Corporate Heaven: The ‘Authentizotic’ Organisation
How to create an
organisation where people find meaning in, and are captivated by, their work.
The CEO of Wickrott
Corporation was known as a suspicious control freak. Symptomatic of his
leadership style were the numerous “internal consultants” hired to keep him
informed of the goings-on in the organisation. Staff described their work
environment as a cutthroat, Darwinian “soup”. Information was power; secrecy
was the norm; transparency and teamwork were conspicuous by their absence. To
add to the company’s paranoid culture, the CEO demanded pre-signed resignation
letters from all of his senior executives so that he could fire them on the
spot if he felt that they had transgressed. At meetings, he frequently
subjected them to abusive, even profane tirades. During these humiliating
sessions, he made it quite clear that the firm owed every bit of its success to
him alone.
At the Upling
Corporation, by contrast, great efforts were made to ensure that every staff
member was aligned behind the firm’s values, mission and vision. Senior
executives emphasised the importance of a coaching-oriented, people-centric
culture. Employees were proud of the organisation as it offered mutual support,
promoted trust and provided them with meaning. Pay was decent and the benefits
were excellent. Senior management encouraged people to speak up, come up with
new ideas and take risks. In particular, entrepreneurial activities were advocated.
Work-life balance was taken seriously, and the company strived to be a good
corporate citizen for the community and the world at large.
The “authentizotic”
organisation
As this juxtaposition
of corporate hell and heaven illustrates, work environments can range from the
awful to the awesome. For many executives the million-dollar question is: How
to shoot for the latter? Based on my decades of academic and consulting
experience, I would like to make a few observations on how leaders can create high-performing,
sustainable organisations where people can be and give their best.
I call these
organisations “authentizotic”, a term I created by combining two Greek
words: authentikos and zootikos. As a workplace
label, authentikos implies an organisation characterised by
fair processes. Such a workplace emphasises self-actualisation, producing a
sense of effectiveness, competency, autonomy and creativity. The term zootikos means
“vital to life”. It describes an environment in which people are invigorated by
their work, able to find balance, commitment and completeness, as well as
fulfil their need for exploration.
The
basis for developing authentizotic organisations is trust. A number of
ingredients are needed to foster this, and it all starts at the top.
Developing trust
Trust is earned when
actions meet words. We trust forthright leaders who walk the talk and set an
example by working with integrity. Consistency in actions is also a critical
factor in building trust. This implies living up to one’s commitments and
promises.
Furthermore, leaders
should be prepared to show their emotions when appropriate; they should
demonstrate that they care. Trust, however, is not only affected by the ability
to express emotions, but also by the way these emotions are conveyed. For
example, volatile anger doesn’t help an organisation. In addition, senior
managers need to have confidence in their team and acknowledge individual
efforts and contributions so everyone feels valued.
In authentizotic
organisations, senior management listens carefully to what people have to say.
This means paying attention not only to the story that’s told, but also to its
underlying meaning, the language used, the tone of voice and, last but not
least, the body language. Equally important is to listen to what’s left
unsaid. Furthermore, senior executives should feel sufficiently secure to
show vulnerability through admitting (when appropriate) that they don’t have
all the answers.
Trusted executives
unconditionally invite their subordinates to express their opinions. They make
it clear that people can disagree and that disagreement is part of the creative
process. They present failure as a great learning opportunity. They personify
ethics and also set clear boundaries for what is acceptable and unacceptable
behaviour. Such boundaries, like in childhood, contribute to the creation of
feelings of safety. Only when people feel safe will they be comfortable to
speak up in an organisational setting. They will not be afraid to be seen as
incompetent, ignorant or disruptive.
The clinical
paradigm: A well-tested method for change
Authentizotic
organisations have what I call C4 in
their DNA: They embed courageous
conversations within a coaching culture. And I have designed a well-tested
intervention method to help leaders create such a culture. Its main goals are
to build trust, to alleviate concerns about reciprocity in dealing with
sensitive issues and to deter lingering paranoid reactions. It’s about
overcoming fear of the negative consequences of having courageous conversations
– and talking about matters that really influence the effectiveness of the
organisation.
Underlying this
intervention method is the clinical paradigm – the
psychodynamic-systemic lens allowing us to explore people’s inner theatre and
motivations. This conceptual framework brings a deeper and more nuanced
understanding of intra-personal, interpersonal, team and organisational
phenomena. Through it, we discover a world of fantasy, dreams and daydreams,
all representing forces that bear on our decisions, actions and interactions.
Personal
and organisational change starts with an honest look at what holds us
back. To this end, multi-party feedback questionnaires can
show the gap between self-perception and the perception of others. I am
referring to feedback on a person’s individual leadership style, but also
pertaining to team dynamics and organisational culture. If the process is done
well, this feedback (preferably shared in a group setting) provides a more
rounded portrait of the individual, the team and the corporate culture. Such an
assessment can have a deep emotional impact and produce paths for change.
From my own
experiences with thousands of executives, short periods of “play” –
experimentation with ideas and feelings – in a group setting can yield more
insights than hours of presentations. Play unleashes the opportunity to start
conversations that contribute to change. Taking the form of various “ice
breakers” touching on deeply felt emotional issues, these “play sessions”
create a transitional space where participants become willing
to discuss the things that really matter.
Stories for real
change
Narration is another
gate to illuminative catharsis. Coaching is always a narrative process. Telling
our personal stories to a group of people that listen in a respectful manner
can be emotionally impactful. Talking about what bothers us provides an
opportunity to re-experience and transform deeply troubling themes in our life.
It can help us better understand why certain psychological issues keep holding
us back and why we persist in dysfunctional behavioural patterns that hurt the
organisation.
Furthermore, while
listening to other life stories, we may realise that we are not alone in our
confusion. We may come to understand that others, too, struggle with similar
problems. This offers many opportunities to discuss alternative ways of dealing
with common situations. In addition, as participants give each other support,
they become part of a true and supportive community.
To get the best out of people,
organisations need to inscribe courageous explorations and conversations into
their DNA. The intervention method that I described helps create a culture that
reflects people’s realities, with a cascading effect from the top. Courageous
conversations can be contagious in a good way, transferring between
individuals, moving through teams and, finally, spreading throughout the whole
organisation. Eventually, as these courageous conversations become
integrated into a coaching culture, the organisation can bloom into
a workplace that gives meaning and purpose, one that has the C4 in its DNA.
Manfred Kets de Vries, INSEAD Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organisational Change | December 12, 2017
Read more at
https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/corporate-heaven-the-authentizotic-organisation-7911?utm_source=INSEAD+Knowledge&utm_campaign=4e7f61c8d6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e079141ebb-4e7f61c8d6-249840429#pgQoP4O63rO9SKkC.99
No comments:
Post a Comment