Change management in the digital age
One of my first jobs in public relations (not that long ago, really) saw me taking a brief over the phone from a client who upon hearing me type notes as he spoke remarked, ‘you’re quite the space cadet’. He still wasn’t use to the idea of people having PCs on their desks… and ‘space cadet’ was a rather aged term to use, with its 1960s overtones, even then.
I thought of him (still too young to have retired) after Richard Bailey knocked a little wind out of John Naughton’s sails regarding his view of today’s youngsters as digital natives, leaving the older generation behind as organisations adapt to ever more change.
Richard’s right to be suspicious. A little while ago I spent some time inside an organisation eager to embrace the new technology. Yes the youngsters knew it all, but it was older managers who were hungry for change. Recent graduates, in their first jobs, seemed to say; ‘but that’s not how they do things here.’
It was as if they were just getting used to the new environment of work and were ready to settle. Meanwhile, those higher up and whose careers had survived various corporate reorganisations and job realignments were used to change in the workplace, expected it and knew it was something to embrace rather than fear.
Contact Stephen Newton
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