Back in December I said that I would be writing a blog EVERY DAY until my time started filling up.
Well, that time has come.
High school basketball started up in January so I have been officiating 4 or 5 nights per week for the past several weeks. I also started a new job and got my first couple of "gigs" as a consultant, which is exciting. And I was just offered a role on the Board of a nonprofit which is very cool!
So my writing has taken a back seat, but I'm not done with it completely! My goal is going to be one per week.
I started to write a couple of times but I find that I write best when I have at least 2 hours, so I can just get everything down quickly and then review it, then publish it. And I haven't had two free hours very often lately! If I don't have that time block it's difficult to piece my thoughts together afterward.
So, having said that, it's 7:50am meaning I have an hour and 10 minutes before I start my real job. Speed-writing time!
One of the things on the top of my mind right now is related to the workplace, but it stems from a couple of my new positions. It's about the future of "hybrid" or fully "remote" working and how to help new people catch up, or more often termed as: onboarding.
Now, spellcheck is giving me a red squiggly line under the word "onboarding," so I'm gonna need for the internet dictionary to catch up, but until then if you're not familiar onboarding just means bringing new members on board - to a company, organization, what have you.
Additionally, even though the pandemic has given us all a challenge, maybe you haven't heard about hybrid working. It basically means that workers will be given the flexibility to come into the office occasionally rather than be required to come in 9-5, M-F.
Which has its pros and cons.
I recently joined a new organization which went through a fully remote onboarding process. They used Asana, which is a web-based project management tool that helps organize tasks and projects, collaborate with team and project members, and shows you a fun little unicorn or rainbow each time you complete a task.
Tasks are set up like this:
Read employee handbook
Complete employee authorization forms
Get computer & key fob
And so on
But, for some, you'll need more detail, like "Read through our Slack Norms on the company intranet," or, "Add yourself to the company directory in Wordpress."
Now, some of you might be reading the above thinking "What the hell is Asana, Slack, intranet, or Wordpress?"
And I get it. Not everyone has been exposed to these things, especially those on either extreme end of the workforce, that is - entering or leaving.
But the point is that it is very, very difficult to assimilate to the company "culture" if you are simply reading through pages and pages... and pages... of onboarding material. Handbooks, operating procedures, blogs, mission statements, company guidelines, etc.
For now, I'll focus on those entering and how they are going to be introduced to the new, modern world; however, if you are closer to the other end and your company is moving to a bunch of new interweb tools that you need help with - send me a note!
The Board role I just started with is a nonprofit which aims to teach STEAM-related subjects to K-12 students, introducing them to coding, design thinking, audio engineering, podcasting, and more. STEAM is Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, and Math. The organization seeks to get kids involved in a way that doesn't just show them what they can do on paper or a test, but how they can be a part of the tech revolution in real life - and how they can make a life doing that.
When I interviewed, I stressed the fact that I see young people entering the workforce who don't know how to use the tools I mentioned above: Asana, Slack, Wordpress, Smartsheet, etc. - many struggle with things like cloud storage, organization, and basic document processing - and it would be incredibly valuable if those entering the workforce had less of an uphill climb.
Sure, entry-level jobs are designed to be a place for learning for many - but wouldn't it be nice if young people were already introduced to the tools that were going to help them succeed? So they have the ability to actually focus on producing quality work and not why they can't figure out how to add themselves to a website directory?
Most of us who have been in the workplace know that half of our work isn't even actual work - it's ensuring we're following protocols, meeting with our team, building relationships, managing people, projects, time, and clients.
But technology can help us streamline so that our time isn't bogged down with those things.
When I was in high school, I had no idea the part that technology would play in my life. I got my first laptop as I headed into college. It sometimes took 30 seconds to load one webpage. Online tests that students now regularly take were glitchy and half the time we had to refresh the page when submitting and our 50-question exam would be lost to the ether.
Facebook was literally invented when I was a freshman in 2004.
Yeah, you read that right.
Even when I graduated college I still had no idea the role that tech would play. The dot-com boom was over. For someone in Mechanical Design and a promising career ahead in manufacturing and design I knew that I could do CAD (Computer Aided Design) and write logic programs for PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). And, obviously, I knew I could keep up with friends on Facebook.
These days, most of my work is writing, paperwork, communicating with my team, managing projects, and occasionally some fun stuff like editing, design, or making a podcast.
And 100% of my work is done online or on a laptop. Without ever printing anything.
One. Hundred. Percent.
OK, occasionally I have to do something physical like take a picture of a check with my phone and send it to myself. I guess that's technically online, though.
I guess sometimes I have to think. While thinking is dangerous and I don't do much of it, I still have to do it and it's not online, so maybe 99% of my work is online. But then I capture those thoughts in a Google Doc or organize them into tasks in Asana. Sometimes I'll send a Slack message to myself to remind me of a thought that entered my head. Or I'll use Evernote to jot down blog ideas.
I can do anything I want with this hunk of metal on my lap. Who would have thought that all this could be done online - and that I'd get paid for it? I can create a document and share it with 50 people for feedback instantly and switch tabs to complete "paperwork" in Adobe - and sign with my handwritten signature. I can ask a colleague in Portugal how things are going on a project which he'll receive whenever his working hours are and update me in real-time - no messenger doves involved. Then I can hop over and check my freelance job sites and respond to a new consultant need - in seconds.
Never would have thought that 15 years ago.
The bigger thing is, no matter what we teach now, it's going to change again in 5 years.
I know that young people are well-suited to the online workplace. But not everyone has the luxury of a speedy connection and a cache of tools at their fingertips. Just like teaching personal finance or sex ed in high school - preparation is key.
By introducing students and young people to these tools now, when they go to get an actual job, they'll be familiar with how they will save them time and energy, so they can focus their attention on what matters at work.
The workplace of the future has a few challenges.
How do you bring new people on successfully when no one is there to guide them?
How do you introduce and enforce the use of company norms and culture when not everyone has the same level of understanding of them?
And, what tools and resources are you going to use in the first place? How do you choose them and why?
Philosophical question for the modern age: how do we use these newfangled hammers and nails to get the same jobs done?
The jobs aren't all that much different. But the way we get the jobs done will never be the same.
People will fall behind the curve if they don't know what to expect and spend their entire career trying to catch up.
Here's hoping I can help a bit.
In the on-site, 9-to-5 days, one problem was meeting attendance. When someone up the chain called a meeting, participants were assigned from a project member list. Minimal thought was given as to whether my attendance would be a productive use of my time.
Not everyone knew their expected role:
* You are a key participant who is expected to lead a portion of the meeting to update/get input from others.
* You are a key participant who is expected to provide input.
* Some portions of this meeting will be pertinent to your task list, others not so much.
* No prior prep is needed but you may be assigned a project task.
* No prior prep is needed but…