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The work, workers, and workplace of the future will continue to undergo dramatic transformation. So said Shirley Davis, CEO of SDS Global Enterprises Inc. on Tuesday at the 2020 CREW Network Conference: A Virtual Experience.
According to Davis, research suggests that by 2030 workers will be older and younger at the same time, more educated and less skilled, hyper-connected through new technologies, and more ethnically diverse. So what new leadership models will be needed? Davis says that inclusiveness is key to achieve high performance and innovation.
“There are globally changing demographics that are impacting the workplace culture” Davis said. “If you look around, you are seeing different realities and in this time, we have had to make shifts on everything. We are living in a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and are dealing with the realities of having to continue to rescale and upscale and at the end of the day, it means you can’t be the same as a year ago.”
She also pointed out that our biases affect our decision making and interactions in our daily lives. “The new workforce is that people want to collaborate, have fun etc. most of our reality today is that we are at home working. How ready is your organization to deal with these workforce shifts and the global and diverse nature of the workforce and marketplace?
While she says that there is power in diversity, what is more important than just checking that diversity box is that you have to get to know people. “If you really want to value diversity and inclusion, you have to get around people who are not like you and allow them to teach you things you don’t know,” she said. “You provide them what they need.”
But to be successful, she said, is to take it one step further. “You have to remove the systemic barrier that just won’t work in 2020 or 2021. Remove the barriers that keep people from being able to participate,” she said. “Diversity is about inviting people to the party but inclusion is inviting them to dance. Belonging is that you play the music or cook what they like.”
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