Why Traditional Management is Going Away
The future of work is coach-centric leadership that empowers employees
We’re experiencing an extraordinary time of awakening in human history. It’s one of those turning points that forever alters the future of humanity and society. We’re examining personal values, governance, education, and how we work. All are intertwined because each affects the others.
Due to the Great Coronavirus Remote Work experiment (as I refer to it), businesses and employees in particular are reconsidering how we structure work, productivity, team building, leadership and work/life balance. One of the major changes we’ll see over the coming years is a move away from traditional management roles as we’ve known them.
It’s a well-established fact that most dissatisfied employees leave their job due to poor management, not because of the work itself. Which means it’s mostly relationships and hierarchical structures in the workplace that cause costly turnover. Countless hours of coaching various levels of employees within organizations has repeatedly borne out this fact.
Since the advent of the industrial age, business owners have grappled with how best to build productive teams and manage their organization for maximal success. But as Rita Gunther McGrath explains in a Harvard Business Review article, the nature of management has changed in response to how our economy changes. Management once focused on the literal management of company resources. With the growth of the knowledge age of work, management became more about managing people as resources. McGrath proffers what we term “management” is once again evolving: “All the questions about management are back on the table – and we can’t find the answers soon enough.”
I believe the future of work will mean flattening hierarchical structures and a greater focus on teams coming together to accomplish goals. Management as we know it will go away because everyone within an organization will learn how to be a coach-centric leader. Instead of individuals at varying levels of an organization tasked with overseeing outcomes (old school management), everyone will be trained and taught how to be maximize their personal and professional development through powerful internal and external coaching.
The future of work is conscious leaders who create an environment where their teams can flourish holistically. Work is more than just a paycheck or a promotion; it’s where you stretch yourself and get to share your talents with the world. Where you work may change, but the opportunity to continually grow and thrive personally and professionally will be a hallmark of all great employers.
Professional development and adult-learning expert Dr. Robert Kegan contends that work will be more than just a place where you learn technical, industry-specific skills. Happiness at work will include “the satisfactions of experiencing one’s own growth and unfolding, becoming more of the person one was meant to be, bringing more of oneself into the world.”
These changes are inevitable because employees and organization leaders recognize things can be done better and with greater empathy. We’re experiencing this transition right now. It’s exciting to be part of the evolution of work-as-we-know-it into something that will be so much more enriching and rewarding to ourselves, our communities, and the world.
How will you adapt and lead through this transition to the future of work?
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
Meredith’s coaching helps conscious leaders step courageously into the future of work. Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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