Ready for effectiveness? A matter of focus and execution.

Some time ago, we wished you the beauty of simplicity, a world where there would be less structural mitosis, where the proliferation of offers would be better controlled, where the ways of working would be consolidated; We suggested to better define how much details is enough, and finally, we promoted the idea that collaboration at work is something that requires hard work and needs to be developed. Throughout the year, we have helped our customers address these topics at management committee or project team levels as bureaucratic symptoms would emerge on the way of any market or customer conversation. Large organisations are so “embolised”, trying hard to gain agility.

How much has been achieved in your company? Do you still feel the burden of bureaucracy operating at all levels? Are you still stuck with industrial age concepts where you apply to people the concepts that have been created to manage things such as machines and capitals? Micro management, command and control, hierarchies, rules and regulations, all sorts of prostheses for trust… As these issues still pollute your organisation, you might see some symptoms of dysfunction emerge: low trust, no shared vision, misalignment and disempowerment. As you are busy addressing these challenges, the customer or market shaping conversations become secondary conversations.

So what can we do about it? Two key words to make a few suggestions. First Focus. Focus on being a model that chooses the attitude of initiative, of doing without permission, of daring to try new things out, to expand your influence. Focus on getting your management committee share a clear vision of its highest priorities. Focus on doing what has been decided with shorter, customer-reaching iterations. Focus on stoping all initiatives that have already reached a dead-end.

Second Execute. Not by driving hard or pushing for results. This would again promote an old managerial system where nothing happens when the boss is not there. Execute by referring to the North Star permanently and getting management out of the way. Execute by putting systems and structures in place that reinforce the highest strategic priorities. By enabling people and removing obstacles. By creating feedback loops that help your team understand they are on the right way.

Imagine for a moment that you take a step back to when we had this conversation in the first place. Are you be able to say today you made your company more effective?