Is your organisation Fit for the Future?

Looking at social and economic trends, transforming today's workplace into tomorrow's and the implications for employers.  This thought piece  Tomorrow's Workplace  draws on the thinking and writing of many others and seeks to encourage robust discussion of what employers need to do to meet the challenges of the future.

Many of  the things that women need to compete effectively in the workplace are likely to be part of the future. Greater workplace democracy will give women more voice and a fairer environment in which to work.

Key points:

• knowledge leads future wealth creation
• demographic trends give women workers more power in redefining how, when and where work gets done
• globalisation and technology mean that talent can be sources anywhere and put into virtual teams
• greater democracy in the world combined with more educated workers puts pressure on employers to be more democratic and embrace values
• employers need to adopt new work paradigms for the future and discard the vestiges of the old industrial society.
• leaders and managers need to reflect the diversity of the workforce , their customers and the multi- cultural world in which they operate.

' we live in the future with every new second that passes- it seeds are planted in the present just as the present is rooted in the past '

What does it mean for women?

• greater democracy will give women more voice and a fairer environment in which to work
• the ability to participate on global terms will offer high profile assignments and access to senior jobs for women who want to work flexibly and / or remotely.
• the ability to customise careers and move through a corporate lattice will give women more choice at different stages of their lives
• a collaborative approach is consistent with women's leadership styles as is a flatter organisation
• portfolio working will give women more options and increased outsourcing will give women entrepreneurs more scope
• social networking empowers women who have been left out of formal and informal networks populated mainly by men
• a values driven, win win organisation is more appealing to women