Formerly University of Phoenix Research Institute
| Future Work Skills 2020: Virtual Collaboration January 27, 2012 |
In the Future Work Skills 2020 report, the Institute for the Future identified 10 skills that will be vital for success in the workforce for the next decade. This perspective focuses on one of these 10 vital skills: Virtual Collaboration.
Read the full Future Work Skills 2020 report.
Ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team
A confluence of factors will continue to drive remote working in the next decade.
Connective technologies make it easier than ever to share content from anywhere.
Employees demand more flexible working arrangements to juggle work and family life.
Organizations acknowledge that traditional office environments rarely offer the extended blocks of uninterrupted time needed to complete tasks.
The nature of work itself is changing:
Many work tasks require contributions from multiple people, often located in different places, some overseas.
Technologies are also enabling division of work into micro-tasks that can be performed by an ad hoc team that can be easily assembled “in the cloud.”
In response, many Fortune 500 companies are eliminating a portion of their traditional office spaces.
Virtual work will demand a new set of competencies.
Comfort with collaborating remotely will emerge as a key skill.
There are already a host of tools available to facilitate remote collaboration (for example, wikis, instant messaging services, shareable virtual whiteboards, and the Google Docs™ program) .
Remote workers also need to become adept at demonstrating and signaling presence.
Micro-blogging platforms enable workers to share what they are working on currently, and keep colleagues informed about their availability.
A number of web-based platforms allow colleagues to create a virtual office on their screen. For example, teamspace gives each worker an avatar, and an office space that colleagues can “visit” throughout the day, with meeting rooms and kitchens for social moments.
Remote workers will also seek ways to create a more embodied sense of presence.
Telepresence robots, while still expensive, are beginning to be priced within reach for small and medium-sized businesses. These remote-controlled, Wi-Fi-enabled devices can “represent” workers in an office space, allowing them to check in on colleagues, and have the kind of ad hoc encounters and conversations that are usually excluded by virtual work.
Virtual platforms can help to create a sense of ambient sociability, but finding a forum for “real-world” interactions will remain important for the growing band of digital nomads.
Coworking spaces offer workers something between the isolation of a home office and the public nature of a coffee shop. They provide facilities, IT support, meeting rooms, and opportunities for developing a broad professional network and a social work environment. In the next decade, coworking spaces will become a familiar part of work culture, and in many places will be seen as preferable to traditional offices.
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