Natalie A. Gerhardstein: What attributes should a company embrace, given our new normal?
Pascal Martino: In combining purpose, potential, and perspective, organisations will develop the ability to engage social enterprise in 2020, guiding the workforce towards recovery inthe coming years. Purpose is needed to embrace well-being and embed meaning in all aspects of work. Potential is required to maximise human capability in an emergent world of machines. And finally, perspective is necessary to view uncertainty as offering possibility, not as a threat to the opportunities of today but as an asset to the creation of value tomorrow.
How can organisations keep a human focus, even with our increased reliance on technology?
This crisis demonstrated that while technology can augment and supplement work, it does not replace what humans can offer. This presents a unique opportunity for organisations to overcome the instinct of setting humans and machines on parallel paths and instead build connections that can pave a way forward, one that can nurture growth and innovation in the weeks, months, and years to come. Instead of asking how to humanise a work environment inundated by technology, the more profound question for organisations is how they can leverage the environment that technology creates to humanise the world of work. The power of the social enterprise lies in its ability to bring a human focus to everything it touches, empowering people to work proactively with technology to create lasting value for themselves, their organisations, and society at large.
Which HR trends do you anticipate being most important in the coming year?
The challenges posed by covid-19 have reinforced the importance of understanding what workers are capable of doing in addition to understanding the ways they have worked previously. Organisations must now go beyond reskilling and invest in resilience. Organisations that employ workforce development strategies may both reskill their employees while simultaneously building worker resilience and equipping their professionals and the organisation with the tools, insights and strategies to adapt to a range of uncertain futures.