The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance In the Changing World of Work

The corporate ladder has been the enduring standard for success since organizational hierarchy was invented. But organizations aren't what they used to be–and neither is the workforce.

Instead of climbing the corporate hierarchy, employees today want to move in and out of, up and down, and across organizations as their professional and personal priorities change. They need to work nontraditional hours to manage family responsibilities. And they're exchanging ideas and connecting with colleagues through social networking technologies, not memos and meetings.

Yet many companies still manage their talent using corporate–ladder practices–tying rewards to the "rung" each employee occupies, mandating 9-to-5 workdays, and communicating with workers through outdated channels. Result? They're having trouble attracting, keeping, and engaging talent.

In The Corporate Lattice, Cathleen Benko and Molly Anderson explain how to move from ladder to lattice in your company by designing an integrated set of policies for:
How people build careers: For instance, replacing lifetime employment with opportunities to develop marketable skills
Where, when, and how work gets done: Replacing traditional offices and schedules with collaborative, virtual work and "anytime" workdays
How employees participate: Using podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other technologies to inform workers and keep them committed to your company

Apply this book's practices, and you keep talent flowing into and throughout your organization, while boosting employee engagement. The payoff? Unprecedented individual and organizational performance.

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