“The best work happens when you know that it’s not just work, but something that will improve other people’s lives.”
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft
Survival hinges on adapting to the new ways to work and keeping pace with technology. And part of this shift will be to move faster by breaking down the obstacles that slow down the ability to test and learn new concepts that will drive future growth. Being positioned for the change ahead of us will require fostering a safe space to collaborate and addressing pain points that hinder the flow of work to move forward.
Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.
Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President, Modern Work & Business Applications
Relentless focus on driving the elements that will bring new ideas to market may not be enough to deliver expectations against organizational goals in today’s highly competitive market. Trying something new may mean to unlearn the old to embrace a new process and navigate ambiguity along the way. Where to start? To begin, knowing that it is okay to let go and risk failing forward is part of creating a safe space for creativity, discovery and innovation to be born. Additionally, embracing distributed teams, regardless of hierarchy, and bringing the customer closer to the product can surface what needs to be solved quicker by breaking down the activities to reveal the core problem.
With the advent of Microsoft Copilot that combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with data, the future of the way we work needs to start now. Why? Data is being generated faster than ever before and it needs to reach the right teams to create the flows to manipulate and automate information. This means, getting in front of the obstacles and breaking down the barriers quicker. And stop forming a tribe to kick-off a project, be selective in the people who have the mindset, training and experience to deliver each stage to launch the product at scale.
Uncertainty can play on emotions and taking a risk to try something new is not always a confidence booster. But having the right support system and partnerships can help guide the way to discovery. Leaning on everyone, including executive assistants, on the way forward can evolve areas of the business that are out of scope. In a recent business experience, I observed first hand that a solution to a problem was the wrong one–I did some research and the discovery process uncovered the right solution that the business had no interest in pursuing.
“The stigma with ‘assistant’ has to do with the stereotypes of secretaries as the put-upon lackeys in The Devil Wears Prada. Some people really suffer from old ideas of what an assistant is.”
Bonnie Low-Kramen, author of Staff Matters
Adopting emergent leadership to evolve the business models and reshape processes will allow the workforce to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable journey through change. And the executive assistant can help champion the change, highlight the drudgery that exhausts time and serve as the gateway to the future. Learn more about why organizations should start to cultivate emergent leadership and workplaces should get people like Gunther from Grey’s Anatomy on their radar here.
