How Covid-19 is accelerating the Future of Work

If you look ahead to the next 5 to 10 years, every company has to be a learning organisation

Covid-19 is changing our world irrevocably. First and foremost, it is a health crisis. People are getting sick, families are losing loved ones and the virus is going to be with us for the foreseeable future.

In the words of this week’s guest, Coronavirus might also be the great catalyst for business transformation and accelerate the future of work. What previously was expected to develop over the course of several years is instead unfolding before our very eyes in the course of a few months.

"If the future of work requires restructured workplaces, redefined roles, rapid learning, and reserves of trust—and it does, organizations are being challenged to do all that and more as they address the coronavirus pandemic."

Those are the words of my guest this week on the Digital HR Leaders Podcast – future of work strategist Heather McGowan, whose new book – The Adaptation Advantage – co-authored with Chris Shipley, has just been released.

I first met Heather at the UNLEASH show in Paris last year and was blown away by the quality of her research and the underlying premise of the need for continuous learning.

An authority such as Pulitzer Prize–winning NYT columnist Thomas Friedman frequently quotes Heather in his books and columns and describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work. So, I know you will enjoy listening to Heather in the next 40 minutes or so.

You can listen by clicking on the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

In our conversation, Heather and I discuss:

• Why Covid-19 is acting as the catalyst for business transformation and the future of work
• The three existential threats of our lifetime and how Covid-19 could help mitigate the other two - climate change and income inequality ("I have talked to some large companies who are saying, we are rethinking our real estate investment more broadly because do we need these massive buildings? Then that allows you to look at secondary cities and rural areas where on an income and equality standpoint it would be fantastic")
• The pivotal role of culture and how leadership styles will adapt ("You have to establish trust. You have to establish psychological safety. You have to believe in your team and have them believe in you and that is a shift in leadership that we have needed for a long time")
• How we need to embrace and absorb new skills and let go of old ones ("Learning is part of work now and it needs to continue to be recognised as part of work because we all should be constantly up-skilling and re-skilling every day")
• Why every company needs to be a learning organisation
• Why our old measure of potential success—IQ —has given way to eQ and is now shifting yet again to aQ (adaptability quotient)
• Why the role of HR needs to evolve and what HR leaders need to do differently

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future shape of organisations and how to create a culture of continuous learning – so CHROs, Chief Learning Officers and anyone in a People Analytics, HR Business Partner or Talent Acquisition role.

It is the humans that make a difference in an organisation. So that makes HR the engine and the brake of a company's success

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my discussion with Heather, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: How COVID-19 is acting as a Catalyst to Accelerate the Future of Work.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there will be a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics Heather and I covered in our conversation. One of the videos features Heather outlining how HR leaders can prepare for the future.

GET INVOLVED

If you enjoyed listening to this week's podcast episode, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to Heather for such a stimulating and enjoyable conversation and for sharing his time and knowledge. You can connect with Heather on LinkedIn, you can follow Heather on Twitter and check out her website at heathermcgowan.com.

I also highly recommend investing in Heather's recently published book, written together with Chris Shipley called The Adaptation Advantage, which ranks as one of the best books I've read yet about the future of work.

Finally, check out Heather's regular column on Forbes, including the two gems below plus an article covering much of Heather's keynote at UNLEASH in Paris in October 2019:

• How The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Accelerating The Future Of Work
• The Coronavirus Is Creating An Inflection Point In The Future Of Work
• Learning Is The New Pension

Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa and the myHRfuture team for creating the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.

CATCH UP ON THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to all of the episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below.

• EP 37: Thomas Rasmussen - How National Australia Bank has scaled People Analytics
• EP 36: Ravin Jesuthasan - Six imperatives for HR in the Future of Work
• BONUS EPISODE: Amit Mohindra & Dawn Klinghoffer - What is the future of People Analytics?
• EP 35: Peter Hinssen - What is the role of HR in driving and enabling innovation?
• EP 34: Bruce Daisley - What do business leaders want from HR?
• EP 33: Dirk Jonker - Why People Analytics needs to behave like a start-up
• EP 32: Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic - The role of storytelling in People Analytics and Data Visualisation
• EP 31: Piyush Mathur - How Johnson & Johnson uses People Analytics to drive business outcomes
• BONUS EPISODE - Heather Whiteman, RJ Milnor & Ian Bailie (Live at PAFOW) - How to develop the HR skills of the future
• EP 30: Katy Gray - How Arup uses reward data to drive behavioural change
• EP 29: Uri Ort - What is the future of talent assessment?
• EP 28: Zara Nanu - The role of People Analytics in Gender Pay Analysis
• EP 27: Julia Shaw - How can technology reduce bias in the workplace
• EP 26: Stela Lupushor - How HR can be a Catalyst for Change
• BONUS EPISODE: Volker Jacobs - How to scale Employee Experience
• EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant 
• EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC 
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology 
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company 
• EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data 
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. David also hosts the Digital HR Leaders Podcast on myHRfuture.