A CEO’s Perspective On How To Start An Organizational Transformation

A CEO’s Perspective On How To Start An Organizational Transformation

This guest blog is written by Matt Bell, you can find his bio at the bottom of this article. I started with Shared Lives SW at the end of February as their new CEO. Shared Lives SW is an amazing charity that works with 250 incredible carers that share their homes and lives with people that need it. At the heart of Shared Lives is simply put, people caring for people as part of their lives, in communities. Before I started, I had gone through quite a personal journey involving lots of reading. Cutting a long story short, I was left with a list of values I felt were important, […]

From pyramid to lattice — Gore democratic management

From pyramid to lattice — Gore democratic management

It has been a great opportunity to meet one of GORE France ex leaders Richard Ritt and to learn how the giant multinational company founded in 1958 by Willbert Gore is dealing with self-management issues. Gore core values are freedom, fairness, commitment, waterline (“Everyone at Gore consults with other knowledgeable Associates before taking actions that might be “below the waterline,” causing serious damage to the enterprise”). There are no bosses in the company, everybody is equal. Benefit redistribution are regular practice, most Gore employees are associates. Gore structure is not a pyramid but a lattice, a leader is not above but in the center of the lattice. Lattice is based […]

Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership Le modèle classique d’organisation de l’entreprise, directement issu des traditions militaire ou ecclésiastique, conduit à mettre en avant la figure du dirigeant héros ou sauveur. Par voie de conséquence, le mode de relation avec les membres de l’organisation est forcément monarchique, voire autocratique. Il est temps de changer de paradigme et de promouvoir le leader qui renverse le sens de la relation, se mettant au service de ses troupes, elles-mêmes au service d’un projet. Au-delà de la grave crise conjoncturelle qui a affecté ces dernières années beaucoup d’entreprises et d’organisations, celles-ci sont aujourd’hui de plus en plus confrontées à une crise «structurelle» des modes de management. Elle se […]

VUCA

VUCA

VUCA : former les managers à l’incertitude VUCA est-il un énième acronyme dans le jargon des managers toujours friands d’anglicismes ? Au-delà de l’effet de mode que ces quatre lettres suscitent, le « VUCA world » met en lumière la difficulté de la prise de décisions dans un environnement complexe et incertain. VUCA, ce sont quatre termes : Volatility (Volatilité), Uncertainty (Incertitude), Complexity (Complexité) et Ambiguity (Ambiguité) donc 4 types de problématiques qui demandent chacune des réponses.   Enregistrer

The neuroscience of trust

The neuroscience of trust

The neuroscience of trust Companies are twisting themselves into knots to empower and challenge their employees. They’re anxious about the sad state of engagement, and rightly so, given the value they’re losing. Consider Gallup’s meta-analysis of decades’ worth of data: It shows that high engagement—defined largely as having a strong connection with one’s work and colleagues, feeling like a real contributor, and enjoying ample chances to learn—consistently leads to positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations. The rewards include higher productivity, better-quality products, and increased profitability. So it’s clear that creating an employee-centric culture can be good for business. But how do you do that effectively? Culture is typically designed […]

Theory U and opticism

Theory U and opticism

Theory U and opticism “A case for optimism” is an inspiring video by Tiffany Shlain. Opticism is optimism with a healthy dose of skepticism: a “questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere.” Let’s become an “opticist”: Let’s not be naive, but let’s focus consciously on the half full glass and see how we can fill it even further… The world in general has become less violent, but watching the news things seem to have become worse. When we look at negative things all the time, they could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We may become discouraged and act […]