Careers in the 21st century

We took in Fuel50’s recent online seminar with Josh Bersin and Dani Johnson of Deloitte Consulting, which looked at human capital trends, recent research on career management and a case study from Ingersoll Rand. Here’s a summary of what we learned.

This is not your parents’ career management

There have been major changes in the workplace and the workforce in recent decades and employees now aspire to manage and map out a career path with support from their manager and organisation, the emphasis being on shared responsibility, which looks like this:

• Worker – drives the process
• Manager – supports and guides
• Organisation – sets expectations, builds infrastructure

There is more attention to career progression which is not necessarily, upwards, but embraces more movement in general, with an emphasis on development, and “experience collecting” and “attribute building”.

The modern way of working has seen a move from structured to open career paths – where the focus is on facilitating work by assembling the most appropriate talent. Movement around the organisation is based on an integration of worker interest and organisational need; this way of working is particularly appropriate in team and collaborative environments.