Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2017 | Page 21

Photo : Paul Charpentier

Farewell to ‘ 9-to-5 ’?

Researcher Kiti Müller from Nokia Technologies is one of the experts who believes that ’ 9 to 5 ’ is very much a thing of the past . ” Especially in the creative industries one can go “ full steam ” for about four hours , or six hours at the most ,” she says . ping centre could earn you an e-coupon , for instance . Shopping centres could come up with new ways to communicate with the customers .”
Sooner or later , Marjanen expects to see applications which build profiles of the patrons and use that data to suggest routes via the shopping centre .
“ Knowing what the patron likes and does not like will become increasingly important .” l
Sami J . Anteroinen

T he employers , however , are largely

playing the old game , where you pay for a warm body in the office chair , instead of results . On the other hand , many employees are going through the motions as well – nobody is really challenging the status quo at the office .
” It would be useful to identify the way you yourself like to work and pursue that ,” she says , adding that companies are not stupid , and , for instance , the role of seemingly never-ending in-house meetings has been questioned in many places .
Müller believes that in the future smart organisations recognise the importance of ” just hanging out ”. “ When people get together in a more spontaneous context , new ideas may emerge . They can ’ t be forced ,” she points out .
Still , ” hanging out ” is a luxury few can afford . For those struggling to keep up with the beeping calendar , Müller offers this piece of advice : learning how to prioritise – via a semi-ruthless process of elimination – will help in managing the every-day chaos .
But here ’ s another problem : if your brain is spinning like roulette wheel , it ’ s hard to take the time to assess what things are important and what are not . Müller says that the inability to focus may be a sign of serious fatigue , and should be dealt with accordingly – by finally slowing down .
Hitting the brake instead of the gas , of course , is rarely desirable from the perspective of productivity . Müller champions the notion that both pedals are needed :
“ I am sick and tired of mantras that say ‘ be creative and effective ’ or something to that effect . It ’ s impossible to be both creative and effective , because you need a degree of idleness to get to that creative stage in the first place .”
Müller allows that good ideas may grab you even during a hectic work phase , but you rarely have time to follow up on them . “ The ideal situation would be that you have some time to develop ideas also during the execution phase ,” she says , adding that no day should be “ air-tight ” – there must always be at least some room left for creativity .
Müller has a track record of almost 25 years of researching into the nature of work . Looking back , she names digitalisation as the single biggest thing that has shook up the foundations of companies , nationally and globally .
“ It took a while for information technology to really get going – but once it did , it was suddenly everywhere ,” she points out . l
Sami J . Anteroinen Nordicum
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