"Workshock Part III"
Kirk SnyderDecember 30, 2011
"Self-induced stagnation" is the term The Economist recently used to describe the world's faltering economies and warned that bad policy decisions in 2012 could prevent recovery. Not that I disagree with the premise, but there is more to this story than simply decisions made by top political and business leaders. I coined the term workshock to help me articulate and explore our transition from one incarnation of the world of work to another. What I believe people are overlooking is the role that the concept of workshock plays in the potential recovery. For example, when you consider that the American worker is the very backbone of the U.S. economy, ignoring this game-changing rewiring of the beliefs and values of today's workers is arguably reckless. Radically different interpretations of the meaning of work due to our ever increasing "knowingness" across society as a direct result of being connected to all that exists in the world can indeed undermine any type of meaningful recovery. As part of my new research on this subject, one Fortune 500 top executive I interviewed described to me his own workshock experience, saying, “It’s like going to work one day and suddenly all of the frameworks you’ve used to benchmark and guide you in your career have become muddled. It’s confusing, frustrating, and frightening.” Understanding the effects of workshock, the personal impact that workers experience when these two different interpretations of the meaning of work collide is gut level and therefore integral to economic recovery.
Workshock is intensely emotional and highly personal. It is also unavoidable because on any evolutionary timeline there is a turbulent period--the transition storm—when old perceptions fight new perceptions as one era ends and another begins. All of my research indicates that we are well into the initial winds of this storm in the world of work. So while we look at policies, we need to also look at who today's employees have evolved into as workers as a result of personal connection. Workplace values, indeed the very meaning of work, is being redefined. As the force that will carry out the recovery mission, neglecting this systemic reconfiguration of today's workers can only contribute to even more "stagnation."
Reader Comments (3)
My company is cut in half from technology and no one agrees how to use it to communicate with customers.
I do see this difference from a few years ago. Is there medicine for workshock or is it just going to be survival of the fittest?
Just read your HuffPo blog and why aren't more people talking about this? It pisses me off that no one is looking at the cause and only looking to people to blame.