6 Workplace Trends That Will Shape The Future of Your Career
What Does Your Future Career Development Look Like?
One of the hardest lessons to learn in the workplace is how to effectively manage your career. I know this from my own experience, but also having had hundreds of conversations with other high-achieving professionals many have also articulated to me just how challenging figuring out how to not only set and achieve your career goals, but how to keep focused on the present while keeping one eye open toward the future career opportunities that might come your way.
Career and professional development may have taken a back seat to the many demands and emergencies facing employees and managers in the over the past year and a half, even for those of us who are incredibly driven and motivated. And that's understandable given the challenges and uncertainties that remained. However, as we move toward returning to the “new normal” it's also brought on a new perspective on work and careers for many employees, especially those highly skilled, or in roles or industries where there is a dearth of top talent.
NY Times Writer and Author Kevin Roose, has coined this as the “YOLO Economy,” or the belief of some that life is short and now is a great time to pursue opportunities and to take risks even if they take you away from your initial plans or the conventional path. But even for those who don’t want to YOLO, 2021 has given us all a chance to pause and reflect on what is really important, and to explore ways to make our work and lives aligned around what’s important. But even for those of us who are happy with where we are in our jobs and careers, given the landscape shift and the future of work, learning how to proactively manage your career is critical to achieving your own version of career success.
I can speak personally how much I’ve thought about my work and career over the course of Covid.
To better understand how changes at work are impacting career development for high-achieving MBAs, I asked a MBASchooled Community Members and MBA Alum to weigh in on their own thoughts and reflections on key trends they see at work that will impact career development.
What workplace trends do you think will impact how MBA Alum need to think about their careers?
#1: Remote Work - Jeff (Tech, Product Management)
The drive by conversations and opportunities are going to be fewer and farther between. This means you need to manufacture them to some extent. Is there a new head of your department you want to get to know? You could reach out, or you could also share something really useful that you learned in your earlier days in the group. Find some way to interact, authentically and from value. It’s 1 step at a time, not all at once - try to leave a reason to chat again.
#2: Employee Empowerment - Kevin (Tech, Strategy & Operations)
Much like the NBA, I think you will see more worker/employee empowerment. Software Engineers at some tech companies already have a lot of sway given their talents, but I see those on the business side having more options at employers, therefore giving them increased say. I also as more and more younger people enter the workforce, there will be more of this empowerment sentiment (some might call it entitlement..)
Intentional Relationship Building - Jasmine (Strategy & Ops, Education)
Remote work will give many employees the chance to much more flexible working arrangements in the future. From a career development perspective, it means you have to be even more intentional about consistently cultivating relationships with individuals that you might not see as regularly in-person - this includes everyone from the people you manage, to your own managers, to mentors/advisors/mentees, and also your peers; good practices in this regard translate well across all types of work environments (whether in-person, hybrid, or fully remote) in my opinion.
One practice I've found works well is I set-up recurring calls with a select group of mentors/peers to keep the communication consistent over time and always have a few targeted questions / goals in my back pocket of what I hope to learn from the conversation; I also try to have at least several career-oriented coffee chats per month (obviously the number fluctuates up and down/I don't hold myself to a hard number). This also means calls with individuals that I mentor/advice (I honestly enjoy those the most!). I like to stack these on Fridays or days where I know I'll be less busy with work
#3: Work Breaks/Sabbaticals - Jodi, Tech Marketing
I hope taking breaks to avoid burnout becomes normalized. This year was challenging for all of us. We saw the impact of constant stressors on mental and physical wellbeing. I wonder if, when travel becomes an option again and there are places for people to go, it'll become a trend to take extended vacations and extended time off to make up for the extreme pace of work over the last 1.5 years. Or maybe we'll all just normalize taking a month off to do nothing but read books and take it easy, just because. Let's make sabbaticals in early career a trend.
#4: Flexibility - Blake, Consulting
Flexibility will shape our careers. It'd be naive to think post-pandemic we'd either keep the same level of flexibility/autonomy as we have now or go 100% back to our previous work arrangements. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle, but I believe it will be one that fortunately recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility. This isn't just work-life balance or physically where we sit, but rather an enhanced empathy and recognition of colleagues' whole-lives and the role work plays.
#5: More Resources to Retain Top Talent - Chris, Learning & Development
I think people and teams will be given more of a responsibility to be able to spot and address burn-out of high performers. In the past, it's been encouraged but people are not always held accountable when they lose high performers. I think this will change as the competition for top talent is fierce and people are burned out after a year of working in the pandemic. It is critical for teams to understand - top performers do not demonstrate burnout the way that others do. Medium and low performers will demonstrate a lack of engagement and pull back on their work.
They will "signal" to the teams they are unhappy. Top performers, on the other hand, will often continue to deliver excellent output with a positive attitude. Managers often get their resignation, for a better opportunity, and are surprised because they seemed to be happy. I think people managing teams will be evaluated and incentivized based on their ability to build relationships with top talent, in a way that helps address this issue and helps the firm retain the best people.
#6: Star Talent Will Have Options For Who They Work For and How They Work - Corrine, Tech, L&D
COVID has accelerated so many remote/hybrid work trends across many industries and I think this is amazing. It will open up talent pools/access for so many people and I truly believe in addition to role and employer brand, individuals are going to have more choices around opting in or out of work environments that are conducive to their needs and sustainable from a culture / work-life perspective.