Future of Work – How It Could Impact You as a Program Manager?

Every noble work is at first impossible – Thomas Carlyle

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s a former program manager and PMO director, I’ve wondered about the future of program management.
Will it be a skill that will be in high demand?
 

There is no way to predict the future in detail. There is no question but that the future will be radically different and a very uncertain world. With a quickly growing global economy, there will be significantly more competition in the world markets. We will see sharp rise in disruptive innovation, new technologies, new business models, and new industries.
 
What will be the future of program management? The answer to that question really centers on whether or not the economy will be driven by small, innovative companies or powerful large organizations. The big looming question is, will large companies be able to survive in a disruptive world?
 
Luke Johnson, CEO of Risk Capital Partners, writes in Financial Times that “research shows that new and small companies create almost all the new private sector jobs, and are disproportionately innovative. By contrast, large companies are most forced to generate value through financial engineering.”
 
Peter Drucker said, “Business is about marketing and innovation. Anything beyond this is a cost.” The big question moving forward, is who can best market and innovate. In my book Creating You Inc., I suggest that the old ways that large companies generated a competitive advantage (e.g., high capital investments, economies of scales, patents) will become less and less important. In the past, only large companies could afford the exorbitant price tag of branding. Today, marketing is less of a barrier for small companies. Small companies are more agile and innovative however, they lack the capital that large companies enjoy.
 

It is important for you to develop your own conclusions about the future of program management. The purpose of this article is to share with you different facts and opinions to help you to begin that process. A key to your future success will be in your ability to understand important trends, to anticipate the future, and to develop products and services that meet new needs.
 

A megatrend leads to profound and wide reaching changes. It is so massive that it figuratively moves mountains, cities, and continents. A megatrend is at the root of many other trends. Game-changers are not as certain as megatrends; although, the probability of their occurrence is high. More importantly, the impact of the game-changers is high.
 
Every four years, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) facilitates the development of a “Global Trends” report. To generate these reports, the NIC conducts conferences, workshops, and individual meetings with scholars, experts, universities, think tanks, science labs, businesses, and government institutions from around the world. NIC’s objective is to detect and anticipate future trends. These reports are used by the White House, US Intelligence Community, other government entities, educational institutions, businesses, and non-profit organizations for planning purposes.
 
Let’s quickly review the “Spread of Democracy” as well as the megatrends and game-changers identified by the National Intelligence Council (NIC). To get the most of this content, consider jotting your thoughts down our thoughts about the needs and opportunities these trends present. Also, think about what doors will be shut down.

• The Spread of Democracy: We are just beginning to see the impact of the spread of democracy. Freedom touches and addresses one of the deepest and most profound hungers that we have as humans.
• Individual Employment: With the spread of democracy, we are seeing the growth of individual empowerment. This is an exciting megatrend. It offers wonderful opportunities for people throughout the world to enjoy basic freedoms and to grow, learn, improve their circumstances, and to have a better life.
• Diffusion of Power: The National Intelligence Council believes that by 2030, no single country will have a unified, prevailing voice.
• Changes in Demographic Patterns: There are four demographic trends that will shape future economic and political conditions: 1. Widespread aging, 2. Shrinking number of youthful countries, 3. Migration, 4. Urbanization
• Growing Food, Water, and Energy Needs: With a growing population, expanding middle-class.

The six game-changers NIC identified include:

• Crisis-Prone Global Economy: The international economy is a crisis-prone economy with much vulnerability. An economic problem in one country can impact the rest of the world.
• The Governance Gap: As democracy spreads, more people will want to have a voice in influencing their local and national governments.
• The Potential for Increased Conflict: The risks of interstate conflicts are increasing. The U.S. is less willing to interfere in international affairs. With a growing number of influential players in the world arena, working together to solve international issues could easily be a problem.
• Wider Scope of Regional Instability: South Asia and the Middle East are regions where there is the greatest potential for conflict. These are also areas where battles could easily trigger wider conflicts that would have global impact.
• The Impact of New Technologies: There are a number of technologies being developed that could radically change the future.
• The Role of the United States: The big question is what role will the U.S. have in the future and what will be the impact of a world where there are more players at the decision-making tables

 

In 2014, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) produced a comprehensive reported titled, “Future of Work, A Journey to 2022.” In it,

PwC outlines three future working world scenarios. Each world is not mutually exclusive from others. In other words, the actual future world could easily be a mix of the three models.

“Small Is Beautiful: Companies will break down into collaboration of networks of smaller organizations. Specialization will dominate the world economy.”

“Corporate is King: Big company capitalism rules as organizations continue to grow bigger and individual preferences trump beliefs about social responsibility.”

“Companies Care: Social responsibility will dominate the corporate agenda with concerns about changes in climate and demographics, and embedding sustainability becoming the key drivers of business.”
 

The IBM Global Business Services Division believes that the digital technologies will lead to drastic changes in the economy. In the Digital Reinvention report titled “Digital Reinvention” prepared by Saul Berman, Anthony Marshall, and Nadia Leonelli, they describe how the economy will change. They explain that there are three different economies at play: 1. the organization-centered economy, 2. the individual-centered economy, and 3. the “everyone-to-everyone” economy.

“Organization-centered economies are comprised of industries characterized by high barriers to entry and capital-intense production with larger enterprises controlling product.”
The organization-centered economy was most prominent during the early part of the 20th century. This economy was driven and dominated by producer-driven consumption. Ford and its Model T is an example. They designed, manufactured, and sold standardized cars.

Today, we are in the individual-centered economy. In other words, individual needs and wants are driving the economy. Companies today are developing differentiated products based on different customers. Additionally, they are focused on providing customers a seamless experience across channels. Furthermore, they are beginning to tap into analytics from their big data sources to help drive their products and operations.

The “everyone-to-everyone” economy is “characterized by hyper-connectedness and collaboration of consumers and organizations across the gamut of value chain activities: co-design, co-creation, co-production, co-marketing, co-distribution and co-funding. In this integrated system, consumers and organizations work together to create value with transparency driving trust and effectiveness. The implication for value creation and allocation will be profound. Kiva.org, the microfinance non-profit site, is an example.”
 

Companies typically staff up with temps during a recovery and convert them to permanent workers as conditions improve. That hasn’t been happening. According to an article in Forbes written by Elaine Pofeldt, “currently about 20-30% of the workforce in Fortune 100 companies is made up of ‘contingent’ workers: that percentage is expected to swell to 50% by 2020.” As of 2013, the number of temporary jobs rose more than 50 percent since the recession in 2009.
 
The use of temporary employees has expanded into all sectors (e.g., lawyers, doctors). U.S., Adecco predicts that the “rate of growth in contingent workers will be 3-4 times the growth rate of traditional jobs and will soon comprise at least 30% or more of the global workforce.”
 
These temporary employment trends are symptomatic of a more basic dynamic. Companies do not last as long. Fortune started tracking Fortune 500 companies in 1955. Of the 500 companies on that list, only 71 were still there in 2008. Also, “a full one-third of the companies listed in the 1979 Fortune 500 had vanished by 1983…”
 
It is not certain that this trend toward temporary and contract work will continue. Unless businesses and the economy stabilize, however, this trend will likely continue. One thing is certain. To assume the economic environment will be the same as when our fathers or grandfathers had long-term and even life-time jobs—isn’t wise. It is estimated that workers today between the ages of 21 to 31 will likely have between 12 to 15 jobs.
 

In many ways, I believe that program managers are better prepared for the future than most. In addition to having strong program management strengths, they often have outstanding product, project, and portfolio skills. They also typically have good product launch and marketing skills. It will also be important to have subject-matter experience. To prepare for the future, my recommendation is that program managers also find and focus on a particular niche where they can become an expert and even thought-leader someday.
 
As subject-matter expertise, innovation, and technology become the backbone of future success, having the knowledge and skill sets below will become important across all fields or niches.

1) Vision: The ability to see real needs and solutions and inspire others to work with you to work toward a compelling vision of the future
2) Strategic Foresight: The capacity to identify and understand relevant trends. Being able to collect, interpret, and predict outcomes based on data and information; the skill of accurately forecasting outcomes and developing effective strategies and plans
3) Problem-Solving: The skill to accurately understand root causes and develop solutions that successfully address problems
4) Innovation: The capacity to create new or significantly improved products and services
5) Thought Leadership: The skill to become an authority in your specialization or niche; committed to the field and to a better future
6) Technology: The skill of understanding relevant technologies, seeing how to leverage them, see where they are going, and how to use or develop new technologies
7) Marketing: The ability to understand current and future target customers and their needs; the skill of communicating in a way that helps people to learn about you or your organization and to want to purchase from you.

 

Accelerate your progress in defining and progressing towards your business or career sweet spot.
 
A Creating You, Inc. workshop helps you to prepare for a different future. It helps to move you away from a dependency on employers, to creating a future where you are in the driver’s seat.
 
The workshop will give you a significant jumpstart in discovering your ideal sweet spot, developing, and beginning to implement your action plans to create your desired business or career.
 
A workshop is a highly interactive experience that builds upon the insights provided in the best-selling book Creating You, Inc.
 
During the workshop, you will enjoy rolling-up your sleeves and getting to work. You will also receive coaching along the way to help you succeed.

1) Discover Your Ideal Sweet Spot – to help optimize your contributions and success.
2) Understand Trends Redefining the World – to help you identify and understand challenges and opportunities.
3) Learn Powerful New Keys to Business Success – to help improve your chances of starting, growing, or being a part of a successful business.
4) See What Careers will be in High Demand
5) Plan to Become a Thought Leader – so you can become a major contributor in your field, innovate, and grow your business.
6) Conduct Market Research to Find Opportunities – to help you discover niches, products, and services to possibly focus on.
7) Develop Your Compelling Thought Leader Products and Services – to help you make a real difference and establish your business.
8) Discover How to Market Your Products and Services in Today’s World.

To learn more about the workshops visit Creating-You-Inc.com/workshops