Resignification of work: a path towards people-centered organizations

In a world that is transforming exponentially, the evolution of people and organizations allows us to generate a change in behavior and achieve more agile, collaborative and attractive companies in a competitive and challenging environment. To evolve and meet their objectives, companies mustput people at the center, understanding their motivations and needs.

People changed. They have new choices and priorities, they want their purpose to be integrated and compatible with that of their organization, it is no longer just working in a place with possibilities for growth, development and a good salary: they want to live more meaningful lives, and their work is part of that.

This new reality implies changes in the way of organizing, relating and working. The key to success lies in creating a culture that reflects and supports these values, with integrated tools and processes.

People-centered organizations

Organizations, to evolve, need to put people at the center. And when we talk about evolving, we talk about meeting business objectives, with the strategy they propose.

There are also many companies, we can say the majority, that are going through a strong digital transformation process. All the more reason why, to achieve their purpose, to meet their objectives, they need these new collaborators with renewed desires, expectations, concerns and interests.

And leaders play a crucial role by building a vision and accompanying employees throughout their journey in the organization and providing them with a proposal aligned with the new meaning that work has for them.

That is why we talk about these two views. On the one hand, the evolution of organizational culture and, on the other, the evolution of people from their reality. You need to create a culture by looking at this new person, because she needs a place of belonging, to feel part.

We find ourselves with a different scenario in which, while organizations define and adapt to new ways of working, people also change and set the path for the organization.

New ways of working: what are the challenges?

We consider several dimensions of change of the same reality that are interconnected, influence, enhance or slow down evolution or transformation: people change, the way we organize ourselves changes, the way we relate, processes and workplaces change.

One of the main challenges is to attract, care for and develop employees, understanding their motivations and aligning them with the evolution of the business and having leaders who inspire, hybrid, orchestrators, flexible, close, knowledgeable about relevant detail and close to employees.

As a "citizen" of the international network of independent consultancies Nextcontinent, Paradigma participated in carrying out a survey among 180 companies from different countries. It was concluded that 77% of companies consider that people did not reach the highest level of maturity in the commitment to work collaboratively.

We need to generate an agile, flexible, transversal and intelligently hybrid company and define and design the new roles that the organization will need. The study indicates that 68% of companies consider that there is greater flexibility in positions and roles in relation to the ability to adapt to hybrid work.

The challenges of promoting the use of collaborative tools and governing knowledge management are presented, where the flight of talent is implying loss of knowledge capital. We need to accompany our collaborators and clients with tools that speak the same language as them.

Digital, integrated and transversal processes are required, with data intelligence from the processes. More than 80% of companies have reported not yet having all the integrated, unique and accessible repositories.

As for the workplaces, the challenges lie in redefining the spaces in organizations and giving meaning to going to the offices; generate more attractive spaces prepared for hybrid integration.

We are social beings, and we need to see each other, connect with others, the key for companies is to give us the reason and the place to integrate. According to the aforementioned survey, one in five companies does not have the necessary physical facilities to properly carry out hybrid meetings.

How to approach change projects?

We start by putting people at the center, understanding their motivations, needs and expectations; considering collaborators and clients, as well as business objectives, and from there we work on different axes: tools, processes and organization, competencies and behaviors, culture and measurement of the program.

What is the first step? Understand where we stand as an organization, with the areas of Human Resources being the protagonists of these changes.

The resignification of work is an opportunity to get to know our new 2020 collaborators, what motivates them?, align the purpose of our company with that of those who are part of it and evolve towards organizations with a focus on the collaborator.

Addressing this cultural and people evolution within organizations will allow us to generate a change in behavior and in the way we do things to empower and mobilize people, build together a purpose that inspires, evolve towards a more agile and collaborative company, link our behaviors with business plans and, in this way, continue to be an attractive organization.