Preparing for Digital Natives Joining Your Workforce

Monica Basso starts with the major transformation happening in the workforce, with digital natives who will bring opportunities and challenges to the enterprise.

Enterprises tend to tackle short-term issues but sooner or later they will have to innovate and think about these people coming in.

The digital natives (the concept was invented in 2001, for people born after 1980) are those who were born after the computer, digital telephones… and never lived without them. They do not think about technology, they just use it. The rest of us are "digital immigrants".

They expect some tools and communication modes in the enterprise which are very different from what we use today. They will drive continuous innovation in the organization, by bringing new skills, cultures, preferences…

Four technology areas are relevant:

• Communication: networks are wireless and maturing in availability, affordability, capacity. New communication modes appear over these networks, from mail to IM, social networks, telepresence… These are now available to everybody (democratization).

• User interfaces: motion, touch, gesture, faces… and beyond text, with visual, video, audio, tactile. Products will have to be designed around the user.

• Communities and social networks: people are able to stay in touch, communicate and build things together. Expect more pervasiveness of this paradygm. Mail is the last communication tool for teenagers (it's prehistoric).

• Virtual worlds: one life, multiple personas. There have been experimentations but a lot more will come in 5-10 years. Kids have so much experience with video games! The future (long term) workforce will be composed of human and avatars!

Human motivation evolves:

1. Physiological needs
2. Safety
3. Love/belonging
4. Esteem
5. Self actualization (creativity, morality…)

IT has historically been used for 1 and 2. New technologies (social networks, mobile) touch on 3 and 4. Virtual worlds will reach 5. The type of needs addressed by a technology must be figured out among the workforce as well as among the customers.

Digital natives have a different attitude toward belonging to an organization (hierarchy and authority are touchy issues) as well as on collaboration. They must be able to work closer together and managers must adapt. They work a lot by assembling pieces found here & there. They have a non-linear way of thinking (using a tactical approaches to problems).

More diversity is coming beyond the digital natives: women (closer to the technology) with different expectations, seniors (more influence in the society) with specific challenges, cultural and ethnic groups.

Changes in the market also occur with more "long tail": from content to products, for example in consumer electronics (3D printing) or in IT, with commoditized components & customized solutions. This is driven by the democratization of distribution and production and the ease of connection between supply and demand. The question to ask is how the new workforce can help innovate on the business models.

Vote (this is a voting session): people in the room see the change in the workforce more as an opportunity.

The effect on the organization stems from the increased diversity that will be brought in. You need to start to think of solutions that are more individualized (one size does not fit all). By 2015, people will customize 90% of the information, tools and resources they use at work (and elsewhere).

There will be a need to establish trusted relationship networks, across organizational boundaries, where people will work with their contacts to get the job done.

The management and leadership will have to be deeply tranformed to adapt to the new workforce.

Recommendations: accept the change and start explore the social networks.