1. Jane McConnell @netjmc jane@netjmc.com
The Gig Mindset - The Future is at Stake
1. Where are we today?
2. What is important?
3. What lies ahead?
1
Why and How
20 years and over 120 intranet/digital workplace
projects for over 60 global organizations.
“Organization in the Digital Age”
10 years of research & reports 2006-2017

2. Gig Mindset
Where are we today?
2
•The gig mindset is a way of working where people take
initiatives, experiment with new methods, and share their
work openly.
•Gig mindsetters network extensively, interacting, sharing, and
contributing information with others.
•They keep their eyes on what’s happening in the external
world.
•They do not hesitate to question the status quo and often
come up with new ways to deal with problems and challenges.
First, a definition…

3. 3
Today, the gig mindset is a bottom-up
and individually driven movement.
Tomorrow it will become the accepted
and encouraged way of working.
Organizations with a gig-mindset work
culture will out perform and out last
those that have a traditional mindset.

4. 4
0 25 50 75 100
Yes Possibly No
2018 - “Has the gig mindset impacted your organization?”
0 25 50 75 100
Yes, strengthened Neutral, no effect that I observed No, in fact it strengthened the tradiAonal mindset
2021 - “Has the pandemic accelerated the adoption of a gig
mindset in your organization?”
The pandemic and the resulting
work-from-home policies in many
organizations strengthened the gig
mindset work culture in some ways.

5. 5
In general, people self-manage,
self-direct their work. 65%
People are encouraged to give input to
business goals and to challenge
business model and work practices.
56%
People are empowered to act,
reinvent work including shortcutting
processes to advance.
45%
Data collected in Gig Mindset survey in 2021
Senior management is “open and
participatory”. 60%
100%
Strongly agree or somewhat agree

6. 6
In general, people self-manage,
self-direct their work. 65%
People are encouraged to give input to
business goals and to challenge
business model and work practices.
56%
People are empowered to act,
reinvent work including shortcutting
processes to advance.
45%
Senior management is “open and
participatory”. 60%
100%
Strongly agree or somewhat agree
What about these people
and organizations?
Data collected in Gig Mindset survey in 2021

7. 7
Gig mindsetter
movement starting…
interacting,
challenging…
Hierarchical leadership
willfully blind…
• Pride in past success
• Dependence on best practices
• Fear of losing power
• Fear of speed
• A false sense of safety in silos
• Protected in filter bubbles
“Steve Jobs’ highest praise to anyone is to
call him a pirate. A pirate is someone who
has the outlaw, free-thinking spirit
that Steve Jobs recognizes as talent.” *
*Jay Elliot Author of The Steve Jobs Way

8. The Gig Mindset – A lens to understand yourself and your organization
1-Motivation
2-Roles & Skills
3-Openness
4-Autonomy
5-Questioning
6-Awareness
7-Networking
8-Advancement
Gig mindset
Traditional mindset

9. 9
Gig Mindset
What is important?
Gig mindset behaviors reinforce self-efficacy, a sense of
well-being for people
Gig mindset behaviors strengthen resilience, a primary
challenge for organizations today

10. 10
experiment, test and learn
work with different teams
responsibilities defined by skills
initiatives, assume responsibility
growth path important to me, I am
responsible for my learning
procedures, proven methods
work with colleagues
responsibilities defined by roles
guidance, supervision from
hierarchy
my career path important to me,
manager and HR key partners
1-Motivation
2-Roles & Skills
3-Openness
4-Autonomy
5-Questioning
6-Awareness
7-Networking
8-Advancement
Gig mindset
Traditional mindset
Gig mindset behaviors reinforce self-efficacy, a sense of well-being
for people

11. 11
work out loud
challenge status quo, including
business and work practices
highly aware of external trends:
society, economical, technology
extensive networking -
internal & external
finish before sharing
maintain stability, consistency
focus primarily on inside my
own organization
some networking, when related
to my projects
1-Motivation
2-Roles & Skills
3-Openness
4-Autonomy
5-Questioning
6-Awareness
7-Networking
8-Advancement
Gig mindset behaviors strengthen resilience, a primary challenge
for organizations today
Gig mindset
Traditional mindset

12. 12
Gig Mindset
What lies ahead?
I was honored to give the commencement speech at the Berlin School
of Creative Leadership Executive MBA graduation.
The graduates will be leaders in organizations that are different from
the ones we know today.
The spirit of the graduates renews my faith in leadership and the future
of organizations.
Let’s first look at three "shapes" of organizations in the future:
• Networked
• Micro-enterprises
• Temporary

13. 13
Networked teams
• Fluid teams working inside
the organization
• Cross-functional, structured
outside traditional functions
• Based on skills, not roles
• Members move between
teams based on needs
• Self-managing within global
framework
• Empowered to set goals and
work methods
This approach to work exists already in many
organizaAons but has not yet become
widespread across enAre organizaAons.

14. 14
Networked teams
• Internal talent marketplaces
where people describe their
own skills and experience
• Evaluation processes
primarily team-based
• Cost and budget processes
that let people move freely to
different teams
• Internal networking and
openness encouraged
Behaviors and practices conducive to …

15. • Network of over 4,000 micro-enterprises, 10
to 15 employees
• Entrepreneurial, autonomous, self-organizing
• Leaders of the micro-enterprises have
decision-making authority
• Internal agreements, no obligation to use HR,
IT, finance etc.
• Ecosystems and industry platforms to share
ideas, problems, collaboration, services
Micro-enterprises
Home appliances and
consumer electronics
HQ in Qingdao, China
80 000 employees, many
outside of China
Details from The End of Bureaucracy, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, https://hbr.org/2018/11/the-end-of-
bureaucracy and http://www.monday-8am.com/learning-from-rendanheyi/ and also https://corporate-rebels.com/
why-haier-introduced-ecosystems-and-how-they-work/
Photo from Haier website
Haier

16. Networked teams
• Internal talent marketplaces
where people describe their
own skills and experience
• Evaluation processes
primarily team-based
• Cost and budget processes
that let people move freely to
different teams
• Internal networking and
openness encouraged
Micro-enterprises
• Decentralization of decision-
making down to the people
who are accountable
• Platforms and services
available but not mandatory
• People are free to take
initiatives for which they
assume responsibility
• High value placed on external
awareness
Behaviors and practices conducive to …

17. The 1st in Sweden over 25
years ago
The Icehotel dies every year,
and is rebuilt every following
year
Organizational transformation
Icehotel, ultimate temporary organization
Metaphor for organizations created by Jonathan Pinto in 2015, as part of a
collective work by academics to deepen the innovative work by Gareth
Morgan in 1986: Images of Organizations
“WOW! THAT’S SO COOL!” by Jonathan Pinto in The IceHotel as Organizational Trope. Lead article in Special
Issue entitled « Beyond Morgan’s Metaphors” in 2015. Photos from Google image search.
rebirth

18. Networked teams
• Internal talent marketplaces
where people describe their
own skills and experience
• Evaluation processes
primarily team-based
• Cost and budget processes
that let people move freely to
different teams
• Internal networking and
openness encouraged
Micro-enterprises
• Decentralization of decision-
making down to the people
who are accountable
• Platforms and services
available but not mandatory
• People are free to take
initiatives for which they
assume responsibility
• High value placed on external
awareness
Temporary
organizations
• Multifunctional teams able to
work towards a purpose
under time pressure
• Ability to learn in the natural
flow of work
• Learning driven by the
individuals, not the
organization
• High awareness that today’s
jobs may disappear tomorrow
Behaviors and practices conducive to …

19. Networked teams Micro-enterprises Temporary
organizations
Behaviors and practices conducive to …
• Multifunctional teams able to
work towards a purpose
under time pressure
• Ability to learn in the natural
flow of work
• Learning driven by the
individuals, not the
organization
• High awareness that today’s
jobs may disappear tomorrow
• Decentralization of decision-
making down to the people
who are accountable
• Platforms and services
available but not mandatory
• People are free to take
initiatives for which they
assume responsibility
• High value placed on external
awareness
• Internal talent marketplaces
where people describe their
own skills and experience
• Evaluation processes
primarily team-based
• Cost and budget processes
that let people move freely to
different teams
• Internal networking and
openness encouraged

20. 20
In general, people self-manage,
self-direct their work. 65%
People are encouraged to give input to
business goals and to challenge
business model and work practices.
56%
People are empowered to act,
reinvent work including shortcutting
processes to advance.
45%
Senior management is “open and
participatory”. 60%
100%
Strongly agree or somewhat agree
Back to reality…
Data collected in Gig Mindset survey in 2021

21. Gig Mindset Manifesto (work in progress)
21
1. Organizations do not exist as such. They are simply people
working together (in theory) connected by contracts and a brand
name. As such, they are impermanent.
2. People inside organizations are not free. They are constrained
by systems, (invisible) conventions and shared habits.
3. People who dare to step outside “the way we do things here”
risk being sidelined, ignored or punished.
We need to do things like civil disobedience movements where people
take responsibility for changing the company. We realized there is
actually a significant amount of freedom. It's just that people don't
believe there is. (a manager in an industrial organization HQ in Europe)
“

22. Jane McConnell @netjmc jane@netjmc.com
The Gig Mindset - The Future is at Stake
22
Buy it!
Listen to it!
Join us!
Get in touch if you’d like to work with me on
developing the Gig Mindset Manifesto.
20 years and over 120 intranet/digital workplace
projects for over 60 global organizations.
“Organization in the Digital Age”
10 years of research & reports 2006-2017
https://boldnewbreed.com/explore-the-bold-new-breed-episodes/
https://boldnewbreed.com/bold-new-breed-community/

23. 23
Jane McConnell @netjmc jane@netjmc.com
Stuff to read about the Gig Mindset
https://www.netjmc.com/the-gig-mindset-inside/
https://www.netjmc.com/articles-about-the-gig-mindset/
https://www.netjmc.com/gig-mindset-advisory-board-2018/
https://www.netjmc.com/global-scale-for-the-gig-mindset-research-2018/
Peter Drucker Forum blog posts
On NetJMC.com
Links to
other
articles
2021 –The gig mindset: A compass for navigating uncertainty
2020 – Leadership Everywhere Means Reversed Leadership
2018 – How a Gig Mindset Inside Organizations Will Shape our Future
2017 – The Inclusive Organization and the Reachability Factor
2016 – Seeding an Entrepreneurial Work Culture