There are many internal and external challenges CEOs face every year that cause them great concern and 2020 is no different. However, they also must envision what their organization must look like in the future to adapt and excel. 

In The Conference Board’s C-Suite Challenge™ 2019, The Future Ready Organization, CEOs and C-suite executives shared their concerns about what lies ahead and their vision for how their organizations will thrive in 2025 and beyond. In it, they shared several insights about how work of the future will be defined and many of them are different than they way we currently think about work.

1. Work must be decoupled from locations and talent must be able to work anytime and anywhere.


  • With the proliferation of enterprise video communications like Zoom and GoToMeeting, we have recently seen how collaboration and results can be achieved without having every person in the same room.

  • Often the best resource for a project team may not be available due to physical proximity or readiness and yet the right talent needs to be available at the right time in order for the team to function at its highest level.


2. Work will need to be increasingly organized around projects requiring agile and diverse teams.


  • In what is often referred to as the “Hollywood Effect,” once a specific project or assignment is identified, a team of different people from different professions with distinct but complementary skills comes together and collaborates to accomplish the task. Once the project is completed, the team disassembles and reconfigures with other members on another project.

  • This flexibility and adaptability has proven itself out in recent months when dozens of various and talented experts were brought together quickly to address the pandemic.  Clearly, they were not all part of a defined team but instead, a group of experts who contributed in unique and highly specialized ways.


3. Work should be unbundled from jobs.


  • Defined roles and job descriptions will no longer be the organizing unit for work. Instead, tasks will be distributed between humans and machines, depending on who is best suited to do the job.

  • How work gets done will be redefined as boundaries and hierarchies give way to flexible internal and external networks and fluid cross-functional teams.


As you begin to “reboot” your organization and reactivate talent management projects that were reprioritized in the face of the pandemic, it will be extremely beneficial to you and your organization to consider these insights on how you staff your project teams with the right resources. 

ECC can help!  We have a strong bench of vetted professionals with deep experience in corporate HR and talent roles and now are focused on delivering results within their area of expertise. 


If you’d like to learn more, here is a link to our HR Consulting Services practice at Executive Coaching Connections or you can contact me directly at [email protected].