We've heard about the "great resignation" and the "great re-shuffling" of the workforce, but how are you supposed to re-imagine yourself and your career? Experts are on the sidelines, watching as Americans reinvent the way we work.
No matter which way you phrase it, "tsunami of resignations", "great re-shuffle", "great resignation," the "normal" workplace is no more.
“This is not just a short-term issue, in the short term we’ll see more of it but in the long term we’ll see more fluidity in the way the workforce will operate," said Homa Bahrami.
She's watching it all unfold and says the next 6-9 months will be very telling.
“Having said that, I do see long term the volatility and movement of people between jobs will definitely be with us and the reason is that we’re seeing the volatility and we’re operating in a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous.”
Bahrami is an educator and researcher at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and she consults business leaders about people and organization.
“In the long-term, companies have to rethink how they organize themselves, how they structure teams, how they recruit people, and so a lot of interesting times ahead of us," said Bahrami.
Jess Ponce III says it's interesting indeed. He's a media consultant, author, and branding expert who's helping people in Los Angeles and around the world "find their words" and their professional presence.
“I like to look at it as a reimagining; we are reimagining the way we want to live and that includes the way we want to work. We don’t want to go back to the way things were, because we’ve experienced a reality outside of it," said Ponce.
But, how exactly are you supposed to do that?
“So, what I recommend is people make a list, almost like a chart. 'What am I doing right now that I really love doing,' on the second column write down the things you don’t enjoy doing.”
Then he says, connect the dots to come up with new possibilities for yourself.
“People are more confident than they’ve ever been, to me there are two markers to confidence: the first is, know your subject matter, the second is its value.”
The good thing he says is, we've all had the past 18 months or so to think about what we want. Now, we just need to make it happen, carefully.
“The first thing, " said Ponce, "is not to react. Because any decision based on emotion is never going to produce the results you think they are. So pause, sit for a moment and evaluate what’s going on.”
And, Homa adds, while you're evaluating, think like an entrepreneur.
"Which means you’ll have to take calculated risks, and you’ll have to do experimentation, you’ll have to be intentional about your vision for success, you’ll also have to think about the choices and tradeoffs that you make.”