The organizational tectonic plate is shifting as we explode deeper into the 21st century. With my wild imagination travel with me at the speed of thought as I get verbally-optical forecasting a future via Novus Postal Ordo Seclorum (New Postal World Order) in the year of hindsight 2020.

My mind’s eye uncorrected is aligned with the year 2020 as seen through an artificial optometry refractometer substituted for a Hubble-like telescope. In the future problems still exist and are smartly tackled like scientists and mathematicians do as a question for inquiry. The postal flag and Eagle icon remain the ultimate symbol of delivering customer freedom and an everlasting influential United States Postal Service. The supersonic bird got a smaller footprint and a much bigger heart.

The term workplace is replaced by worldplace. The climate is warm and we don’t need fog halogen on this trip. Things are better and clearer in the new day than they were yesteryear. Remember workplace violence, no technology, the nationwide postal strike of 1970, the Post Office Department, Pony Express riders, billions in overpayments, the National Reassessment Process, Village Post Offices, and postal icon Benjamin Franklin. It took 245 years to get from there to here.

Employees working in the daily grind step onto the workroom floor knowing they are the masters of mail processes and understand how to build a better mousetrap. Those who think they are too small to have an impact take a break in the swing room and an occasional buzzing fly emphasizes the impact little things can have on giants. People love change, and everyone in the downsized workforce is under peer pressure to show up, stand up, and step up to the challenges associated with postal services. Times of the anonymous coward living in a self-imposed prison for fear of retaliation or other forms of retribution are laughable.

Teams are made of groups of individuals piecing together the engine that is propelled by collective horsepower. I see equations represented by Excitement = Mission X Courtesy X Challenge (E=MC2). Exceeding expectations is a direct result of “We over me” thinking and is promptly rewarded by the big Kahuna in the form of a wooden nickel that looks like a military challenge coin with high-end poker chip value. Regular training and brainstorming with a lot of positive thinking and reality checks prove the resources from the lineup of players is greater than the sum of the parts.

Front line supervisors are now known as coaches and maintain a very wide span of managerial control. They cast a vision then challenge employees by finding their guts, turning them on through motivation, and facilitating the way to achieving great things. Trust and mutual respect are the order of the day. No more need for parking lot meetings and cerebral cul-de-sac discussions as a result of nothing getting done on the business field.

Executive Leaders are reverse tornadoes building everything in their path conveying high consideration for people without lip service and intention deficit disorder. The days of the selfish leader are expired. Micromanagers, backseat drivers, and expectations of turning direct reports into mini-me’s are long departed fads.

I don’t notice any “Hungry” leaders with stomach pangs placing themselves on a pedestal deciding to do whatever it takes at any cost to get a personal performance incentive. Instead they are driven to get things done for the organization with minimal impacts on the lives of employees. The 2020 leader has a PhD in passion, and the business is recognized for its M.B.A (Major bank account) because the leaders empathize and motivate the masses toward achieving super-success. Vanished without traces are the greedy character traits that accept price over profit and use poor judgment by accepting $100,000 over one penny doubled a day for 30 days.

Addition is better than subtraction when soliciting diverse opinions, ideas and solutions. A smile still translates in all cultures. Social awareness and inclusion are more important than ever because this “worldplace” is populated by the largest multiracial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and religious backgrounds of postal workers that we have ever known. Everyone on the team is painted with a broad blue brush that doesn’t block the signals of personal internal antennas that go up when we don’t understand each other.

On the business landscape everyday postal people are isolating where we are making profits, and where we are losing money and doing something about it. No other company can compete with our business because we are one-of-a-kind. Layers of complexity are removed, parcel mail is backed up outside the distribution center, letter, flat, and periodical mail is relegated from First Class to standard delivery due to digital applications of speed. We got a lot of new services to offer. Our vehicles are solar powered, and every facility is eco-green. It’s not clear if we are independently owned and operated, or if we are in the back pocket of the Congress. Regardless, we are still the recognized symbol in every community in peace or crisis.

Labor organizations know how to fire up the electorate backed by a participation rate that symbolizes “Now you got my attention” communication. While building administrative bridges across operations the pipeline is unfrozen and the mean pressure flows directly in front of decision makers. Union and management align energy and commitment preventing injustices that kill the goose that lays the golden egg. We have arrived at the high performance worldplace and it continues to get better.

A big shout-out to the PostalReporter platform for letting me forecast a dream from the trenches. Now it’s time to fall back to the reality of the 2011 time clock because I’m just like you, low cash and rich on thinking.

Ronald Williams, Jr.