The Future of Work

By OBA Staff

On June 25th, 2019 the OBA ran a Continuing Professional Development program called “The Future of Work” where the OBA’s Innovator in Residence, trailblazers from other industries, and OBA members shared their experiences, lessons, and questions about self-management. Below is an outline of that guided discussion along with some helpful resources for those lawyers and leaders intrigued by what the future of work could look like in their own firms.

Abandoning Assumptions, Adopting Curiosity, Embracing Innovation

Adoption of self-management is a process – an occasionally uncomfortable, always collaborative and ultimately unending journey with one key objective: to empower people to produce the best work possible.

If, as bestselling author Daniel Pink contends, we are driven in our professional lives by autonomy, mastery and purpose, then any successful workplace model will support those aims while removing obstacles to high performance.

Faced with this objective, many organizations have found a useful framework in Holacracy, Teal and other methods of decentralized management and governance designed to evenly distribute power, enable professionals to take full ownership of their responsibilities and challenge the traditional hierarchies that hold us back.