It’s hard to talk about flexiscribes without first referring to flexibility. Flexibility like air, fitness or financial savings is invisible. But vital.

We go to great lengths to monitor our personal savings. We aren’t so good at monitoring our air quality, our fitness, or our levels of personal flexibility (PFL). Perhaps now is the time to change that.

Flexibility like fitness, savings, career options, or even a tidy house, is something that can dissipate over time. A university graduate or aspiring actor considering their first serious role, might have various choices about which area to specialise in. Further along their career path, they’re perceived to have become more typecast.

The key point is a simple one. That net flexibility in your life will disappear. Unless you try to replace it at a similar rate that it is disappearing at. Or better still, grow your net flexibility above the current level.

A device to replenish your flexibility is a flexiscribe. In other words, a flexiscribe is a mechanism that codes for flexibility. The coding might be automatic. Or only happen via manual effort.

For people of all ages, working in what they regard as a declining industry, or for people who might be at the tail end of their working career, perhaps thinking about an encore career, or doing flexible portfolio work, flexiscribes are probably of particular interest.

Ownership/control versus choice

Business range (choice) can help create personal flexibility. An example of growing choice is the range of rental services from businesses that are available to consumers – the rise of the so called ‘sharing economy’. But business range isn’t a flexiscribe for PFL. Access is firstly about entitlement, then choice. Therefore, access to the range is the flexiscribe.

Business flexiscribes helps create business flexibility (BFL). Likewise, ownership/control of personal flexiscribes help create personal flexibility (PFL).

A key general point is that by consciously thinking about creating flexiscribes, you increase the chances of flexibility occurring.

Regarding business and personal flexiscribes, what are some examples of each type? Some business flexiscribes operating in R&D businesses, or education (universities and high schools) might include the organisations:

• having multipurpose rooms,
• having multiskilled staff. In universities, the staff may be good at both research and teaching. Or be staff who are talented in two fields of research,
• having high free cash reserves,
• having flexible working practices and incentives. For example, project secondments. These will force new experience to emerge, which itself will encourage new skills development.
• owning some intellectual property e.g. patents and trademarks that enable commercial success,
• holding some real options – more about these in a later blog.

What are some personal flexiscribes? Firstly, if Personal flexibility can be divided into PFL relating to ‘be’ (personal identity and image) and ‘do’ (personal actions), then perhaps that’s a useful way to split out the personal flexiscribes too.

Some personal flexiscribes (things that code for PFL), relating to identity and image are as follows:

• Continuing professional development (CPD) hours. By having to do a minimum number of training hours each year to remain registered with a particular professional body, it forces the person belonging to the membership body to develop new skills, techniques & knowledge. The advice of this blogger is to make at least some CPD training in areas transferable beyond your current sector & role. Ideally, invest in training that’s relevant to sectors where you have a good chance of working in the future.
• Developing a strong CV and network of contacts. Both can promote your achievements and skills to date.
• The daily work commute by train or bus. If your work commute is a decent length e.g. about an hour or more and you don’t have to cycle, or drive yourself to work, then there is enforced time available to build knowledge. Which itself builds flexibility. Building knowledge might be in the form of reading text articles, watching YouTube ‘how to’ guides, or listening to say Ted Talks on relevant subjects.

• Personal savings. Clearly, if you can save some funds, your scope to access anything that money can buy will increase.

• Family support. For families that help one another when things become hectic, or rally round when one family member suffers a set back, simply having that support creates more PFL for the person concerned.

Some personal flexiscribes (things that code for PFL), relating to ‘doing’ activities are as follows:

• Working in the ‘gig’ economy. Typically, each assignment is different in scope, duration, location and the issues also vary. This variety encourages skills development and adaptability from the gig worker.

• Doing volunteer work. Obviously you need to continue paying your bills. And maintain relationships with friends & family. Therefore the time commitment and the quality of effort you make is about achieving balance with those things. Because it is voluntary, the scope of activity is flexible and you have more power to direct how your time is used to gain useful skills and achieve impact, for a win-win outcome.
• Renting rather than buying. Access to the rental, not the rental itself (choice) is the flexiscribe. Using the power of access, extra capacity is only rented when needed. Specialist items are hired at short notice for one-time events. People take advantage of ‘try before you buy’ offers, to manage uncertainty. A side question for the reader – if the ‘sharing economy’ is rapidly growing amongst both established and new entrant providers, e.g. in room rentals & transport, then business providers boost consumer flexibility. Is there then an opportunity for the reverse to also happen? To elaborate, in the sharing economy, the values of some consumers may emphasise; minimalism (small storage footprint), variety, instant access, group access and/or personal image not tied to asset status. Can those values be accessed & harnessed, not only to boost demand for business products & services. But to also code for business flexibility itself?

If you find these blogs useful, please spread the word for others to read them and comment too.

Simon