A series of white papers by Ade McCormack, AuridianSponsored by:Augmented work

Towards the hyper-connected worker

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Introduction

The need to cultivate value in a hyper-connected world is changing the nature of being a worker.This article details how organizations can gain a competitive advantage by ensuring their staff are directly connected to their colleagues, the market and themselves. We will also explore the implications from the worker’s and leader’s perspectives.

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Environmental reality

We now operate in an environment that generates ever larger quantities of data and information. The quality of this incoming torrent ranges from misleading to deeply insightful. With the arrival of social media, sensors (Internet of Things) and unstructured data (e.g. video), the quantity of data we receive is growing at an exponential rate. What was a glass of water is now a 24/7 hosepipe.

However, we have a bi-directional relationship with the environment. Not only does the environment feed us, but it expects to be fed. Many of your incoming messages are actions to be responded to. You might say that modern-day workers are both the victim and the source of this hyper-stimulating environment.

Every organization faces the same challenges in this respect. Some choose to hermetically seal themselves from the environment and press on with their multi-year strategy; others try to be environment-sensitive and become overwhelmed. Onlookers might draw parallels with Hollywood westerns in which the drunken cowboy finds himself caught up in a barroom brawl.

Smart organizations recognize that it is unwise to ignore this environmental reality. They also realize that users need tools to extract the insight from the noise in order to make better decisions faster. Today, the user’s interaction with data needs to be more real-time and captured via devices that are worn by the staff. Such devices include headbands, wristbands, glasses and watches. Such automated data gathering reduces errors and the ‘time to decision’. However, it is not just wearable

devices; walls and desks will also contribute to the augmented experience. High quality video collaboration with colleagues across the world is just a wall away.

These digitally sensitive workers are truly integrated with the organization’s IT systems. Their augmentation serves to both help them capture ‘just in time’ data and provides them with ‘just in time’ learning. An example of the former might be capturing video of a crime scene. The latter may be a situation, where the context sensitive device recognizes the engine the mechanic is working on and provides guidance on what tools and components to use for a given procedure.

Of course, analytics can be added to these real-time activities to provide both the user and the organizations with insights associated with the worker, the associated business process or the relevant environment. By studying the worker’s activities and vital signals, it will be possible to detect ergonomic inefficiencies. So, clearly, the hyper-connected user provides an operational advantage.

But through greater market / environment sensitivity, the user can also play a key role in tuning the organization’s strategy to match the opportunities and threats as they occur.

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Talent 2.0

By Talent 2.0, I am referring to workers who deliver value beyond being a placeholder for technology yet to be invented. Such workers are not process automatons but highly creative human beings.

The hyper-connected worker is already here; that started when mobile devices found their way into the corporate setting. But, of course, as we have seen, smartphones are just the start of the journey. In the next few years, workers will be unrecognizable in respect to their productivity and the tools they use to achieve this productivity.

People, processes and technology will be truly integrated. Life will be difficult for those workers who are not prepared to embrace this new era of hyper-connectivity. Organizations that choose not to embrace the enhanced expectations of millennial staff will enter a sustainability tailspin. This, of course, also applies to the needs of customers, citizens and consumers.

The hyper-connected worker will be something of an athlete. To be a high performer they must raise their game and maintain their health. There is an explosion of wearable technologies that support self-analytics. Such biofeedback systems enable the workers to ensure that they are both improving and maintaining good health. It is likely that this information will be used by the HR function to ensure that their workers / athletes are performing well—and to identify when both individuals and teams are starting to regress. This could indicate a number of issues, including poor management.

In any case, organizations will be keen to reduce talent churn through stress / poor health. By integrating the latest user devices into the talent management systems, HR can play a genuinely useful role in respect to engagement and retention.

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Leadership 2.0

Conclusion

‘Leaders know best’ was the tenet of the industrial era. This is absolutely not the case in the digital economy. Everyone is a decision maker. One might regard this new economy as a post-strategy economy. The market is moving too fast to plan years into the future. You might say that tactics are the new strategy. Those closest to the theater of action are best placed to make informed decisions about how the organization responds.

So it now becomes the role of the leadership to create an environment that enables the staff:

• To make informed decisions (analytic tools).• To interact seamlessly with the environment (context awareness tools).

• To harness the wisdom of others (collaboration tools).

Traditional leaders would have a vision of where their organization was heading but, in a hyper-connected world, nobody knows what lies ahead. Modern leaders will watch a vision unfold based on both market reality and the capability of their hyper-connected workforce.

Leadership will take the form of being a tour guide on a mystery tour. Even the guide won’t know where the tour ends up. However, with the right people, culture and technology infrastructure, you have great confidence that wherever you end up, it will be much better than you could have ever envisioned.

Read the previous articles from this series:• Why the digital revolution is an anthropological correction• Wearables and Augmented Man• Leading the hunter-gather pack

It is also the role of leadership to create a culture whereby ‘boat rocking’, challenging behavior, creativity and original thought are encouraged. This is, of course, an HR nightmare. However, the objective is not to have a compliant army of process workers; it is to create differentiated customer experiences through harnessing the collective capabilities of the human brain.

Such a culture requires a high degree of mutual trust. It also requires the leadership to be talent-centric rather than ego-centric. Again, being talent-centric requires the leadership to provide both the culture and the technology infrastructure needed for today’s worker to harness their innate hyper-connectedness.

Ade McCormack

HP

Ade McCormack is an advisor and columnist for the Financial Times and CIO magazine. He helps organizations thrive in the digital economy. Ade’s particular interests lie in the future of work and humanity. Ade’s perspectives can be found via his Digital Strategist blog: the-digital-strategist.com.

HP Mobility and Workplace services help you transform your workplace and empower your employees, while ensuring your workplace remains enterprise grade, scalable, and secure. We can advise you on building a road map and implement a managed environment that is user-focused (rather than device-focused), protects your data, and delivers relevant information to provide the employee productivity you and your employees want.

For more information please visit: hp.com/services/workplace.