with flexible teams used on demand
Each iteration has / does lead to measurably better outcomes for: People, Planet, Quality, Time and Financials (PPQTF) but most people are unaware of this. I also propose in my book that these five models should be seen as a progression along an evolutionary scale and one that all organisations have a choice to; either progress along (or not), or to make significant upgrades by skipping unnecessary evolutions.
A key hypothesis within the book is that many organisations do not realise this is even a choice, nor that their current paradigm has likely run its course in terms of performance. I routinely visit organisations where despite high levels of management attention, and heroic efforts from many, performance is either in slow decline, static, or not improving at anything like the rate emerging competition or market demands..
If your organisation and leadership team is engaged in lots of efforts, multiple initiatives and yet still has results that are not ‘moving-the-needle’ the chances are you are running up against the limits of the current working paradigm. If that is the case it is then a fools errand to continue as you are. Unlikely as it may seem, a fundamental upgrade to the way work is done will actually require less effort and gain superior results in a relatively short time. From work 1.0 - Artisanal working as individuals; through to the latest on-demand, flexible, flow based teamworking of work 5.0 most organsations are stuck somewhere in the middle.
The biggest problem for our advanced but stubbornly static economies is that largely, across every sector we are in a state of blind stasis. Flat productivity, unsustainable growth, poor morale and stress as the biggest work-based human illness proves this, yet, we are mostly ignorant as to how to see beyond the current paradigm.
Unless we can not only see these iterations intelligently, but also how to upgrade from one to another in any sector, it seems like we will get stuck in the status quo.
If you are curious to find out where you and your team are on this work-type upgrade model and where you could/should be: Contact us for our Work 5.0 executive team awareness day and a free copy of the book Work 5.0
Without being able to see how to do something - how can anyone expect anything in terms of results?