One of the changes which is driving synergy between work and the workforce is feminisation.
Work is becoming more feminine in nature - the shifts towards service work, customer focus, knowledge work and team work which I've already covered here tend to require skills, capabilities and interests which are perhaps more traditionally associated with women rather then men.
Even management and leadership are shifting towards emphasising more traditionally feminine approaches (caring and empowering rather than commanding and controlling.)
And as yet another example of what I was discussing in my previous post, the workforce is rapidly becoming more feminine as well, though not yet at senior levels. Though I don't think we need to worry too much about the remaining difficulties with glass ceilings and pay gaps as these issues will take care of themselves - businesses will increasingly want to employe people with more traditionally feminine skills and perspectives and a high proportion of these people are going to be women.
Of course, as I've also been suggesting, it is important to recognise stereotypes for what they are. So although neuroscience does suggest that there are differences in the brains of men and women, and research suggests that women are more sensitive to social situations, these differences are typically quite small (I think this recent article makes this point quite well.)
But it does mean another aspect of many organisations is quite important too. We know that HR is predominantly female (though CHROs and certain areas like HR technology and analytics still tend to be much more male.) We tend not to be that representative of our workforces in the way they are today, but I do think we are much more typical of the workforces most of our organisations will become.
This is important because it reinforces why we are often seen as being different by our business colleagues but why we should celebrate and reinforce this difference and not obscure or downplay it (see my recent post over at Strategic HCM - Finance are from Mars, HR are from Venus.)
Photo: Churchill's Pendleton Women at Work 1916
Work is becoming more feminine in nature - the shifts towards service work, customer focus, knowledge work and team work which I've already covered here tend to require skills, capabilities and interests which are perhaps more traditionally associated with women rather then men.
Even management and leadership are shifting towards emphasising more traditionally feminine approaches (caring and empowering rather than commanding and controlling.)
And as yet another example of what I was discussing in my previous post, the workforce is rapidly becoming more feminine as well, though not yet at senior levels. Though I don't think we need to worry too much about the remaining difficulties with glass ceilings and pay gaps as these issues will take care of themselves - businesses will increasingly want to employe people with more traditionally feminine skills and perspectives and a high proportion of these people are going to be women.
Of course, as I've also been suggesting, it is important to recognise stereotypes for what they are. So although neuroscience does suggest that there are differences in the brains of men and women, and research suggests that women are more sensitive to social situations, these differences are typically quite small (I think this recent article makes this point quite well.)
But it does mean another aspect of many organisations is quite important too. We know that HR is predominantly female (though CHROs and certain areas like HR technology and analytics still tend to be much more male.) We tend not to be that representative of our workforces in the way they are today, but I do think we are much more typical of the workforces most of our organisations will become.
This is important because it reinforces why we are often seen as being different by our business colleagues but why we should celebrate and reinforce this difference and not obscure or downplay it (see my recent post over at Strategic HCM - Finance are from Mars, HR are from Venus.)
Photo: Churchill's Pendleton Women at Work 1916
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