At a time when we are wondering what the World After will be like, one thing that will change in scale is TIME.
In recent weeks we have experienced a time of crisis. A time of urgency that aimed to protect our employees and also to organize ourselves to ensure continuity of service. A short period of time that pushed all leaders into a constant action to make the first decisions that were necessary.
Unit of time, unit of place
Jean Baptiste Gouin, CEO of talenco
These unusual activities, compared to the daily routine, coupled with the massive use of tools for remote communication, integrate us into a new reality. a relationship with time that is very different. The activities are linked within the same unit of space.
The good news and the bad news are more difficult to share with one’s first circles, even though new rituals, remotely, are being implemented with the CoDirs and also live with all the employees.
These new experiences are very directly integrated into our emotions and are more difficult to relativize or put into perspective.
In a context of constraint, where leisure activities and sources of comfort are not all available, the nerves are put to a severe test.
The time to take, the time to learn
The most difficult part will undoubtedly be in the coming weeks: the first actions have been initiated and implemented… but everyone is waiting for the release! Transitioning from a state of hyperactivity, which most often characterizes leaders, to a state of waiting in uncertainty is proving quite difficult to bear.
Of course, there is no question of enduring this wait: that time then becomes an opportunity for a period of deep introspection for the company.
« This managerial quarantine is certainly a great opportunity to prepare our companies for tomorrow »
Our agile people call this «doing a Retrospective.» What has worked well in recent years? Is our raison d’être (the famous WHY of Simon Sinek) clear and engaging enough to lead us out of the crisis? Is the way we want to live this raison d’être well defined? What are our main challenges for tomorrow? Is our organization well adapted to these new challenges? Do I have the right skills in the right positions?
This managerial quarantine, in a difficult situation of confinement that is difficult to predict, is certainly a great opportunity to prepare our companies for the future. An essential momentum to take to better jump.
A time that is accelerating
When the time comes to implement the new strategies, This time scale will continue to shorten.. This was already the case before the crisis. Most leaders made the same observation: «where we had 2 years to implement, we now have only 6 months!»
«Agility in the sense of organization, practices, and values will become inevitable»
How do we do it when our resources (human resources, most often) are already committed and when they cannot be extended? Especially in a budgetary framework that will be under serious pressure…
Agility in the sense of organization, practices, and values will become inevitable!
We can also question the entire annual processes on which our organizations are based: the annual budgets, the annual performance reviews, the appraisals. Balanced scorecards… A number of these processes will not survive the post-crisis period.. And that might be a good thing.
When in our larger groups, managers spend 3 months defining and then defending their annual budget, often to the detriment of others… When our implementation time frame means that by the time it is implemented, a different solution would have had to be implemented… One can legitimately ask oneself about these annual rituals.
So bad… or so much better
The approach of Beyond Budgeting (no annual budget but a budget released as needed based on priorities) experimented with by an increasing number of companies seems to provide an effective response.
© DR
The annual maintenance also requires attention. According to recent studies, this is indeed a process that generates HR-related activity but is not very effective in terms of employee experience.
This crisis could well be brewing The end of the traditional annual management of our companies, that is, the end of Management by Objective !
It should be remembered that the MBO (Management by Objectives) prophesized by Peter Drucker dates back to the 1950s. Particularly suited to the post-World War II period and intensive industrialization, this system has become obsolete in the age of digitalization.
In the increasingly technological era that lies ahead, the new model is not being reinvented because many companies, especially those in the United States, have already implemented it. However, it is the way each company can implement it that requires a customized response.