For decades the expectation that we are effective and efficient has always existed and we were aware that people who did not meet one or the other requirement would never have high hopes in the world of work, the expectation was that we would worry about the short term, while our organization will take care of the long term.
In a way, the organization was concerned that we were constantly updated and trained for future challenges, but we were the ones who had to see how to apply this to our particular position. Or to ask for help from our immediate superior if necessary.
Obviously, the latter is still an expectation. But, as organizations are neither in a position nor willing to secure long-term work for anyone, they are less and less interested in worrying about everything related to our future performance. After all, if you don't think you're going to be able to get back an investment, why would you be interested in investing?
This, of course, does not imply that training will disappear. What it means is that more and more this will be related to short-term results and less to continuous development.
All of this results in each of us now having to worry about our long-term effectiveness and efficiency.
The long-term effectiveness of an organization is related to its ability to continue responding to the needs of the market. This implies being able to provide the products and services that it requires at all times. For this, it is normally necessary to have a constant flow of products that will be launched in the future.
For this reason we should take this concept and ask ourselves what are the capacities that will be necessary in the future market?
But you have to be careful with this question. Because it does not only refer to the specific knowledge or skills that we must possess, but mainly to what we have to be able to produce or deliver. It is useless for us to have a capacity or knowledge that does not translate into concrete results or "deliverables".
Short-term effectiveness is related to what should be done, while short-term efficiency focuses on how to do it. On the other hand, long-term effectiveness has to do with why we should do something and long-term efficiency refers to who and with whom something should be done.
This means that, in addition to understanding what we should do and how to do it today, we need, in addition to why we are going to do that something in the future, which is associated with the vision we have of our future career and how it is relates to the other aspects of our life.
At the same time, we must think about what and with whom we will work in the future. Obviously, it is difficult for us to define or predict organizations in a specific way, but if the areas in which we are going to specialize or with whom we can establish strategic alliances, that are mutually beneficial.
Our career should be run as a company and companies are constantly looking for "business partners" with whom to establish mutually beneficial relationships.
In the present 21st century from now on, only professionals who are capable of providing effectiveness and efficiency, both in the short and long term, will have the possibility to compete in the labor market.
