Employee Development in the Conceptual Age: Moving from Left to Right to Create a Whole

Abstract

Employees increasingly feel that their work is dread, drudgery, and not passion-driven and purposeful. Organisations need to find the right ways to retain and engage them. The factors instrumental in every phase of industrial growth in global economies change. The 21st century’s conceptual age is shaped by increased affluence, digital technologies, unmet self-actualisation needs among the workforce and customers and sustainability priorities. Organisations in the conceptual age can stay relevant and purposeful by providing engaging work, sustainable operations and life-satisfying experiences to employees and customers. Traditionally organisations mastered and leveraged the left-brain oriented competencies such as logic, focus, utility and efficiency. However, in the conceptual age, high-concept and high-touch approaches leveraging the six right-brain oriented competencies–design, symphony, story, empathy, meaning, play are crucial in developing such value propositions.