Workforces aren’t transforming with purpose
18 July 2025
Working people are missing working life. I’m still not convinced that we’re transforming with purpose or an end-state.
Gallup, the experts in employee engagement, cite that 57% of employees are “quiet quitting” due to cultural disengagement or wellbeing issues. A debilitating cocktail of post-pandemic anti-socialism, digital fatigue and economic insecurity are seemingly at play. Ineffective and uninspiring managers are also in the mix. What lies beneath? To begin - as workforces transform - deeper misalignment exists between two primary organisational needs: 1) capacity and 2) capability.
In attempts to optimise capacity - mainly through process digitisation, (generative) AI and managed services/outsourcing - acceleration presides over effectiveness. In attempts to uplift capability - through strategic choices, training, coaching, mentoring and toolkits - embedded learning is usually sidelined to ‘skills’ box-ticking. Throw culture in between these two axes and transformation becomes opaque; notably, Korn Ferry finds that 80% of executives believe culture is one of the highest, yet most misunderstood, priorities in organisational value.
Capacity, capability and culture - my esoteric Triple C sandwich - are part of the same balanced diet. Bite down on solid leadership (culture), people will have more self-belief (capability), increased productivity (capacity) which equals better outcomes. Bite down on ChatGPT (capacity), it creates more time for personal growth (capability) and innovation (culture).
Whilst the culture of work isn’t a means to an end, it still forms a large part of human purpose today. We’re a work-dependent society in transition; similar to moving from meat-based to plant-based alternatives - some want it, some don’t. However, business and trade have a workforce transformation responsibility that transcends the pressures of commerce. Taking that responsibility requires thoughtful, unfashionable leadership across trade boundaries, geographies and established institutions. The time is now to get the right commercial leaders in place who transform workforces with empathy, purpose and a canteen full of Triple C sandwiches. It’s not just for show: the future of good work depends on it.
