Twenty-First Century Workplace Challenges
Today it's counterproductive to debate whether the sedentary but stable old business world just described was somehow better than the more dynamic and unstable business world of today. No doubt, this is a highly competitive and technological age. But this high-tech world notwithstanding, no time machine has yet been invented that can shuttle us back to the days when everything, it seemed, cost a nickel. So let's live our lives and move forward in the present realities.
Technological Competency
We've established that there are no time machines on the market. There are, however, these curious contraptions called computers that are omnipresent in business environs (and everywhere else for that matter). And courtesy of this technological marvel that has spawned the expansive Internet, the corporate world is in a constant state of flux.
While not completely ancient history, the days of moving up the corporate ladder in the same company are fast becoming the exception rather than the rule. Nowadays, employee advancement is more often a lateral movement. Moving on up, yes, but in different companies — and sometimes in totally different professions — in a dizzying zigzag rather than a straight line.
The information age makes it altogether more imperative that businesses never rest on their laurels. Every business, big and small, must adapt to perpetually and rapidly changing market conditions, or risk falling by the wayside.
So, what exactly does this spanking new business-world order mean for you, a manager or manager of tomorrow? In essence, it means that you must be a sponge for learning with a nimble capacity to adapt to changing circumstances at a moment's notice. The new skills that are needed to keep up with all of these inevitable technological advances must become your skills.
Continuous Growth
To err is human; to forgive is being a coach. Forgive, yes, but coaching doesn't ever amount to overlooking performance lapses! As a coach, you must swiftly identify missteps and correct them at the source. You don't do this to embarrass a particular person, but to impart valuable lessons on avoiding similar foul-ups, bleeps, and blunders in the future.
Learning new skills throughout your entire work life is not only recommended, it is indispensable. College knowledge is merely the beginning, not the end of the learning curve. By keeping up with the fast-changing times, you prepare yourself to effortlessly slide into another job role.
And, if and when a job termination occurs (voluntarily or involuntarily), you don't emerge shell-shocked and stuck in quicksand. You come out of it all adept at moving on to bigger and better things because your knowledge base and skill level are in great demand.
Coaching and mentoring in today's dog-eat-dog corporate environs attempts to counterbalance, as much as humanly possible, the sometimes very unpleasant twenty-first-century realities of work life. As a coach, your predominant mission is to at once broaden your own abilities along with those who work alongside you. To accomplish this noble mission, you must ply your team with substantive responsibilities, genuine challenges, and ceaseless opportunities for career growth and development of their skills.
