Organizations are changing Now, as the digital disruption is approaching the plateau of productivity, the next disruption is emerging, namely how we organize us. Focus is going to be on organizing, not organizations 1: Smaller teams 2: Relations beat skills 3: Intense sprints 4: Everyone is a leader 5: Listen, then decide 6: Sense-making 7: Step down from the Ivory Tower 8: Follower-ship beats leadership 9: Not more, but better

1. 9 elements of The Future Of Work
6-Apr-2015
Erik Korsvik Østergaard, Partner, Bloch&Østergaard I/S
Because going to work should be nice, great, and awesome

2. Smaller
teams
Relations
beat skills
Intense
sprints
Everyone is a
leader
Listen,
then decide
Sense-making
Step down
from the Ivory
Tower
Follower-ship
beats
leadership
Not more,
but better
Organizations are changing
Now, as the digital disruption is
approaching the plateau of
productivity, the next disruption is
emerging, namely how we
organize us.
Focus is going to be on
organizing, not organizations
© Erik Korsvik Østergaard 2015, but please distribute and reuse
All pictures are from Unsplash

3. 1: Smaller teams
Team size is going down.
We'll see more and more teams with 5 or fewer
members. The reasons for this is agility, less time spent
on misunderstandings, and personal closeness/intimacy.
Relations are important!

4. 2: Relations beat skills
In the old world we focused on skills and price.
Now we focus on relations and effect.
It's thoroughly documented (e.g. by MIT), that teams that are
established based on their internal relations perform better than
teams that are established based on skills.
Also, social selling and social business is build on relations.

5. 3: Intense sprints
Agile and SCRUM is winning ground.
We'll see even more of that, even where the sprint length is as
short as days or hours. There is a reason for the power of the
Pomodoro Technique and the efficiency of the modern workshop
techniques.
It works, it's fun, and highly productive.

6. 4: Everyone is a leader
In the future, everyone can be a leader - and wants to be. Surely
the leadership shifts based on the task at hand, but everyone will
have the intention to lead and make a difference.
There will be three roles in teams going forward:
• The manager, who gets things done, cleans up, finalizes, makes
sure we stick to the plan.
• The leader, who makes sure that we go in the right direction,
and that everyone follows.
• The entrepreneur, who challenges the status quo and
introduces new ways of solving the problems or providing the
delivery.
Each employee will surely have a preference to one of the roles,
but based on both the actual task/action, the specific team, and
the impact of the delivery, you have the role that fits the
situation. The team and your leader will support and
coach/mentor you on daily basis.
Note how the three roles match Gartner's model for strategic
actions: Run the business - grow the business - transform the
business.

7. 5: Listen, then decide
Everyone can make decisions.
This is a natural consequence of the drive to push the mandate
down in the organization. Since everyone knows WHY we do what
we do, everyone is equipped to make decisions.
Sure, you should seek advisory and counseling in the organization,
and then you can make the decision. The larger impact of the
decision, the more advisory you should seek.

8. 6: Sense-making
It has to make sense.
Going to work must make sense to you, to the team, and
to the receiver of the product/service.
When the management team says "jump", you don't
ask "how high?", but "why, and who will it benefit?"

9. 7: Step down from the Ivory Tower
Going forward you don't get respect from sitting in the
Ivory Tower, thinking big thoughts and laying five-year
plans.
Step down. Write some code. Open PowerPoint or
Photoshop. Take part in the actual work in the team.
Contribute.

10. 8: Follower-ship beats leadership
It's important that you know how to make
people follow you, not just be a beacon
and an inspiration. You must know how to
motivate people, also the millennials.
Relations beat skills.

11. 9: Not more, but better
In a fully globalized world, size
doesn't matter. Effect does.
Don't build more, but better things.

12. Bloch&Østergaard I/S
Because going to work should be nice, great, and awesome
12
Erik Korsvik Østergaard, Partner, Bloch&Østergaard I/S
@ErikQstergaard
erik@blochoestergaard.dk