HR functions within organisations must prepare for the challenges and opportunities of the future by learning to experiment and develop new working models, according to the latest findings from the Future of Work [FoW] Consortium.

London Business School’s Professor Lynda Gratton, who hosted the final event for phase 2 of the FoW (in conjunction with the Hot Spots Movement), said it was vital for companies to create a “future signature” to deal with risks such as the use of carbon and potential inter-generational conflicts.

Over 1,000 executives in 30 companies were surveyed for the research. Gratton explained: “We found that often there is a lack of focus on innovation and experimentation, and that senior management are often too entrenched in the present to sponsor pilots and experiments for the future.

“A focus on the future is crucial for long-term success and yet too often the emails, meetings and unproductive work crowd out the important conversations, pilots and experiments so crucial for the future.”

Consortium members agreed that executives often struggled with fragmented working days and found it difficult to remove themselves from their daily work and consider the future for their business.

Gratton said organisations really had to get to grips with future-proofing, scrutinising their business (what she termed ’internal insight’) and wrestling with risks surrounding open innovation, generational cohesion, deep collaboration and virtual working. “There are some big issues looming up…that need thought and action now,” she said. “But too often executives simply don’t have the time as the immediate tasks crowd out these crucial and longer-term challenges.”

She cautioned: “What is clear is that for many employees the combination of globalisation and technology have created a way of frenetic working that is in danger of both destroying their sanity and also jeopardising the long-term health of companies.”

The work of the Consortium, which brings together more than 200 executives from corporations and organisations around the world, is ongoing. (For more from Lynda Gratton and the Hot Spots movement, see Trends, p27.)