A MANAGEMENT EXPERT’S VIEW OF NEW TECHNOLOGY TRENDS AND FUTURE OF WORK SHIFTS

Management experts anticipate seismic shifts nearing as we enter 2024 and 2025 that will significantly impact managers. While navigating increasing ambiguity, consulting futurists believe having an adaptable mindset and leading with emotional intelligence will set successful managers apart.

As you might imagine, the industry’s most outspoken management experts forecast traditional office settings continuing to lose primacy, as location-fluid remote and hybrid arrangements gain favor. By way of illustration, a top future of work thought leader notes that employees increasingly desire flexibility and autonomy over where they work. And, for that matter, counsels managers to rethink outdated tactics like monitoring activity based on “butts in seats.” Instead, the consultant recommends focusing on nurturing connections, communication, and culture across distributed teams.

A number of prominent management experts also see soft skills taking on amplified importance for managers in coming years. As automation transforms more transactional tasks, uniquely human abilities like creativity, persuasion, and complex problem solving will become valuable differentiators according to folks like author Tim Ferriss. Rather than technical aptitude, Ferriss suggests that skills like conflict resolution and empathy will determine which managers help their company gain competitive advantage through inspired and engaged workers.

With younger generations entering leadership roles and the workforce at large, take note. A plethora of management experts also emphasize equality within organizational culture will emerge as a pressing issue managers must address. For instance, Wharton Professor Stephanie Creary observes that talking about values alone will not suffice – managers must ensure rhetoric aligns with reality inside their teams. From equitable processes to inclusive behaviors, Creary argues that demonstrating authenticity around these issues is essential for managers to motivate and retain top emerging talent.

But beyond all that, leading consultants stress technology shaping businesses’ future. Management expert and AI researcher John Havens notes algorithmic bias already negatively and disproportionately impacts marginalized groups in society. He contends managers should mandate ethics training and perform impact assessments on existing and emerging technologies before infusing them into business operations.