𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
The first edition of “𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 approaches: 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘴 “© has almost centred the original goal on letting attendees sharing ideas, opinions doubts and proposals about how to enhance classic Competitive Advantages (CAs) regrouped in high-level groups and how to achieve the new ones. In addition, keeping away Jargon and buzzwords (to the best of my capabilities) was successful.
Lesson learned:
I have reconsidered the optimal number of attendees: 6 + me (instead of 8-10.) because:
1. It is more intimate.
2. As when starting from a question, thoughts unfold progressively (critical reflection)
3. Thus, there is more time to discuss and express new concerns, doubts, experiences, and ideas.
A. We have introduced the following CAs:
And the agreement has been found in the new ones: agility, innovation, experimentation, talented people, customer focus and customer experience, sustainability, resilience-
B. The starting point for the discussion was: How do we achieve the new CAs?
The discussion developed around leadership, leaderships delegation and leadership culture: pillars of
· The agility-quicker decision-making process, experimentation
· Cultural awareness from the leader side
· Mechanisms for delegation
There were remarkably interesting points both as reflection/doubts and proposals:
Leadership
· Being transparent makes evident your values and living with them.
· Openness to adapt different leadership styles to facilitate the delegations keeping in mind to shape the responsibility matter.
Delegation
Gap between the delegation to make the organisation flatter and the accountability parameters-looking for a balance.
People want to be more independent in doing their job, and they see an opportunity to grow.
Dialogue: clarity in what the responsibility is and ask if they feel ready to get it
Highlighted that there are no links between highly skilled people in their roles and management skills.
Training and initial support for growth and about culture are required.
Empowerment is the key response to increase trust.
Leadership-Culture
Still, top-down approach, and newcomers find policies and procedures but nothing about values--> culture.
The delegation was related to being based on culture
People need to be aware of the leader’s values and vision but not with a statement only.
On the personal aspects of a Leader, being detached from some delegated activities is only based on trust.
Trusting people who work with you allows delegation. This can drive the company towards psychological safety and activate experimentation, learning, and keeping people accountable.
Then hierarchy reduction is possible with the company’s progressive growth as well. More learning with accountability can help this growth.
Interesting question about inserting cultural elements (i.e., creativity) from diverse cultural types: is it possible?
C. The next question was: where do you start to prepare the ground and act?
Knowing your company’s culture
We still don’t really know what people think and what people’s ideas are about culture, and mostly what culture actually is
Listening.
The paradox is that we work with people 8-10 hours per day, but we don’t know what they think and how they perceive the current company’s culture. Then leaders can assess the culture. And analyse gaps.
Personalities
One attendee mentioned that the effort for a Leader is to try to understand the differences in personality. Fitting in your values and behaviours, as a consequence, need to be considered if you want to activate a people-centric strategy, of which the first element is “people are happy in their work”.
And the logic behind the first action to take was: How can we change something we are unaware of?
Hope
An interesting experience from one attendee was working for a multinational company. It emerged that despite the typical block roads of such a level of hierarchy and with the constraints of the National culture in three years, the cultural shift happened.
Statement
Managers who focus attention only on numbers can analyse them and make decisions in an environment that is not known to them. Thus, without cultural knowledge and people focus, change actions can fail.
Advice
I reminded that a mapping of influencers is due before a change project or a cultural shift beyond roles and hierarchy. They also express their ideas and walk the talk with their behaviours. The influence can be based on their seniority, the trust and respect they have from other people, and being active in taking responsibility to experiment with new things from the top because they want to be considered. The company’s influencers in an organisation will be discussed in another post. 😊
This influencers analysis before any actions are undertaken is not to manage resistance or use them as allies. Still, it is only a step for a leader to know possible sub-cultures. This follows the above-expressed concept: how can we change something we are unaware of?
And I quote JA. Davis- “Radical Business:” Don’t wait for a crisis to instigate change”.
Looking forward to the new calendar and new events.
Next event is planned on: THURSDAY 3rd of MARCH, 06:00 pm ( GMT)
Other weekly dates have been planned:
Other questions are waiting for clarification to be shared in a Safe and Confidential environment: A round table on “𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 approaches: 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘴 “©
See you there!
