Even before the situation turned
into a full-blown pandemic, there
was pressure on us all to change
our work behaviors, but the inertia was
stubbornly evident as we had no incentive
to change. Something has had to give to
compensate for what social distancing
and containment have taken away from
us. Of note, is that the corporate world is
taking the lead on this one. For ease of our
understanding, we have both 'real-world'
and 'virtual-world' activities.
Real-World activities are those things that
humans continue to do in the natural state
such as eating, walking, sleeping, procreating
and just about all things whose
physical actualization has no substitute.
Virtual-World activities are those that
technology has stepped in to provide us
with alternative ways to actualize them.
These obviously include all the things
that our phones, computers and robots
are getting us to achieve. Virtual-World
innovations include those creations that
make us achieve with minimal activity,
what we would otherwise only attain
NEW WORK ORDER
How We Shall Work
Now And In Post-Corona
Times
through a point A to point B significant
human motion.
There was a time when our working day
was marked by a predictable percentage
of time split between real and virtual
activities.
Depending on resistance levels, some
people were 99% real-world, and 1%
virtual-world with the 1% being the
phone time when the boss says, "come to
my office".
Now the ratios are changing dramatically
and numbers seldom lie. Those who will
work virtually and remotely more of
the time will be cheaper for employers
because they will not require expensive
infrastructure, aka, the costly trappings
of office. Or those hefty perks that come
with the territory.
The real-world inclined types shall find the
going tough. The guy that finds meaning
in keeping the corner office will have
unknowingly triggered the countdown to
his exit. Tic toc tic toc.
The real-world aspects that were at our
own expense will change too. Those
who have wardrobes that were tastefully
packed with those 'dress-to-kill' cloths
will after all, now dress well only for the
watchmen or the domestic servants because
we will now work more from home
or away from consumers.
By David Mugun
The real-world aspects that were at our
own expense will change too. Those who
have wardrobes that were tastefully packed
with those 'dress-to-kill' cloths will after
all, now dress well only for the watchmen
or the domestic servants because we will
now work more from home or away from
consumers. Perhaps you could start by
hiring out your wardrobe to real-worlders.
Those whose egos are symbolized by the
cars that they drive will have to contend
with a life of lesser car models or even
with public transport. You may never need
to drive to work again unless the car is
actually your office.
Terminologies such as 'the boss' shall be
replaced by 'the team leader' who will dial
in to invite the team for a virtual meeting.
The frequent business traveller will have
to adjust to virtual-world dynamics and
work closer home.
Let us all take a moment to dare the new
work order. As a rule, whenever a new era
begins, yesterday's heroes become today's
unwanted villains. Let me expound on
this. When we lived in the hunter-gatherer
era, the muscular hunter was king. He had
several wives because without a fridge,
he brought home the kill often and the
family blossomed as it was well-fed and
felt safe in able hands.
When we moved to the agrarian age, the
farmed territories now belonged to early
adapters who in many cases were less
muscular as farming implements and oxen
replaced human muscles. The hunting
macho men who had derived maximum
respect from brute force found no need to
own anything and still continued to hunt
from farms. In the new dispensation, this
was now known as robbery with violence
and it was dangerous to themselves and
society at large.
Their big egos denied them the grace
that was necessary in summoning the
calmness needed, to go down the pecking
order as guards at the farm-gates, without
much drama. It was a total stepped down
conversion of yesteryears importance
from grace to grass. This is what happens
when one is left behind by the prevailing
fundamentals. Some adapt but only to
take advantage of others in order to keep
them backwards. Hackers of the virtualworld's
enabling devices and systems are
hunter-gatherer reincarnates or remnants
at best.
So in the near future, that brilliant
salesman with no virtual-world dexterity
will soon be nothing more than a talkative
guy, because those who employ Artificial
Intelligence will reach their audiences
more effectively. This is similar to what
became of the nasty typist eons ago when
computers democratized that space in the
office.
That favorite school driver may soon have
little to do when virtual classes crystalize.
Not even activating that standard clause
in the contract that reads: "and all other
ad hoc duties that may be assigned from
time to time", may save some jobs.
If you are squarely a real-world worker, it
had better be in areas that are irreplaceable
like for the time being, pilots who unlike
in the case of drones and with virtualworld
autopilot technology in use, are still
needed in the cockpit. This will be the case
for a while.
Virtual-world ways are happening on
us like a pandemic because technologies
continue to converge at faster rates all the
time and with every new concept, more
real-world jobs sadly vanish. The biggest
enabler, the smartphone, is available across
all income levels and with WiFi being
commonplace today, literally, the jigger
infested man and Don Corleone whose
spirit actively lives on in 90% of today's
business people, are both phone-smart.
Technology is the equalizer.
The thresholds for traditional barriers to
entry in all sectors have come down. What
required brick-and-mortar investments
now has numerous alternatives. The office
is now more of a concept than an actual
physical place.
Moving forward, whereas some oncemighty
resources may count for little
pretty soon, it is the ability to accept
and quickly move on to new opportunities
that will matter the most. Looking
back is akin to being Lot's wife. She paid
the ultimate price for doubting and disobeying
the forward ever command with
her life.
But all is not lost. The saying that "there
is no such thing as right or wrong but it is
only our thinking that makes it so" cannot
have had a better timing than now. Agility
is the new normal.
To the dinosaur that once outcompeted
all creatures on resources, we know that
the more things changed around it, the
more they remained the same within it
to a point where its continued survival
was impossible, given the prevailing
conditions. And over time, it became
extinct and is now a part of history as a
museum relic alongside early man and his
crude tools.
And moving forward, whereas some oncemighty
resources may count for little
pretty soon, it is the ability to accept and
quickly move on to new opportunities that
will matter the most. Looking back is akin
to being Lot's wife. She paid the ultimate
price for doubting and disobeying the
forward ever command with her life.
The virtual-world brings with it infinite
possibilities that will have something for
everyone who steps forward to embrace
it lest they too, fall prey to the dinosaur's
trap or suffer the kind of fate that befell
Lot's wife.
For the muscular hunter-gatherer macho
guy, all was not lost as much needed
relief came via sports such as wrestling
and boxing and even ironman events.
There will be a genuine need for realworld
experiences but they will cost you
time, money and energy. There will be
an uptake in sporting activities as the
sedentary natured virtual-world, shall
require a retinue of counterbalancing
activities from the real-world, to burn
off steam and accumulated calories. This
uptake will be commensurate with the
increased technology-based consumption
and usage. Walking to work or town falls
in here too.
The game of golf that has been on a global
decline lately, has found a post-corona
boost as it will afford many, a rare realworld
experience. After all, all the skills
that the hunter-gatherer needed to bring
him success from an expedition, are the
same ones needed on the golf course albeit
without gathering other players golf balls
or the spilling of blood. It is just the tools
and purpose that differ. It is the rewired
person's updated version of a hunt, and
now just for the points.
And just as golf is a game that
allows temporary relief when you are
disadvantaged by manmade obstacles on
the course, Corona too has brought us the
same relief from offending breaths now
musked away from us by decree in the
same manner that the frequent violators
of personal spaces on queues have been
put at bay by social distancing guidelines.
Alvin Tofler, the late futurist, said that:
"it is those that embrace the technologies
of the time that will lead a rewarding
lifestyle." It may come to pass that
having a post-Covid-19 mentality of
embracing present-day technologies, will
be paramount in navigating the world
that's ahead of us. So belt up for the new
work order, as it has stopped knocking on
the door. The delivery has arrived. But stay
safe.
David Mugun is a Trainer,
Management Consultant and an
Author. You can commune with him
on this or related matters via mail at:
[email protected].
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