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Building the Next-gen of Think-force of the future
Building the Next-gen of Think-force of the future

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Below are some of the learnings from the discussion on “Building the Nextgen Think-Force of The Future - The Perfect Storm” from the 13th NASSCOM Design and Engineering Summit held in Oct 2021

 

There is a dire need to develop the next generation of workforce or think-force, especially given the technological advancements and innovation in the industry. This cultural shift has only been intensified due to the Covid pandemic, with the future of work changing at a much faster pace than previously envisaged. Not only is the workforce expected to continuously up-skill, but the future workforce also needs to be industry-ready and skilled with the required job skillsets to increase their employability. Post pandemic, with the remote working largely prevalent across all industries, it often becomes difficult to cultivate an innovation culture when teams are dispersed across the country.

 

How has the expectations of the workforce changed over the past many years as companies aim to build the think-force of the future?

One significant change seen in today’s workforce is that they expect a lot of empowerment, ownership, engagement, and communication and the companies need to balance and manage that. Digitalization has enabled sweeping changes everywhere, whether in engineering or manufacturing or any other industry. Companies like Airbus have long encouraged intrapreneurs, who have taken an idea and worked on it and then made sure of its usefulness for the company. With automation, the skills needed are being re-defined. Therefore, there must be a continuous effort made to empower, and engage with the team through clear and transparent communication.

 

Is remote working expected to hamper innovation in the future?

Some of the myths around innovation have been broken since the pandemic began and remote working became the norm across all industries. While it was earlier believed that innovation can only happen when individuals come together and meet and sit and brainstorm together. But the lockdown enabled the companies to innovate and create products even with remote working and lockdown. Innovation is possible if one really thinks innovatively and this sets the template going forward regardless of the pandemic. Teams spread across the globe can come together and co-create innovative products and services.

 

What are some of the leadership behaviours which must change to foster more innovation?

One of the first things that leadership must focus on is the way their company is operated. One must understand and take heed of the systems in place to take care of the smallest things, the many approvals needed etc. These determine whether the company has created a culture of empowerment or not. From a talent perspective, with the availability of borderless talent, companies are no longer stuck to hiring from tier 1 cities only, rather the companies are going where the talent is available. In addition, companies are also now trying to operationalize the hybrid way of working.

 

How are companies creating a diverse and inclusive workforce to drive better innovation and outcomes for the think-force of the future?

Diversity is now looked upon as an opportunity, whether in terms of cultures, beliefs, ages, backgrounds, genders, etc. In the last few years, even diversity has become very diverse. Now it has become more multi-dimensional than what it was a few years ago. These differences help analyse a particular problem from different points of view and at the end increases the creativity and innovation of the solution proposed. In addition, diversity is needed at all levels, even at the leadership positions. Therefore, a company must actively work towards increasing the diversity of its workforce.

 

What kind of organizational culture is being created for the workforce of the future, especially post pandemic?

Many employees have placed a lot of importance in the organization’s culture before joining these teams. The leadership of the organization must ponder over various aspects. What kind of aspirational behaviour should be prevalent in the organization? What kind of structures and framework enable collaboration, innovation, agility, and speed in the organization? At the year end reviews, are there top-down reviews or is the organization working towards enabling a culture to remove any roadblocks whenever bottlenecks occur. Is the leadership acting as a role model while creating this kind of culture? If they are not, is the company tolerating that behaviour and for how long?

The management must articulate the behaviour it wants from its leadership and the organization’s culture, create a support system around it and lastly not tolerating behaviour which are counter to the overall organization culture.

Creating the think-force of the future depends on a lot of factors and the organizations must take into account all these aspects and work together with their teams to create a holistic environment which fosters a culture of collaboration, ingenuity, innovation, agility, etc., while maintaining a healthy culture where team members can thrive.


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Vandhna Babu
Principal Analyst - Research

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