There is a parable about a frog and it goes... if you drop a frog in a pan when the water is boiling, it will leap out very quickly.  But if you put the frog into a pan of cold water, and then heat it steadily towards boiling point, the frog - unaware that any dramatic change is taking place - will just sit there, and slowly cook.  At first the frog will do nothing.  Then as the water begins to get warm, the frog will begin to appear sleepy.  Finally as the water begins to boil, the frog will be too groggy to escape and although there is nothing restraining him, he will sit there and boil.

The parable of the frog is highly relevant today because too many workers are sitting waiting for the 'good old days' to return and the temperature of change in our economic climate is dramatically increasing.  When I refer to workers I am including everyone at every level of the organization. 

Because of complacency, workers can become victims, like the boiled frog, by not understanding and embracing the changing workplace.  Janis Foord Kirk states in her excellent book 'Survivability', "It's a typical human response.  In times of profound change, most of us fail to understand what's going on until it happens to us."

What does this 'New Workplace' look like?  The source for the following information comes from Peter Drucker, Nuala Beck and Janis Foord Kirk who are experts on the 'New Workplace':

• Just over 50% of the total Canadian workforce continues to work in traditional, full -time jobs and the percentage is continually dropping.
• This state of flux will continue to somewhere between 2010 and 2020 thus more and more workers will become flexible workers i.e. temporary, contract, self-employed, etc.
• Educator Gilles Paquet states, "Some labour economists say that by the year 2020 about ¾ of the workforce will be self-employed.  That means only one person in four will have a job like mine:  fairly well paid, fairly stable, and with tenure."
• Statistics Canada estimates the average length of a full-time job to be nearly four years.

Look at any workplace and the winds of change have drastically altered how we work.  The new workplace certainly doesn't resemble the one most of us started working in but we still make decisions on how to manage our work lives based on 'old thinking.'  The word 'security' should no longer be in the dictionary as the events of the last few years have proved that at any moment the nature of our day-to-day lives can change.  In the workplace we no longer have job security but we can maintain 'employability' security.  To maintain 'employability' security we need to be vigilant in constantly assessing our current skills and how they match our employers' needs to achieve their business goals.  An associate of mine uses his birthday as a reminder every year to assess his skills and set learning goals for the next year.

R. Scott, Jenny Gonzales, Stephen Popliel and Terry Walker stated in an article on Human Capital in the Ivey Business Journal, "The most successful workers in the new workplace will be those who have two important qualities:

1. Self-directed problem-solver, capable of freelancing or working with minimal supervision.
2. Adaptable to multi-functional requirement in their career path.  This means valuing a worker who is willing to invest in learning."

Many of us know intellectually that updating our skills will ensure our 'employability'.  The struggle becomes carving out time to do it in our fast paced lifestyle.  But unfortunately we have no option but to creatively think of ways to jump on the continuous learning bandwagon.  Changing our attitude will be the main influence in ensuring that we don't become boiled frogs.