Articles

The Future of Work

by Geoff Stead

future of work image by psfk

What will work be like in 10 / 20 / 30 years? And what can we do to prepare our learners for it?

The future is not really such a mystery. It is already happening – but only in small pockets, and specific industries. We need to keep our eyes open to these other sectors, to understand trends that will soon be hitting our own.

I like The Future of Work report by PSK, as it offers a nicely laid out summary of trends moving across the working world. They look mostly at how we will work:

– Flexibly, Collaboratiively, Learning by Doing

and where we will work:

– At home, in pop-up work spaces, in cross-discipline spaces, mixed with
 exercise (places better suited for flexibility, health, creativity)

and which skills we, and our employers will value:

– networking, collaborating, using a social graph / badges to understand value to the business

But one theme which weaves across many of these items is . . . MOBILE! It is the tool you communicate with. The window into social media. The ability to work from multiple places. Mobile is the key that makes many of these things possible, in a future workplace!

Have a look at their summary presentation. What do you think?

Many of these things are already in use, in Qualcomm. But we are still learning, experimenting, trying to optimize them for our own needs, and cultures.

related posts