After many episodes of Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance and one I'm embarassed to say I have seen (Master of Dance)...I was reviewing some workplace trends and discovered a theme...you'll see it in all our blogs this week... please read on...
Dancing close to your partner was an 18th century innovation that we know as the waltz. This metaphor well describes the workplace of the past where staff were expected to align their personal mandate closely with the corporate mandate and to mirror and model their boss to be able to climb the corporate ladder.
Dancing close to your partner was an 18th century innovation that we know as the waltz. This metaphor well describes the workplace of the past where staff were expected to align their personal mandate closely with the corporate mandate and to mirror and model their boss to be able to climb the corporate ladder.
Today’s innovative workplaces are closer to another dance of the 17th and 18th century - minuets, where partners dance to the same rhythm but separately and loosely coupled. Today’s staff need the freedom of personal expression and individualism, not reminders to toe the company line. The minuet picked up tempo depending on the dancer and the musician… today’s workplaces must also demonstrate this situational flexibility.
And the future?
Well.. welcome back the Jitterbug! During the early 1900s, the Jitterbug was a dance performed by swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. This term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor" due to their fast often bouncy movements on the dance floor.
And the future?
Well.. welcome back the Jitterbug! During the early 1900s, the Jitterbug was a dance performed by swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. This term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor" due to their fast often bouncy movements on the dance floor.
In the future, our workplaces will rely less and less on the inherent expertise of our workers and more on tools and resources of expertise (like the content-rich aspects of the Internet, and the new generation of workplace productivity software). With our future employees expected to be less loyal and more mobile and the boomers aging out of the workforce, organizations will keep dancing but it will be the musicians who know the dance and the dancers who bring their energy and willingness to “jitterbug” that will take us in new, unknown directions.
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