When talking about making people work differently, about bringing new practices within the enterprise, there’s often the same answer : “no time for that”. It can be heard from managers saying their people don’t have time to network, to share information, or from individuals themselves who are afraid of being penalized because they do something else than their very job.
Let’s note that if the question is asked, it’s because the organization identified a business need. Welcome to the world of double binds where people are asked at the same time to face new challenges and not to change anything in the way they work.
If fact, what comforts the tenants of status quo is that those new practices are not in the holy job description. Of course, adaptating practices to challenges is worth changing job descriptions if it’s the only way to make people exchange, share informations and practices, network.
I know some companies are beginning to review their job descriptions, or at least, that some managers are doing so with their teams, findinf it’s the best way to “secure” people who want to get involved in those new dynamics. So, here and there, new emerging jobs can be seen, such as “network manager”. I wrote about the future of managers monthes ago and some made a list of jobs that will be tomorrow’s jobs. Saying that…I’d like to be “gap consultant” in the future.. Whatever, I’m sure “Social networkds catalysts” will be key in enterprise’s success tomorrow.
Those jobs don’t need really new skills, but a new mix of existing skills. Jobs that will be in relation with tools someway, but which levers will be people and organization.
Perhaps the right time to get out the old job description model. How many of us are already doing jobs that don’t exist. Or doing something new with an old label, making their goals nearly ununderstandable within the organization because ogf the gap between the “historical” past of the job and its new content.
Most of my friends have “real” jobs : lawyers, doctors, head hunters, salespeople… and it’s really hard to explain them what my job is because no “label” exists for that. Does it mean I don’t do anything valuable ? Conceiving jobs with meaningful names also makes sens to embody a message through the organization.
A real challenge for HR Managers who’ll have to take charge of it to adapt jobs to the challenges that will have to be faced in the next years.
