PRACTICAL PREPARATION: PREPARING EMPLOYEES FOR FUTURE CHANGE

By April Gorelik

This year the theme of the Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues was "The Future of Work." With bright eyes, cups filled to the brim with coffee, and sleek, but slightly used notebooks, HR professionals from throughout the southern United States, flocked into the sessions ready to embrace the future. Topics such as "How to Stay Relevant in a Changing Workforce," “HR Transformation for the Future Will Take More than a ‘Can Do’ Attitude," and of course, "The Future of Work," were the talk of the symposium. 

And while notes were taken, and discussions were had, not a single session attempted to broach the forbidden question of how to, very practically and tangibly, get an organization, let alone the workforce, ready for the future. 

Sure, developing strong relationships with employees is important, and making sure recruiting strategies are in place for a variety of applicants is something human resources professionals should be discussing. But what could be more important than equipping both organizations, and the employees that keep them running, with the skills to think ahead, plan for their preferred future, and be prepared for constant unexpected change? 

For organizations that operate quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year, outfitting their workforces with the aptitude to look further and anticipate change is typically at the bottom of the to-do list. It just feels like too big of an ask. Instead, most organizations are interested in ensuring that stockholders remain happy, which means bringing in revenue now, not 20 years from now. Rolling out a training series on futures simply feels too expensive and probably too difficult to be worth the effort. 

From my perspective, as both a practicing HR professional and a professional futurist, they’re wrong.

Guiding employees to think ahead is not difficult, time-consuming, or expensive. In fact, most of these skills can be taught and developed all while employees are doing their regular jobs.  At the end of the day, providing employees with the skills to think ahead and plan for a preferred future will help to grow organizations past what they thought would ever be possible. 

To prove this point, here are six easy-to-implement, practical, and tangible tools that employers of any type can use to help their workforce think more like a futurist. 

THINKING IN SYSTEMS

Teaching employees how to think in systems may be the most important thing an organization can do to help its people prepare for the future. Every employee should understand how the entire organization functions, the impacts each department has on the other, and how outside factors influence internal performance. This includes all of the systems both internal and external that the organization depends upon. It is only then that employees will be able to make informed decisions that will have a positive impact on the entire organization. 

However, most employees, regardless of the size of an organization, rarely understand what other departments do and how their work influences everyone else. Training could solve this problem. Systems thinking could easily be incorporated into onboarding sessions or regular training sessions. Take a day to work with employees to build a systems map of the organization and then toss in external factors to help them understand the implications of change. Once the team understands how to think in systems, incorporate it into project pitches by having teams outline the organizational system and then convey how their proposed project will alter that system(s) in both positive and negative ways. If just one of these six suggestions is tried, it should be this one. 

SCENARIO BUILDING

Scenario building is a fun and creative way for employees to explore possible futures. 

To make it effective you will want to use it in conjunction with some of the other ideas I recommend. After understanding how the organization operates as a whole and the impacts that outside factors may have, and after a bit of research, employees should be able to begin to imagine what their lives and the organization’s life may look like ten, fifteen, or even twenty years from now. 

Give employees some space to write a scenario and get creative, then share it on the organization’s intranet. You will be amazed at how creative the workforce can be when given the opportunity to flex their creative muscles. 

After a while, the organization could compile the scenarios into a digital book or maybe even a deck of cards. An organization could hold contests annually to see who could put together the most creative scenario, allowing employees to vote. The ideas that come from the scenarios will be worth keeping! Organizations should also be sure that leadership and executive teams are holding regular reviews, taking the most preferred future scenarios and exploring them further. While this is a fun and easy way to get creative, it also serves a greater purpose. By allowing employees the opportunity to imagine possible futures, the organization as a whole will start to become less reactionary and instead begin to think and work proactively. 

GAMES

Games are an excellent way to help employees explore uncharted territory and think outside the box. The great news is there are a number of futures games already out there from which to choose. 

For example, IMPACT, a game developed by the innovation and design firm Idea Couture is intended to help people expand their ability to anticipate and respond to constant and unexpected change. The game allows players to explore unanticipated changes and the implications that may come along with those changes. What better way to explore the unknown than to "experience" it via a board game? 

The best part about games is that they don’t have a real impact, so people are free to try riskier moves without the repercussions the real world has to offer. Try setting out some board games in the break rooms, opening up the Monday morning meeting with a quick game, or incorporating a game into a training session. Futures games are an excellent way to get employee's gears turning and ideas flowing in a fluid more organic manner. They can also help embolden decision making when it comes to the real world, helping employees learn to be more strategic. 

LEARNING LABS

Change is scary and for many people it is hard. Just like games allow people to explore the unknown without the fear of real repercussions, research and experimentation allow employees to try before they buy in. Giving them time to explore and make their minds up about new technology will encourage adoption and it may help the organization find flaws they hadn’t previously seen before. 

Many large companies already use this type of learning and exploration to help their employees prepare for the future. BMW employees use virtual reality to explore design and prototyping tools as well as experiment with factory layouts. The employees can use the tool at their own pace and are able to offer up feedback for tool improvement. You don’t have to be a large company, however, to offer employees the opportunity to test out new technologies. Consider allowing employees access to beta platforms and ask for feedback, set up sessions where employees can test out new technologies the company is thinking of using, or simply allow time for employees to research and explore new ideas on their own. If an organization wants to hold employees accountable for the exploration of new ideas, hold regular meetings to gather input or add the topic to regular one-on-one meetings. It shouldn’t take long before employees make it a habit of scrolling the news feeds looking for new ideas and trends to bring to the table for discussion. 

TALENT DISCOVERY

It is almost guaranteed that an organization does not know what talent they have within their own four walls. Most annual reviews are focused on the employee's performance in their job (based on their agreed-upon job description and role), not taking into consideration any other talents that an employee may possess. Succession plans are carefully laid out according to what the leader and the organization consider best for that person yet there may be hidden talents employees hold that could make them an amazing fit for something completely different. 

Organizations need to take a talent inventory with a focus on discovery. By holding meaningful conversations with employees regularly to talk about their future careers, organizations can be better aligned with the talent they possess, and employees can feel more confident in their employer's ability to fulfill their needs. 

Conversations should focus on cognitive engagement factors such as purpose, fulfillment, values, and identity. Additionally, leaders can use these discussions as an opportunity to help their employees learn how to think about their future careers, looking beyond just the next year or two. 

TALK TO THE FUTURE

There is quite a bit of discussion about Millennials in the workforce. But guess what, Millennials are already working! If an organization really wants to understand what the future workforce may want out of an employer, it needs to be talking to younger generations ⎯ Gen Z and Alpha Gen (today’s 14-year-olds). Junior high to high school students are the employees of the future and while most organizations may gawk at having career conversations with such young people, these students are much smarter than they get credit for. Also, they are being immersed in new technology from the time they were little children – digital, VR, and AI.

I’d like to suggest that an organization invite young people into conversations to better understand their needs and how they see the world. I think it’s important to involve employees at all levels to participate in these conversations to help today’s younger employees (tomorrow’s managers) anticipate the needs of future employees. Exposure as early as possible will help future leaders be better set up for success.  

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE IS NATURAL

Most of these ideas, if not all, simply require an organization to give an employee a bit of space and time to be creative and explore. Thinking about the future shouldn’t be a chore but instead, it should be something that feels natural because it is natural. We all think about future plans, vacations, retirement, and more. Why not give employees the simple tools to take what they already do and make it valuable for the organization, helping to lead the way into the future with confidence? It doesn't take much, just a bit of creativity and time. Give it a try.

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April Gorelik is a Human Resources professional with a passion for creating positive employee experiences through futures work. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in human resource development and will graduate from the University of Houston with her Masters in Foresight in December 2024. She has 15 years of HR experience working with companies both large and small on everything people-related including executive coaching, training and development, strategic workforce planning, and change management. Her ability to build trust and dive deep into an organization’s culture provides her with opportunities that few others have. April can establish meaningful relationships and use the experience she has gained as an HR professional and Futurist to create future scenarios that truly help organizations envision possible futures for their business and the employees who bring those visions to life.