LUMEN Winter 2019 - Flipbook - Page 31
“What’s happening is the nature of
work is changing, not the people, and
what the world demands is now
different whether you are 15 or 50.”
“What are the things we can do today to bring those
values to life?”
When posed with the question of what the workforce
of the future will look like, Didier said the idea that
organisations will need to change drastically to meet
Gen Z’s and millennials’ expectations is a
smokescreen, and we are doing ourselves a disservice
by thinking this way.
“If you look at the data, there is not a huge
difference between the different generations – it’s a
cohort effect, so the way a 16 year old feels today is
pretty similar to how a 16 year old felt 40 years ago.
“What’s happening is the nature of work is changing,
not the people, and what the world demands is now
different whether you are 15 or 50,” he said.
Didier believes the future of work will be shaped by
the ‘gig economy’, where people are employed to
work on a freelance or project basis rather than in
permanent jobs, coupled with the rise in needing to
solve more complicated problems which will require
people to work together for longer periods.
“I think we are going to simultaneously get a web of
interconnected people that are in the gig economy,
and at the same time we are going to need to create
really coherent, effective organisations that are able
to marshal large numbers of people towards ideas for
a long period of time,” he said.
According to Didier, understanding that
vulnerability is a strength rather than a weakness is
an important part of Culture Amp’s culture.
“Vulnerability goes to the heart of our culture, what
we want to achieve and how we want to interact,”
he said.
Didier credits his wife, opera singer , psychologist
and Adelaide alumna Greta Bradman with teaching
him how to have the courage to be vulnerable, also
conceding she is one of his most important mentors.
“I’ll often seek Greta’s guidance to help me
understand the psychology behind aspects of
[Culture Amp’s] products, how I mentor
people, even the way I lead.
“Her knowledge and thinking has framed so much
of my own thought processes about the intersection
between psychology and organisation.”
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Didier Elzinga
ALUMNI MAGAZINE - WINTER 2019
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