NextMapping™ Future of Work Blog

If there is one thing on workers minds – especially leaders it is how to ease anxiety in a hybrid workplace. Most companies planning a back to work structure for their workers beginning in October 2021. The hybrid model we are seeing as being most common right now is a ‘flexible workplace’ approach. The flexible […]

At NextMapping we sent out a survey June 2021 to our newsletter subscribers asking them what they felt about the hybrid workplace and what they want when they return to the office. The survey was sent out prior to the latest increase of the COVID Delta variant and when many businesses were planning to go […]

One of the biggest challenges leaders have had since the pandemic disruption is ‘leading hybrid teams’. Being a leader pre-pandemic was still very traditional in that leaders had workers working primarily in office. When the pandemic happened it sped up the future of work reality of ‘remote work’. Prior to the pandemic many companies said […]

We surveyed over a 1000 workers and asked them “What skills do you think your leaders need to have to keep you engaged?” Over 94% of those surveyed said that they think that leaders need essential human skills (also known as soft skills) to keep teams engaged. In the past, the term that used to […]

Generation Covid and the future…… There is a new generation in town – its Generation Covid also known as Gen C. which includes young people under the age of twenty. You may be familiar with the other generations: Gen Z 1997 to 2020 (know for being the social media generation) Millenials 1981 to 1996 (known […]

In the past few months we have conducted surveys of leaders from multiple industries as to their leadership lessons learned from the pandemic. What we heard back from leaders was that there has been a lot of learning from 2020 and into 2021. Some leaders didn’t want to even think about lessons learned because of […]

We have conducted numerous surveys of remote workers and have compiled the best practices of remote workers. In many ways there was a general consensus that when 2020 was over there would be a sense of getting back to ‘normal’. Whatever normal is by today’s standards it is evident that there is a new normal […]

This year we share our 21 NextMapping Workplace Trends for 2021 via slideshare. Covid19 and 2020 forever impacted the way we work and how we want to live. We are only at the beginning of the social changes that we will see as a result of the global pandemic.

Here’s what to look forward to in 2021. In 2020 the world changed drastically – the way we work – the way we live and the way we look at the future. In 2020 we can all agree that we are all experiencing some level of stress. To be human is to experience stress. The […]

Has 2020 kicked you in the you know what? This is my take on how I/we can focus on our common humanity during the pandemic. I don’t know about you but 2020 has been a big kick in the seat of the pants. It seems as if the stress of the pandemic has worn many […]

We have heard a lot of talk about the ‘new normal’ since the beginning of the pandemic. In reality no one really knows what that new normal will look like. Right now we are going through a social revolution. The pandemic is causing workers to reassess what work means to them individually. Employers have adapted […]

Insurance Case Study: 5 Ways to Work Remotely Guest post by Crystal Metz – Crystal is also a certified NextMapping Entrepreneur Coach working with entrepreneurs to succesfully map out what’s next for greater success. Working remotely, or running your business, managing employees and keeping clients happy from home, can be a bit tricky to say […]

In this blog post I share 5 leadership hacks for the most common WFH (work from home) challenges. On a recent Zoom call with a CEO we discussed the things keeping her and her leaders up at night during the pandemic. The challenges that her and her leaders were dealing with were pretty much identical […]

There are 8 ways leaders can support their workers to thrive in times of intense uncertainty. Recently a client shared that she was struggling with keeping her team members engaged. She also shared that her workers were challenged with staying focused as well as productive. There is no playbook for successfully dealing with all of […]

Recently I was a guest on Zync agencies podcast series talking about the future of work and power of brand.

Yesterday I was asked how leaders are rising to lead in the Covid-19 disruption.

We posted a survey question to the public asking – “amidst the coronavirus how are you feeling about the future? The data is still coming in and once you complete the survey you will see the results. Below we are sharing the preliminary responses. The questions we asked included: Are you feeling optimistic about the […]

All futurists talk about disruptions and being ready for disruptions – one disruption we know for sure is that Coronavirus is speeding up the future of work. As people adapt to working remotely, new challenges have emerged and new economic opportunities will arise The deluge of information on coronavirus is overwhelming and on a daily […]

We are really excited to add a new online course – “How to Create & Innovate at the Speed of Change”. In February we added, “The Future of Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent” online course. Our new course, “How to Create and Innovate At The Speed of Change” is aimed at helping leaders, team members, […]

As I write this we are in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic. We are in the rise of remote work in 2020. Schools are closed, restaurants are closing or have altered services to take out only, retailers such as Apple have closed stores and every industry is impacted by this major disruption. 5 years […]

We are in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone is anxious, everyone is feeling blindsided by the impact on the global economy. We can use tools such as the PREDICT model to help ease anxiety about the future. Every industry is being impacted including the travel industry, the meetings industry, and the supply […]

Jason Campbell of MindValley interviews Cheryl Cran on the ‘self-leadership’ needed to create a shared future. To listen to the full audio of this interview go here. Jason: I have Cheryl Cran here, which, Oh my gosh, we’re going to have such a treat talking about the future of work and that the future is […]

What is the future of customer experience? A few years ago I worked with a tech firm that was putting on customer appreciation conferences. The focus of the conferences was to provide the tech firms customers with new tools and resources to leverage their tech. I was asked to keynote for these events on the […]

It is the beginning of a new decade AND 2020 is the year of bettering ourselves. It is time for each of us to increase our commitment to being better individuals, better team players, and better leaders. Can you feel the urgency of it? Can you feel the pull of the future asking us to […]

We are celebrating here at NextMapping as 2019 comes to a close. In 2019 my book, “NextMapping – Anticipate, Navigate and Create The Future of Work” AND created the 2nd edition with a personal workbook that will be published in February 2020. Our consulting clients increased their success in 2019 by embracing shared leadership. In […]

Today I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Chris Rainey founder of HRleaders.com on the future of work, digital, change and the PREDICT model from my book, “NextMapping – Anticipate, Navigate and Create The Future of Work”. The interview was focused around the fast-changing future and how leaders can leverage the PREDICT model to […]

At NextMapping we have surveyed thousands of leaders and one of the top issues facing leaders is “how to get employees to engage”. Recently, I conducted a series of workshops for BMO Bank of Montreal across Canada. We traveled to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. The focus was on the future of work […]

Recently we released our updated report on Top 20 Trends for Future of Work 2020. This article focuses on one of the trends for the future of work 2020. One of the trends that we researched includes the focus on digital transformation through the lens of ‘people first’. Many leaders we have surveyed have stated […]

We have surveyed thousands of leaders and one of the top challenges revealed is: How to stop skepticism in the workplace. NextMapping survey The dizzying pace of change in technology and business makes it difficult to keep workers engaged in creating the future. Workers are challenged with ongoing change and do not trust their leaders […]

The term “soft skills” implies weak or non-essential and so I say, ‘No more soft skills!’. I am on a mission! I have been on this mission for over a decade! I am hoping you will join me. The mission is to have the term “soft skills” be replaced with new term such as “essential […]

There is no crystal ball but there’s a secret that innovators know – you can predict the future by leveraging patterns. It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. At NextMapping we help you predict the future by leveraging patterns. In my book, “NextMapping – Anticipate, […]

I am writing this from the Minneapolis airport where I have completed a series of keynotes for clients in the employee relocation industry, clients in the defense industry and clients in the federal government. Although each of these industries may seem disparate and unalike the truth is that every single unique industry has commonalities with […]

There is no question that the workforce of the future will be an adaptive workforce. The workforce of the future is going to look entirely different than it does today. A number of trends are pointing to the changes impacting the future of workplaces. In my book, “NextMapping – Anticipate, Navigate and Create The Future […]

The future needs leaders with masculine & feminine attributes. We are at a very important time and place in the world. Every day we see examples of great and not so great leadership by both men and women, whether in corporations, start ups or politics. Leadership attributes in the past have been primarily masculine in […]

I have a question: Do your people trust their leaders? If you answered yes – that’s great your company is future ready! There is science backed research that proves that a trust culture has higher rates of engagement and other benefits. Paul J. Zak a Harvard researcher has researched the relationship between trust, leadership and […]

Many industries including insurance are adapting quickly to the many changes impacting the future workplace insurance 2025. AI, automation, robotics, changing worker attitudes are quickly impacting the future of insurance. There is a need for leaders to have upgraded skills such as the ability to have multiple perspectives. Leaders need to be able to lead […]

Cheryl Cran:         I’m really excited today, to have Amber Mac as our guest. Amber please share with our clients your background.  Amber Mac:         Thank you, I’ve been working for almost 20 years now in the technology industry. I started out getting into the weeds at a couple of tech startups in San Francisco. I have a journalism […]

Are you inundated with massive change? Join the club! We are in a time where it is imperative that we all get better at learning how to flex in times of flux. Definition of ‘flex’: To move or tense Definition of ‘flux’: Synonym for ‘change’ The speed of change and information that we are dealing […]