The ecosystem mindset is spreading across functions and changes how organizations operate

This new research on Orchestrating Workforce Ecosystems is quite insightful to other functions, such as #partnerships, because principles remain the same.

A few years before the pandemic in the consulting project for one of the top UK banks 🎯 we were advising them to implement a hybrid workforce.

In addition to permanent employees, we suggested creating a pool of semi-permanent contractors that they can engage consistently and a larger group of vetted gig workers to engage ad-hoc.

At that time it was very new and innovative. Now it is becoming a new norm.

A new research on the Orchestrating Workforce Ecosystems from Elizabeth J. Altman from Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell of Business and Deloitte discovered that:

✔️ 93% of the managers view some form of external workforce (contractors, gig workers, fractional, etc.) as part of their organization's workforce

✔️74% agree that effectively managing this extended workforce is critical to their success

but (true to the #ecosystem trend overall)

❌ 70% of managers think their organizations are NOT prepared to manage this extended workforce

🌋 As soon as you adopt an ecosystem mindset, its influence spreads across functions in the organization (procurement, marketing, IT, finance, legal, etc.) and creates tension between internal and external priorities.

Ecosystem mindset is different from from the traditional “command and control” principles and 🚩 needs to be supported by:

Management practices

Technology enablers

Integration architectures

Leaderships principles

Companies need to answer questions like

◾️ How do we organize internal and external teams so we manage projects effectively together?

◾️ How do we create a culture which accommodates different business objectives of ecosystem participants?

💡 What’s interesting in that ecosystem mindset often flips how companies approach their #strategy.

Traditionally, organizations develop a strategy and then figure out what and who they need to accomplish that strategy.

Now they increasingly start thinking from the perspective of what resources they have access to and how I create a strategy that leverages all these resources?