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Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment
A detailed look at the evolution of employment and its far-reaching implications Lead the Work takes an incisive look at the evolving nature of work, and how it's affecting management and productivity at the organizational level. Where getting things done once meant assigning it to an employee, today's leaders are increasingly at risk if they fail to recognize that talent can float into and out of an organization. Long-term employment has given way to medium- or short-term employment, marking the first step in severing the bond that once fixed an individual inside an organization. Getting work done by means other than an employee was once considered a fringe event, but now leading organizations are accepting and taking advantage of the notion that talent has shown itself to be mutable. This book explores this phenomenon in detail and provides a new roadmap to help managers navigate this new environment.
The workplace has undergone many changes over the years, but the emerging trend away from traditional employment represents a massive shift that has profound implications for the business model of every organization, large or small. This book describes how management is changing, and how managers must adapt to survive.
Examine the dispersed organization and the changing nature of employment Learn how work is becoming impermanent and individualized Find new strategies for managing and leading Get up to speed on the decision science for the new era Workplaces evolve like biological beings; only the strong survive, and it's the competitive edge that ensures continued success. Lead the Work describes the new landscape, and shows you how to adapt and thrive.
The workplace has undergone many changes over the years, but the emerging trend away from traditional employment represents a massive shift that has profound implications for the business model of every organization, large or small. This book describes how management is changing, and how managers must adapt to survive.
Examine the dispersed organization and the changing nature of employment Learn how work is becoming impermanent and individualized Find new strategies for managing and leading Get up to speed on the decision science for the new era Workplaces evolve like biological beings; only the strong survive, and it's the competitive edge that ensures continued success. Lead the Work describes the new landscape, and shows you how to adapt and thrive.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2015
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July 3, 2018
I’m always on the hunt for examples of what it means to Think in 4T. The forward to John Boudreau, Ravin Jesuthasan, and David Creelman’s book, Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment offers a perfect example. The gig worker has a variety of targets (professional development, community, and benefits) and has designed his work with resources across all of talent, technology, and technique to reach those targets. This gig worker is ahead of the curve and most of our organizations need to catch up.
“A few years ago I attended an HR conference where I found myself on a panel with a freelancer. He had no desire to work for a corporation, nor a manager for that matter. And he was clearly very good at his craft—someone my company would want to hire. “I get that you love the independence,” I said. “But what about your training and development? How do you stay on the leading edge of your craft?” “Meet-ups,” he said. Seeing my uninformed gaze, he went on. “We get together online and arrange festival-like gatherings, often on the campuses of Bay Area companies, inviting the best players to come and speak. Great for networking too.” I tried another tack. “What about a sense of community? Don’t you get bored or stale working alone all day?” “Co-working,” came the reply. There are really cool workspaces that can be rented with other freelancers, and a Starbucks downstairs for meetings. I was getting rather desperate at this point. “What about benefits?” I inquired. “What happens if you get sick?” “The Freelancers Union,” was the answer. (p. xvii)”
— Diane Gherson, Senior VP Human Resources, IBM
Beyond Employment
We’ve gone well beyond employment as the only way to get work done in our organizations and Lead the Work offers clear frameworks for thinking about how to take advantage of our increasing flexibility. Your company may run an innovation competition asking your customers to help design new ads. Your website is updated by a series of freelancers working on Upwork. You are strategizing about how to borrow skills you need for a key project via an organizational alliance. Work is done by people inside and outside our organizations (and by technologies owned, rented, or borrowed -- but that’s another post). Boudreau, Jesuthasan, and Creelman help us see all the possibilities but also weigh the pluses and minuses for our work and society.
Leading Work—Not Managing Employees
The title, Lead the Work, sings to me and the title of Chapter 1 even more so: Leading Work—Not Managing Employees. Management and leadership are still critical, but we start with the work to be done and think about how best to design/engineer for that target. (This reminds me of the key ideas in research related to substitutes and complements to leadership.)
Figure 10.1 highlights the most extreme settings across the range of possible design approaches, but our options are vast. Think of each of the bullet points as being an end-point on a range of options. For example, an assignment can be a chunk of related work or a set of deconstructed tasks. It can be colocated or global. The people doing the work can be traditional employees, work for an intermediary, or be pure freelancers (See the book’s Figure 5.1 for the full set of ranges.) They consider each stage of the work lifecycle.
In a prior post (this review was originally posted at TerriGriffith dot com), I’ve mentioned Marion McGovern’s Thriving in the Gig Economy: How to Capitalize and Compete in the New World of Work. That book is a great guide for workers in today’s economy. Lead the Work gives us the mechanisms to build the foundational organizations.
What about automation?
With the continued rise of automation (from static automation to artificial intelligence), you might wonder why technology wasn’t key to their arguments regarding how work gets done. Have no fear, Jesuthasan and Boudreau launch their latest book Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work on October 9, 2018. Pre-orders are available now. My review will post the same day.
“A few years ago I attended an HR conference where I found myself on a panel with a freelancer. He had no desire to work for a corporation, nor a manager for that matter. And he was clearly very good at his craft—someone my company would want to hire. “I get that you love the independence,” I said. “But what about your training and development? How do you stay on the leading edge of your craft?” “Meet-ups,” he said. Seeing my uninformed gaze, he went on. “We get together online and arrange festival-like gatherings, often on the campuses of Bay Area companies, inviting the best players to come and speak. Great for networking too.” I tried another tack. “What about a sense of community? Don’t you get bored or stale working alone all day?” “Co-working,” came the reply. There are really cool workspaces that can be rented with other freelancers, and a Starbucks downstairs for meetings. I was getting rather desperate at this point. “What about benefits?” I inquired. “What happens if you get sick?” “The Freelancers Union,” was the answer. (p. xvii)”
— Diane Gherson, Senior VP Human Resources, IBM
Beyond Employment
We’ve gone well beyond employment as the only way to get work done in our organizations and Lead the Work offers clear frameworks for thinking about how to take advantage of our increasing flexibility. Your company may run an innovation competition asking your customers to help design new ads. Your website is updated by a series of freelancers working on Upwork. You are strategizing about how to borrow skills you need for a key project via an organizational alliance. Work is done by people inside and outside our organizations (and by technologies owned, rented, or borrowed -- but that’s another post). Boudreau, Jesuthasan, and Creelman help us see all the possibilities but also weigh the pluses and minuses for our work and society.
Leading Work—Not Managing Employees
The title, Lead the Work, sings to me and the title of Chapter 1 even more so: Leading Work—Not Managing Employees. Management and leadership are still critical, but we start with the work to be done and think about how best to design/engineer for that target. (This reminds me of the key ideas in research related to substitutes and complements to leadership.)
Figure 10.1 highlights the most extreme settings across the range of possible design approaches, but our options are vast. Think of each of the bullet points as being an end-point on a range of options. For example, an assignment can be a chunk of related work or a set of deconstructed tasks. It can be colocated or global. The people doing the work can be traditional employees, work for an intermediary, or be pure freelancers (See the book’s Figure 5.1 for the full set of ranges.) They consider each stage of the work lifecycle.
In a prior post (this review was originally posted at TerriGriffith dot com), I’ve mentioned Marion McGovern’s Thriving in the Gig Economy: How to Capitalize and Compete in the New World of Work. That book is a great guide for workers in today’s economy. Lead the Work gives us the mechanisms to build the foundational organizations.
What about automation?
With the continued rise of automation (from static automation to artificial intelligence), you might wonder why technology wasn’t key to their arguments regarding how work gets done. Have no fear, Jesuthasan and Boudreau launch their latest book Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work on October 9, 2018. Pre-orders are available now. My review will post the same day.
January 28, 2016
Although "Lead the Work" is targeted at those in HR positions, the rest of us have a lot to learn about the changing face of the workplace. As is apparent to many out in the workforce, the definition of work and worker are changing, in part because of technology (which enables this to happen) and in part due to economic changes (the recent economic crisis of 2008 placed many into freelance or consultant positions). Then, there's the matter of automation that was unimaginable only a few years ago.
In sum, this trend is only bound to accelerate, as these authors make the case. While this suits many, especially those in highly technical fields, who now have more freedom to pick and choose the type of work they engage in, there's a strong downside that the book largely underplays until the last chapter.
On the other hand, why not make the best of what appears to be an inevitable change that is unlikely to reverse itself? Still, while HR management prepares itself to employ more workers who label themselves "the CEO of Me," as well as exchange workers with partners and allies for specific projects, that leaves a large part of the population to low paid face to face work in service positions, such as retail (where even the self-checkout is the wave of the future).
The book really skims over the economic and political implications of such changes for this country and its citizen-workers, but as noted, this is really targeted at the HR specialist. Even those in HR should open their eyes, not only to the new ways of "leading the work," but also in the ways in which automation may soon replace or revise their own once-essential roles.
The real takeaway of this book is that those just entering the workforce should be prepared to develop a skill set that matches up with the types of jobs that will be in demand in a world full of project work. Like freelancers, average workers will soon have to make skills such as budgeting (saving for lean times and providing their own employment benefits), marketing (themselves and their portfolio for potential jobs), and more rigor in performing part of their day-to-day lives. There'll be no coasting in the new economy.
While this will open up new opportunities for some, typically in developing countries, it will also have a big impact on those who took the 9-to-5 daily routine for granted. The world of work is changing and those who don't get on board may find themselves left behind.
In sum, this trend is only bound to accelerate, as these authors make the case. While this suits many, especially those in highly technical fields, who now have more freedom to pick and choose the type of work they engage in, there's a strong downside that the book largely underplays until the last chapter.
On the other hand, why not make the best of what appears to be an inevitable change that is unlikely to reverse itself? Still, while HR management prepares itself to employ more workers who label themselves "the CEO of Me," as well as exchange workers with partners and allies for specific projects, that leaves a large part of the population to low paid face to face work in service positions, such as retail (where even the self-checkout is the wave of the future).
The book really skims over the economic and political implications of such changes for this country and its citizen-workers, but as noted, this is really targeted at the HR specialist. Even those in HR should open their eyes, not only to the new ways of "leading the work," but also in the ways in which automation may soon replace or revise their own once-essential roles.
The real takeaway of this book is that those just entering the workforce should be prepared to develop a skill set that matches up with the types of jobs that will be in demand in a world full of project work. Like freelancers, average workers will soon have to make skills such as budgeting (saving for lean times and providing their own employment benefits), marketing (themselves and their portfolio for potential jobs), and more rigor in performing part of their day-to-day lives. There'll be no coasting in the new economy.
While this will open up new opportunities for some, typically in developing countries, it will also have a big impact on those who took the 9-to-5 daily routine for granted. The world of work is changing and those who don't get on board may find themselves left behind.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews