Happy New Year 2006!

January 5, 2006

I hope all of you made it through December in one piece, both body and mind. As for me – I’m so glad its over, the month and the year. I’m partial to January. It represents new beginnings. Days are getting longer again – yeah. Spring, my favorite season, is fast approaching. Hurray! The New Year is here – ta da. Hmmm – starting to sound like a song. Maybe I’ll try writing that this year too.

One thing that hit me like a bolt of lightening, almost literally during the drenching we received in California, was the complete awareness that the future was  at long last here. Others and I have spent a lot of time talking about what is coming ahead. Nix to that in 2006 I say! The future is not “coming soon to a theatre near you.” It’s already in your neighborhood!

What am I talking about – the future of work, of course. And the new workplaces that go with it. I’m sorry, but cell phones, PDA, laptops, email, IM, broadband, WiFi, etc. – all the tools and technologies that enable virtual, mobile, remote, distributed, tele, flex or whatever work – are here, now. The wired and wireless cafes, coffee shops, airports, airplanes, libraries and town squares are here, now.

2006 New Years Resolutions
So companies, people, no more excuses about not being aware of or able to work in this new world. Here are some New Year’s resolutions.

• No more whining that you can’t manage people if you can’t see them. The next generation has had wonderful relationships for years with electronic pen pals whom they have never seen or heard speak. They come into the work force with the skills they need to work sight unseen. You had better learn the skills too.
• No more growling that an empty seat means the fellow employees are slackers, missing in action or that they need you available for help every second of the day, every day of the week. Pick up the phone and call to see how they are, open that file in your email – it’s their progress report, use IM to ask the quick question – it’s real time. And really time for people to treat each other like the adults.
• No more complaining that your expenses are sky high and that is why you have to cut back on benefits or perks for your greatest assets, those are the employees by the way. Cut your real estate costs by distributing your workplaces and workforce.
• No more bemoaning that only the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so you have to be present to be seen and heard. People are getting more “face time” with their remote colleagues and bosses than those sitting down the hall, more communication via email than those playing voice mail tag and more meetings via web and teleconferencing than those trying to find a conference room that isn’t booked or are just meeting for meeting’s sake.
• No more yammering you can’t work at home. Come on – the cube is the greatest workplace known to man? Oh please! Find out how and where you really work best. Get out of that box!
• No more burying your head in the sand and pretending that life will just float merrily along without disasters or interruptions. What more do you need to quit this daydreaming than 9/11, tsunamis and floods. To quote a Mary Engelbreit magnet I have on my refrigerator, “Snap Out Of It.” Get prepared – infrastructure and people-wise.

   

  If you haven’t done these yet, do them this year. If you can’t afford to do it – you can’t afford not to do it. If you don’t now how, ask me, ask anyone – but ask, please. Before it’s too late, before the next great quake, before you or the next person quits out of stress and exasperation, before it costs too much to catch up.

  So – Make your new year’s resolve to evolve – to the new world of work.  

  Happy New Year 2006!