Introduction
Over the past few years, several major changes have begun to directly affect the way information now circulates, both inside and outside a company. This process has been greatly accelerated by the overhaul of information systems and the intensive use of new information and communication technologies: blogs, forums, collaborative websites, and social networks and media.
Every day, these changes increasingly challenge the way the “old-fashioned” company operates and require companies to make a number of adjustments, particularly in management, to adapt to these new shifts. Although unsettling at first, these changes are an opportunity: an opportunity and, companies must not forget this, a necessity for their very survival, the need to adapt to a world that changes, evolves, transforms…
For this to work properly, be careful not to go too far: the company must not become a democracy as a result. I will come back to that in another post. Consulting firms and law firms organised as partnerships aside, the captain must remain a dictator who, while able to take everyone’s views into account, must make the decisions and set the course: a course that every member of the company must then get behind and work towards.
The end of the “petty bosses”
Although they do not challenge a system of professional hierarchy, these changes erase the very principle of social hierarchy, in favour of better connections between women and men, and the circulation and sharing of information, learning and knowledge. These new methods and processes will provide, and already provide for some, the fluidity and substance needed for the company to evolve and develop its capacity to innovate.
The massive use of new technologies has gradually broken down economic borders, extending the market for every activity across the entire planet. These disappearing borders concern not only markets, but companies themselves, from within: more and more companies must rethink how they work with their various subsidiaries around the world, so they can create a shared DNA, as within a single living organism.
Granted, this new situation demands an enormous effort to adapt from everyone, and managers must be the first to drive this evolution: yesterday’s managers, who must learn to change, today’s, and of course tomorrow’s.
The “petty bosses” and other “little tyrants” will die out, and the last survivors of this endangered species are set to disappear over the next decade. Managers are now being called upon to evolve into leaders and coordinators, ensuring both better circulation and better distribution of information and skills, while becoming a real driving force for the group. They must now be able to embody shared values and resolve conflicts with qualities worthy of a diplomat or a respected “sage”, someone you want to follow as you would a “tribal chief”.
Leadership: the new situation
This new situation demands much stronger leadership from managers than before: people must follow them not merely because they have been appointed, but because they bring the aura, confidence and driving purpose needed to rally their teams.
Tomorrow’s manager must no longer focus solely on “giving instructions”, but above all on listening to their teams, to draw together the still too often untapped substance of this collective intellect, this group “intelligence” capable of bringing about the transformations and innovation the company needs to adapt to this new world that is coming… that is already here.
Be careful, though: we are talking about collective intelligence, not collective stupidity. We know the damage that poorly run brainstorming can sometimes cause by drawing everyone into an absurd consensus that the whole group approves.
What is more, this new form of participatory management provides a real way to recognise an employee’s worth, beyond another figure on their payslip: they are listened to, and their views and ideas are taken into account in the company’s decision-making process, which remains focused on the objective.
New skills
Imagination, a skill too often shoved into a cupboard, must return to centre stage. The need to adapt to the changes now taking place will gradually put it among the top 5 skills required of tomorrow’s manager. That manager does not merely control and direct their teams: they become an active participant in all operations themselves.
Intelligence, creativity, imagination, a propensity for innovation: each of these skills, treated as a “detail” today, will form the pillars of employees’ competence tomorrow, while new roles as influencers, perception managers, growth hackers and information “warriors” emerge from this new situation.
Conclusion
By reducing social tensions between the different participants in a company, all these coming changes should help reduce the staff turnover that destroys its DNA. They should also give people a taste for excellence in their work, transforming the current promotion system into a true meritocracy and allowing the most effective people to climb the ranks without the “pressure of time”.
Managers must now come out of their bubble and make their colleagues “want” to follow them and contribute to the company’s development. They must not stay in their corner wanting only to centralise decisions and information, but must go and engage with their team: increasingly connected to new technologies, they must, more than ever… reconnect with their “tribe”.
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Christophe Casalegno
https://all.bo
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