Disruptors Take the Throne—and Reshape the Workplace
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Peter Tarhanidis, Conrado Morlan, Jen Skrabak, Mario Trentim, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, David Wakeman, Ramiro Rodrigues, Wanda Curlee, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.
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Date
Sue Gardner says winning companies of the future will put tech at the center of their organizations.
By Cyndee Miller
Nap pods, free laundry service, foosball tables, an endless supply of snacks. Ah, the perks of working at a Silicon Valley startup. Of course, there are also expectations of brilliance—and a willingness to log long hours.
And now the Silicon Valley way of working is infiltrating mainstream management.
More companies are realizing they need to create an atmosphere of ease, comfort and pleasure if they want their people—and projects—to reach their full potential, Sue Gardner told congress attendees at her keynote on Monday.
“The new workplace believes abundance drives innovation,” said Ms. Gardner, former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
That means becoming a lot less Office Space and a lot more Silicon Valley—focusing more on creativity and less on cost-efficiency.
“Organizations need to be more willing to take risks and break things,” Ms. Gardner said.
I know, I know. Breaking things sounds messy. But face it, maintaining the status quo is never going to give companies an edge. In today’s tech-drenched, rapid-fire environment, companies quickly move from challenger to incumbent to decline.
“For the past 15 years, this cycle has been aggressively speeding up, with more disruption being more quickly driven by technology changes,” she said. “Tasks that used to be done by people are now being done by technology.
As technology takes center stage, so must the technical team. Smart companies will prioritize people with tech skills—giving them the chance to be innovators rather than order takers.
“Technology is now core to everything we do—and organizations that don’t retain tech talent will be vulnerable in the marketplace,” she said.
Project managers are in a prime spot to help drive the change, Ms. Gardner said. They can be the “connective tissue” between tech staff and management types, helping different groups understand each other. But it requires a degree of flexibility.
“Adapt to other people. Don’t expect them to adapt to you,” she said.
That doesn’t mean project managers should be pushovers. On the contrary, Ms. Gardner thinks they have the power to address an organization’s most intrinsic issues.
“You have access to information, so you will know where the bodies are buried,” she said. “When there’s an elephant in the room, project managers are the ones who need to acknowledge and resolve it.”
And if Ms. Gardner is right, you’ll have a nice nap pod to retreat to after all that hard work.
But is that enough? As much as I’d love my own personal concierge service a la Google, you have to wonder if the Silicon Valley startup style will really work for everyone.
Posted
by
cyndee miller
on: September 27, 2016 03:04 PM |
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Comments (3)
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Farhan Liaquat
Community Champion
Senior Consultant| Flicanada.com
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
True, everyone has to find a balance. The PM is really in the spotlight and must use innovation to drive things.
Andreas Madjari
Senior Consultant| consigma Management Beratung GmbH
Vienna, Austria
There will continue to be a certain diversity in workplaces and workplace styles. I agree that lots of "routine" and administrative tasks will be covered by automated processes. Still the "brain works" and creativity will remain with us human beings - and some of the truely hard work too.
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