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H
ow can we create the ultimate
workforce? The rule or power of
three suggests that things that
come in threes are funnier, more satisfying
and/or more powerful. Take for example the
three little pigs in fairytales, the Holy Trinity
or scoring a hat-trick in football. What if we
applied this concept to how we approach
empowering our employees?
In a new report from IDC, Becoming
Future of Work Ready: Follow the Leaders,
there are three pillars that underpin the
foundation of digital success. These are:
culture; workspace; and workforce. Only
the organisations that adopt this business
mantra and are agile enough to innovate
against a challenging market landscape, will
disrupt and survive. The rest – those that
cannot adapt to global changing working
practices – will eventually wither.
Each pillar on its own will drive incremental
change but only together will organisations
truly achieve the desired impact of
transforming the business to compete in the
digital era.
Culture
An organisation’s culture can often be its
biggest asset – would Netflix have emerged
as a poster child of digital disruption
had it not turned the traditional view of
corporate culture on its head by empowering
employees and asking people to take on the
responsibility of policing themselves?
But conversely, when unattended to,
an organisation’s culture takes on a life
of its own, often deviating further and
further from its intended goal. Not only do
unhealthy cultures demoralise employees;
they alienate customers, ruin reputations
and destroy value.
Businesses that fail to create a culture of
trust and openness, whereby employees
have access to the right tools to be agile and
productive, will result in a workforce with
little to no motivation to change the way
things are done, directed by a ‘command
and control’ approach to working life. By
instilling a culture of fairness all the way
from the board to frontline staff, you’ll see
a positive impact in turnover, output and
employee satisfaction. In our own research,
empowered employees – those who are
www.intelligentcio.com
Charles Barratt, Principal Business Solutions
Architect, EMEA EUC Strategic Accounts,
VMware
“
ORGANISATIONS
NEED TO
RECOGNISE
THE POWER
TECHNOLOGY
CAN HAVE TO
TRANSFORM
THEIR DIGITAL
WORKSPACE.
granted greater access to the applications
they prefer and need to do their job, are
almost five times more likely to report gains
in their productivity.
By empowering employees, companies
will see a shift to businesses powered by
employee initiative and management trust.
This rebalancing gives frontline employees
the tools and the mindset freedom they
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