Hybrid work is here to stay...the future of work is hybrid and it’s time to reinvent your career!
Even before Covid-19, the trend of hybrid work and a hybrid workforce was on the rise, but now it’s accelerating.
This quote from the 2019 Burning Glass report quantifies how imperative it is that people pay attention to and shift towards hybrid work:
“Hybrid jobs are growing at twice the rate of the overall job market. They are 20-40% higher-paying than their more traditional counterparts, and they are now found in every domain of business.
Burning Glass’s research shows that 42% of normal jobs can be automated, but only 12% of highly hybrid jobs can.”
News and media headlines regularly talk about hybrid work, showing that companies are rapidly embracing hybridity as the new way of working. The term hybrid in the workplace is being applied to everything from teams, meetings and leadership to management, policies, and job descriptions.
The range of hybridization means workers must adapt too. People are not exempt. The world of hybrid work is accompanied by a world of hybrid workers.
Those who maintain their traditional work identities and remain in traditional roles will be displaced in the near future by workers who adopt hybridity as a core asset and competitive advantage in their field. That’s the reality of the future of work.
What does hybridity in the workplace mean?
Just to be clear, hybrid work is about more than flexible work schedules or new work-from-home policies. That’s just one of many variations of how hybridity is shaping the workforce.
Let’s define the main types of hybridization in work:
Hybrid work or hybrid jobs: (complex abilities+ multidisciplinary knowledge) rare combinations of skillsets, work that often encompasses analytical/logical with creative/design.
EXAMPLES:
Advertising managers are creative designers and analysts rolled into one
A total of 57% of engineering positions now require business and leadership skills
More than half (54%) of all IT jobs now require some form of digital design
Marketing managers who know SQL make 41% more money than those who do not
Hybrid workplaces: (physical + virtual) some employees are co-located in an office and others are working remotely.
Hybrid workers or hybrid professionals: (identity A + identity B + identity C) people who integrate different work identities together, and work at the intersection of those identities.
EXAMPLE:
Chip Wilson- founder of LuluLemon combined his professional identities in athletics, retail, and fabric science to create “athleisure” and start a billion dollar enterprise.
It’s time to reinvent yourself as a hybrid professional
It’s apparent that the pace, style, and very nature of work is changing. It’s more flexible and complex with a wider range of possibilities. As AI and automation takeover rote tasks, workers must gain and learn new skills to marry them with existing abilities in unique ways.
As Josh Bersin wrote:
“The idea of a “renaissance man” is more important than ever. Leonardo da Vinci was highly esteemed for his broad knowledge of many fields. Today, we all have to become more da Vinci-like in our careers – it’s the secret of success in the digital world ahead.”
Figuring out your hybrid professional identity is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Not only does it make you more competitive in the workforce, but it provides you with a deep level of self-understanding and clarity.
Most professionals don’t stop to take inventory of who they really are and reflect on what their true professional identity is.
As your career progresses, workers gain more identities. Over time, some of those identities become more dominant and others diminish. When identity shifts, professionals need to re-evaluate and rebrand themselves.
Defining your hybrid professional identity is about finding the through line of yourself across your jobs and career transitions and determining what makes you unique in your line of work.
Who are you when you combine your multiple work identities together?
Reframing and naming your hybridity is a powerful and essential tools in today’s workforce.
Today’s professionals need to define their hybridity before they become obsolete, lost, or passed over for promotions. Don’t let that happen. Instead, learn how to convey the power of your special combination of identities. Your hybridity is what sets you apart.
Lastly, here’s one of my favorites ads I’ve seen recently…IBM is creating an entire sales strategy around taking the world hybrid!
