Invited by Sarmad and the team at Corporate World Intelligence (CWI) to keynote their annual Human Resources and Digital Transformation Summit, held virtually instead of in Kuala Lumpur.
Matthew GriffinFounder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
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850+keynotes
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17codexes
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Sarmad and the team at CWI invited Matthew to give this year's keynote at their annual Human Resources and Digital Transformation Summit, which would ordinarily have been held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic was held virtually.
In the keynote, entitled the Future of HR and the Workforce, Matthew explored how HR has been transformed and augmented by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, what the next twenty years hold for the workforce, and the impact those technologies will have on hiring and on the future of expertise and skills.
"The ability of individuals to access skills on demand could eliminate the global practice of hiring T-Shaped individuals."Matthew Griffin, Kuala Lumpur, March 2021
He discussed the impact of powerful, almost surveillance like technologies on hiring practices, including tools that let HR teams gather increasingly granular information on candidates and even screen them for personality, intent to criminality and potential. He then looked at how the continuing digitisation of the workforce will reshape the workplace.
That ranged from digitising people's physical presence with technologies like Microsoft Mesh, and what it means for virtual team collaboration, to skills on demand, which could end the global practice of hiring T-shaped individuals.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Hiring is becoming a data contest.
Tools now let HR teams gather granular information on candidates and screen for personality, intent to criminality and potential. Leaders must decide how far their organisation will go. Artificial Social Intelligence, AI that reads human behaviour, sits close to this use and is on a Watch footing.
Skills may be rented, not hired.
If skills on demand end the hiring of T-Shaped individuals, job profiles and talent plans need a rethink. Skills Democratisation, where tools let people code, design, write and analyse without years of training, is rated Prepare with wide use around 2028. Workforce plans should start from the work to be done, not the role title.
Presence and teams go digital.
Digitising physical presence, as with Microsoft Mesh, changes how virtual teams work together. Digital Humans, life-like computer-made people, are rated Explore with wide use around 2035. Managers are also starting to direct Artificial Intelligence agents alongside people, a trend rated Prepare for around 2029.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Which candidate screening practices would we stop if they became public?
Which of our roles depend on one person holding deep skills?
Who owns the design of teams that mix people and software agents?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It signals that hiring, skills and the workplace are all being digitised at once. Organisations should review how they screen candidates, how they source expertise, and how virtual teams will collaborate. The twenty year view argues for starting now.
How does Skills Democratisation relate to skills on demand?
Skills Democratisation describes tools that let people code, design, write and analyse without years of training. It is the practical route to the skills on demand Matthew described. 311 rates it Prepare, with wide use around 2028.
How do Digital Humans relate to the future of the workplace?
The keynote looked at digitising people's physical presence, with Microsoft Mesh as an example, and what that means for virtual team collaboration. Digital Humans are life-like computer-made people that can talk and show feelings. 311 rates them Explore, with wide use around 2035.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
311 offers a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person comes first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
One person can now direct AI agents and robots.
311 Institute's Future of Work research measures what one person can make and direct with AI agents and robots, the next step for the HR and skills shifts Matthew set out in this keynote.
