To enable the company to transform in an increasingly volatile and uncertain context, it is essential to deeply adapt management to the evolution of working methods. But what are the key steps to enable managers to effectively support the transformation of the organization?
Interviewed on BFM Business on September 18, 2023, Jean Baptiste Gouin, Founder President of talenco, and Philippe Michel Labrosse, General Manager of Abeille Assurances, gave their testimony on Key actions to transform management in the era of new work styles.
Summary:
- Reconsidering management methods to support new work modes
- Act 1: Clarifying the roles of managers and defining a new management framework
- Act 2: Developing managers’ leadership to foster employee engagement
- Act 3: Helping managers deploy the strategic vision using the OKR method
Reconsidering management methods to support new work modes
Permanent change, uncertainty, isolation, and the loss of social connection associated with the widespread use of teleworking contribute to the loss of meaning and disengagement of employees. The health crisis has accelerated this fundamental trend and highlighted the need to evolve management practices.
Management must be rethought today due to the evolution of organizational models, the expectations of a new generation, and the importance of implementing strategic plans in an uncertain context. For Jean Baptiste Gouin, « Siloed organizations are no longer suitable: we need to collaborate and develop agility, trust, and hold teams accountable ».
Other factors can also impact the working methods and organization of the company. At Abeille Assurances, for example, a change in shareholder ownership, climate disruptions or inflation have strongly impacted the organization of operations and led to the need to evolve the models and corporate culture.
To accompany these changes and reconcile the transformation of the company with the commitment and performance of the employees, management remains the essential key. The main role of managers is to implement the strategy and, to do this, to engage and put themselves at the service of their team.
« Managers are the essential components of the company’s engine. »
Philippe Michel Labrosse, DG Abeille Assurances
Act 1: Clarifying the roles of managers and defining a new management framework
Defining the new roles and new skills of managers is today one of the primary and strategic challenges for companies in order to remain successful.
Clarifying the main roles of managers according to the company’s challenges is a necessity, especially after the pandemic. For each role, a collective definition is established. Key management acts, associated postures and rituals. The . formalization of this management framework Being constantly evolving is crucial to explaining the expectations of a manager who is always required to be more versatile.
For Jean Baptiste Gouin, « The manager must realize that his or her essential role is to implement the company’s strategy. (…) Depending on the stakes, it is important to define 3 or 4 clearly defined roles for the managers and to associate them with identifiable key actions. This framework allows for the development of the necessary agility for the Driving change ».
At Abeille Assurances, the managerial reference framework It is structured around four dimensions:
- Giving meaning, especially by providing pedagogical support within the teams
- Promote employee engagement in the service of the company’s project
- Working on continuous improvement
- Being the leader of the transformation process
For Philippe Michel Labrosse, « Our 455 managers play a key role in leading this mission of explaining, engaging, aligning, and motivating employees ».
Download our example of a management skills framework
Act 2: Developing managers’ leadership to foster employee engagement
A leader, whether manager or not, is recognized by his or her ecosystem as a person who influences, gives impetus, and leads in a certain direction. His or her leadership is measured by the impact he or she has on others and by his or her recognized ability to influence, propel, and lead.
To successfully implement major transformations, it is important to invest in people. managers leaders able to make courageous decisions but also to align and engage employees on strategic priorities by relying on the collaboration, agility, trust, and accountability of teams, both in the office and remotely.
This investment is all the more necessary in a context of strong disengagement among employees: according to the 2023 edition of the survey State of the Global Workplace According to a survey conducted by Gallup, only 7 % employees in France declare themselves committed, compared to 13% in Europe and 23% worldwide!
«70% % of the commitment of employees is attributable to the manager.» Gallup study 2023
At Abeille Assurances, the support provided to managers to develop their leadership is based on the following principles: four key skills developed through a training program called «M-Clés»:
- Developing your communication and impact
- Responding to constructive feedback
- Promote the collective
- Knowing how to celebrate
These fundamental skills in communication, collaboration, and agility are now essential for leading managers to drive real transformations. They demonstrate their effectiveness even more within agile organizations structured around a leader and autonomous teams focused on strategic priorities.
The 4 levers of the agile manager to boost employee engagement
Act 3: Helping managers deploy the strategic vision using the OKR method
Managers naturally play a pivotal role in helping their teams to adopt the company strategy and translate it into action. They help their colleagues prioritize tasks, align themselves collectively with the defined priorities, and take responsibility for achieving their individual and collective goals.
To achieve this, managers can rely on a method of formidable effectiveness: set clear priorities, foster alignment and commitment among teams, and effectively and agilely drive transformation : the OKR (Objectives & Key Results).
This increasingly used method in France allows managers, in particular, to generate collective commitment by involving employees in action priorities and holding them accountable so that everyone knows what they contribute to the company. Implementation of the business project.
Philippe Michel Labrosse testifies: « Abeille Assurances is a company under OKR. The interest of the method is to have fairly short loops: at 3 months, what are the key objectives? How are these key objectives broken down by direction? And naturally, this leads to interviews with the managers to see what has been successful and the areas for improvement that still need to be worked on.«
Thus, by encouraging the commitment and motivation of teams through the empowerment and autonomy of their employees, the manager optimizes individual performance and, by extension, the overall performance of the company.
Download our white paper on the OKR method
Clarifying the roles of managers with a new management framework, developing their leadership to serve employee engagement, and helping management move from vision to strategic execution with OKRs: these 3 key actions are essential to adapt the role of managers to the evolution of working methods… Now it’s up to you to take action!
