Tag: Employment

Dodson and son

Posted on by philipdodson

IMG_3707

Taking on a new employee often has it’s challenges for both the organisation and the new employee. Why is that?

There are those painful first few days, when the employee knows very little about what is required of her, they feel like a ‘fish out of water’, as everyone around them seems to know what they are doing, they have their heads down, and they seem to be fully occupied.

Whereas, the newbie is often twiddling their thumbs, awaiting for the next bit of induction and training. It can be a touch frustrating and boring.

For the employer or the manager, there is this new person, who is totally dependant on them for their daily activity, induction and training in their new role. Yet, she still has all the daily tasks to do that her job requires, so every moment spent with the new person, means time not spent doing her own stuff.

However, most of this is caused by the pressure of thinking that the new person has to be trained to a certain level within a short as possible time frame, often in a very unrealistic amount of time. As it is often about the term ‘when can she be revenue generating?’. The mentality that is all pervasive in our society.

Often, it is the classic conundrum between just getting it done ourselves versus showing someone else to do it, as in the short term it is quicker to do it ourselves. Give a woman a fish, she eats for a day, teach her to fish, she can feed herself for a lifetime (or something like that!).

The root of this, is the dogma about how things have to be immediate. Like all things, training or working with a new employee takes time, time for both to become ready. It is a journey and the more time you’re prepared to invest in that process, the more reward will come for both. You will become a team, together creating something better.

It is not about who the ‘boss’ is either, you could see it as, you are both on the same crew, with different responsibilities, one needs the other to succeed.

After all the most important person in any organisation is not the owner, shareholders, investors or customers, it is the employees.

In my business, I have just taken my son on as an apprentice, it is an investment for both of us, it is a journey and whatever time it takes for it to work out, is the time it will take. There is no pressure on him, or me, to reach any level and it is up to him to learn and work in a style and pace that suits him.

So today is the start of Dodson & Son, an opportunity for an amazing journey.

The next generation of workers

Posted on by philipdodson

20150313FJ1A5107_V1 (1)

The next generation of workers will be totally different to what we currently think workers are and what work is.

Work is no longer a physical space for many and work certainly is no longer a physical activity for most. Work is more based on ideas, more based on collaboration, on sharing than ever.

The workforce of the future will be increasingly self-employed, will be increasingly part of the connected generation and will be more interested in whether or not what they do on a daily basis is fulfilling or not.

Work is an activity, that for more and more people involves self-promotion and involves creating and sharing content, that hopefully inspires others to engage with us. It is the inspirational quality of the content that we produce and share, that will define the level and quality of engagement.

We will all more and more likely move from one gig to another in collaboration with others. In order for that to work, it will need to be based more and more on shared values and it will based more and more on our individual why and less and less on what we do/have done.

So the workforce will be made up of an army of mainly generation Y, connected, tech savvy, living in the digital world, who will be skilled in promoting themselves to others in order to create meaningful, rewarding collaborations with other like-minded individuals.

Then all that remains is where to do that collaborations. It won’t be done in sterile, non-collaborative traditional office spaces, it won’t happen in people’s living rooms/spare bedrooms or coffee shops.

It will happen in communities and in coworking spaces that cater for this ever-growing new workforce.

This is the future of work – sharing knowledge, working with others, truly understanding the power of helping, giving and working with others to fill the gaps in our skills.

It is the most exciting change in the history of the human race, as the opportunity to collaborate to solve the world’s challenges will be truly revolutionary. We have only scratched the surface in terms of what the human race is capable of, as we have yet to truly harness the power of global collaboration.