2022 – The Year Of Flexibility

What’s In Store For 2022?

Given The Challenges Of The Past 24 Months, The Vocative Team Predict That 2022 Will Be The Year Of Flexibility.

Justin: So it’s 2022, we called 2021, the year of the expert and I think we can give ourselves  a pat on the back for that. 2022 we’re calling the year of flexibility and I think that feels right. It’s still very unclear where COVID is gonna land, you know, the markets growing in some ways, but it’s not in others, and certainly, there’s a huge amount of agility needed from business leaders to work their way through what is far from a clear picture, but flexibility in other areas as well. 

Al: Everything from top-down within organisations, I’d say boards need to have a flexible mindset. They need to understand that when setting the strategic objectives, organisations know the budgets they’re forecasting. It’s been proven over the last couple of years that a curveball can be thrown at them. And some organisations just haven’t had the flexibility to be able to cope with that,  so building that flexibility into your mindset and into your business and your workforce, I think is vital for organisations in the future.

Justin: Yeah. And I think it’s interesting the way that COVID has forced flexibility into organisations and some organisations seem to be trying to retreat back. But most are most really pushing on and seeing that agility gives them a business advantage. And I think the contractor market is likely to be a big factor next year.

Al: Yes, I think that the IR35 stuff is settling itself out now. I think it’s, you know, by the 1st of April 2022, I think we’ll have a good place to be with regards to contractors. And by its very nature, contractors provide that flexibility that a lot of organisations need.

Justin: Yes, that’s right, it’s about bringing third party expertise into the organisation for a limited period of time. And I think people now start to understand how engagements work when they’re outside or when they’re inside. So as that settles down, I think that will, you could call it the year of the contractor but I think it’s a much broader piece than that. You know, just at a very basic level, people working from home, people needing to be in the office, sometimes you’re allowed to sometimes you’re not, organisations have got to be really flexible around how they run teams, because some people want to be in some people don’t some people can, some people can’t. So that’s the flexibility of mindset around running a business I think is going to be huge.

Al: It’s bled into society. The average person on the street now has a more flexible mindset than they did two years ago, just they’ve been forced into thinking in a more flexible way with regards to how their household is structured and how it works and interacts with their work life. Those levels of flexibility, I don’t think people are going to go back to a more rigid structure. I just don’t think they are. Society will do so businesses have to adapt so yees. It’s fascinating to see how it’s going to change.

Justin: You don’t think we’re going to be sat here in December 2022 going on about 2022, the year of rigidity? 

Al: Unlikely Justin, unlikely. 

Justin:  All right. Well, I also look forward to making that video in due course. 

If you have any thoughts, please email us at contact@vocativeconsulting.co.uk or check out all of our thoughts here.

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