Nov 20, 2022 | Methodology
– one of the parties has pulled too hard on the rope
– the rope has broken due to natural wear
– an external factor has weakened the rope
Every organization is a meta individual with its own Maslow’s pyramid that seeks to satisfy desires (goals): to be financially healthy, to achieve strategic objectives, to fulfill a mission. Organizations are alive and their objectives change during their life cycle.
Each member of the organization has his own Maslow’s pyramid and when he chooses to join an organization, he signs a contract which can be a commercial contract (freelance), an employment contract (employee), a moral contract (influencer), …
Whatever its legal form, the contract that binds the employee to the organization is first and foremost a social contract that must give the employee the means to satisfy his or her desires more …
– simply
– quickly
– effectively
– serenely
… than by other own means.
When the contract is broken by the employee, it is natural to ask questions:
– have the collaborator’s desires changed?
– Is the employment contract always the simplest, most efficient, quickest and least risky way to achieve one’s objectives?
Employees’ desires changed profoundly before and during the COVID crisis:
– balance between professional and personal life
– rejection of large agglomerations
– search for meaning in work
– daily interest of the activities
– enjoy working with colleagues
– recognition of commitment
– taking into account the singularity
– quality of life at work
– opportunity to develop
– …
Companies have also evolved their desires to meet the new constraints of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment:
– accelerated rhythms
– resource optimization
– performance requirements
– process industrialization
– better control of risks
– complexification of organizations
– …
The forces at play seem so strong and so opposed that one may question the very future of the employment contract. In many sectors of the economy, the permanent contract is no longer the dominant model: journalism, entertainment, IT, sports, cabs, etc.
The “liquefaction” of the world of work, made possible by platforms and remote work, challenges the traditional business model.
Is a company without employees still a company?
Is it possible to fight against this (r)evolution?
Is this desirable?
Only one thing is certain: a new social contract must be rebuilt, and this can only be done by working together with all stakeholders.
Nov 3, 2022 | Intelligence
How to find the right balance between directive and participative modes?
When using the OKR methodology to deploy strategic objectives, the cycle starts with the President defining the 3 to 5 key objectives of the company:
– Develop our business in Asia
– Reduce accidents on the worksite
– Improve our profitability
– …
Each objective (qualitative) is then complemented by 1 to 3 key results (quantitative).
For example, we want to develop in Asia and in the next 3 months, we want our monthly turnover in this area to increase from 20 to 30 million euros.
The objectives set by the President are then broken down into sub-objectives and delegated to the President’s N – 1. The exercise is repeated at all levels of the company.
When this process is applied, the OKRs of all employees are 100% aligned with the goals set by the President. We will then speak of global objectives.
But in practice, each manager also needs to be able to mobilize resources on objectives that are not global (directly or indirectly linked to the objectives set by the President).
– Rebuilding a burned-out factory
We will then speak of a local objective for the manager.
When the manager defines a local objective and delegates the sub-objectives, the employees concerned contribute to an objective that is neither global nor local (for them). This is called a hybrid lens.
An employee can thus find himself with global (linked to the President’s goals), hybrid and local goals.
An employee’s (overall) goal alignment factor (%) can be easily calculated by dividing the number of “overall” goals by the total number of goals. One can also calculate the overall alignment of a BU or the entire company by averaging this factor for all employees in the area.
This factor (%) is a very revealing indicator of the company’s management style.
A factor greater than 75% will indicate a very strong alignment of all employees with the overall priorities of the company. This is a case of very directive management, which can be indispensable for managing a very rapid and profound transformation of the company.
A factor of less than 25% will indicate a strong decentralization of objectives and a very participative management style which is generally characteristic of companies where operational excellence takes precedence over the achievement of long-term strategic objectives.
From a management point of view, it is interesting to note that this factor can easily be controlled. It is sufficient to set an overall alignment goal at the beginning of the cycle. Example: each employee must have between 3 and 5 objectives and a minimum of 65% of “global” objectives.
Oct 20, 2022 | Intelligence
Management books teach that the deployment of strategy is done (1) from the long-term to the short-term and (2) from the top of the organization to the bottom of the organization.
But in a liquid organization, the deployment of the strategy can follow a completely symmetrical logic.
(1) The objectives of the top of the company are defined by “distillation” of the objectives identified by the field teams: the field suggests to the executives the objectives that the field deems relevant but which cannot be implemented by the field due to lack of time, resources and prerogatives.
(2) Long-term goals are achieved by “distilling” short-term goals. These goals are important, but they require more time and/or assume that short-term goals have been achieved.
This symmetrical approach shakes up the CEO who considers that his job is to see far and set the main directions.
But it has the merit of empowering each employee in the design and execution of the strategy. It starts from the daily experience of thousands of people who are in contact with markets, customers, competitors, suppliers, products, processes, tools, the organization.
This approach does not deny hierarchical authority since each manager sorts out the objectives suggested to him by the field and he retains the rights and duties conferred on him by his status (his place in the organization).
There are many arguments against this view.
▪️ Operational teams have their noses in the handlebars and don’t have the step back to see the big issues and think long term.
The counter-argument is that executives see macro issues and have a long-term vision but lack the proximity to see the operational declination and short-term priorities.
▪️ If everything starts from the base, how to ensure that the teams will follow homogeneous methods and that the priorities will optimize synergies?
The counter-argument is that the priority given to synergies and homogeneity comes at the expense of agility and creativity.
In conclusion, the inversion of the pyramid is not the magic solution but the dominant management software is not perfect: 70% of transformation projects do not reach their objectives, 8 out of 10 employees do not understand the strategy of their company, 35% of employees’ time is devoted to activities of which they do not see the added value, etc.
These facts invite us to ask ourselves difficult questions.
Sep 20, 2022 | Technology
In a matrix organization, the main challenge of management by objectives is not vertical alignment: it is horizontal consistency. Horizontal coherence helps to break down silos. It implies being able to connect and synchronize the objectives of teams belonging to different functions, countries, business lines, etc.
The vertical alignment is based on a tree-type model. Horizontal consistency requires a graph model.
The concept is easy to understand and the daily use is very simple. But if you lift the hood, and look at the constraints to manage access and update in real time hundreds of thousands of objectives, which are translated into 130 languages and linked by multiple dependencies, then you will understand that our platform is equipped with a competition engine.
This is one of the reasons why SYNAPSCORE has been ranked by Early Metrics in the top 5% of the 1,200 most innovative European technologies.
