As we head into the future of work, restructuring the workforce and the workplace becomes an imperative. The fact is that the changes brought about by the pandemic are irreversible. Hybrid workplace with partial or full dependence on technology and other automation processes is here to stay. With such trends anticipated across all business sectors of the world, how are leaders planning to prepare themselves for the future of work? 

In this episode of the People Matters podcast series, Viijay Colaco, HR Director, Intel India joined us to share his perception of the future of work and also how leaders should buckle up to lead future employees - especially the next generation who are still pursuing their education right now and will shortly graduate into this changed world. 

Here are some insights that Vijay shared:

1. Commitment, consistency and credibility are the three Cs which must be character traits of the leaders of the future. 
2. To identify which leaders possess the three Cs, it is important to look at their performance over a period of time and not just the current stage. Their track record of accomplishments throughout their career path and growth is the key indicator of their leadership capabilities. 
3. Employees may have their own goals and interests to learn and upskills, but they benefit most if they have mentors to help them ideate the relevance of the skills that they want to develop and its alignment with the goals that they want to accomplish.
4. Besides mentoring, listening is going to become a very crucial activity in the days to come, because that leads to more of an innovative culture where people can feel confident that their leaders will support them and enable them to take their ideas to fruition.
5. While organisations continue to focus on hiring traditional skills, they also need to look at ‘right skilling’ and upskilling. 
6. In terms of being ready to lead the future workforce, flexibility is the new currency. 
7. Leaders of the future need to trust their employees, as they may not be able to interact with the employees in person for long periods of time. Laying the foundations of trust is crucial in order to lead a future workforce successfully. 

Click on the ‘Play’ button to listen to the full episode: