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#handy2012
One of the sessions at the recent Charles Handy conference was on the topic of "the changing workplace and workforce".
There was nothing majorly new in the content of what was discussed, but it did bring to a head of few topics that I've been pondering on for a while.
Here's a taster of my notes from the session:
On work
The people inside organisations are the holders of the intellectual property (IP).
The organisations simply bribe those people to keep the IP inside the organisation.
Living as a "flea" (an independent contractor) is becoming more popular. In the US now, about 27% of the workforce are fleas.
Life as a flea is more uncertain, but who would really want to be employed?
But fleas need "elephants" (large organisations) who will employ them.
Employing organisations should think of their buildings more like club-houses, with different spaces for meeting, socialising and working. Perhaps something like the Institute of Directors building in Pall Mall
If you have a talent, nobody asks your age.
This is vitally important as state pensions, private pensions and savings become worth less.
Paid work in "retirement" is increasingly important.
"Sensible people reinvent themselves every 10 years."
We should consider a portfolio life, that contains different clients and different kinds of work (paid, gift, study and home) in order to maintain flexibility and to provide resilience in hard times. The balance between the kinds of work changes over time.
On education
Quoted Howard Gardner (who I came across years ago, but put in the same bucket as all the other learning style theories - ie. discredited). My thoughts: Looks like it might still be a useful framework - as long as we don't treat it as a means of labelling children.
Schools should exist to identify what a child is good at (from across all the different "intelligences").
But schools are constrained by exams and the curriculum.
The greatest gift you can give to a child is telling them what they're good at.
