Agile in, agile out. The new challenges of the manager

"Agile inside, agile outside", the manager will have to take another step in cognitive evolution! If our ancestors, the first sapiens, associated the bodily agility of standing movement with the cognitive revolution of articulated speech, the future manager leader needs increased mental agility and unprecedented collaborative agility. They can only be possible through greater lucidity about the complexity within him.

 

Ahe Maison du Management organised a day of reflection for its members on 12 April on the theme: management in 2030. A preparatory work, synthesis of a questioning asked to seventy-two experts. Four cardinal points emerge from this questioning. You will find a link to this synthesis at the end of this paper but before that, a few remarks on the resources that neurosciences offer us to have a chance to make the humanly demanding leap that we are living.

 

The points of the compass that emerge:

 

 

Two management consultants, Jeanne-Marion (Delta Coach) and Benoît Tulasne (Sosten Consulting) and Laurent Constant from the management house have summarized the answers to these questions: What major changes in society will have the greatest impact on management. What will be the consequences of these evolutions ?

 

Technological revolutions "vertiginous acceleration". When things move fast, when skills and jobs are called into question, emotional fragility can intensify. Emotions have a direct influence on perceptions and, of course, on opinions. At certain times, it is important to regain breathing space, to calm your brain by calming the mental agitation it produces spontaneously. Emotions are a resource for perceiving levels of complexity that sometimes escape reasoning, but they also have the particularity of blurring reasoning when they take on too much power. Meditation (among other things) then becomes a key resource for those who are devoured by stress. Taking care of oneself allows one to follow the rhythm of evolution without suffocating oneself.

 

The societal rupture "from subordinate to contractor". The search for lower social costs and the need for flexibility are major trends. Giving value to the spirit of initiative, living the entrepreneur's stress, require greater autonomy in taking risks than that of the employee. Anticipatory agility and reactive impetus are talents to be developed. A feeling of loneliness can discourage those who encounter difficulties. A minimum of combativeness is required. The reward system, at the heart of our brain, has the power to boost those who value fighting rather than inhibiting action. Conversely, a sense of omnipotence can lead to a dangerous headlong rush. Knowing how to go for energy when discouragement emerges, or for appeasement when the machine gets out of control, is one of the skills to be developed.

 

The metamorphosis of organizations "constantly reinventing themselves." Imagination is directly dependent on memory. Perceptive openness, combined with a well-nourished memory of the future, makes it possible to reinvent oneself. You still have to know how to unlearn in order to learn. This cerebral mechanism is at the heart of our ability to simulate and experience change. The transformation of the organization is also a cerebral transformation. When old knowledge and new knowledge compete in our heads, understanding "how it works" is a way to become more efficient and save suffering.

 

The evolution of managerial practices "a humble, humane leader... and with a sense of humor." An agile leader is aware of human complexity, he has the tools to federate and animate in a dynamic interaction productive of innovation and quality. Caring and firm enough to lead collaborative negotiations. Each person evaluates situations in a singular way, the fiction that inhabits us comes from our cognitive, emotional and mimetic past. All collaborations are negotiations, knowing how to share representations, knowing how to lead the elaboration of a fair agreement between each person's interests and values, are essential skills. The hierarchical power tending to disappear, leading towards a common goal, requires agile mediation.

 

Agility as a key word: agile in methods, agile in decision making, agile in the ability to react, agile in the human bond ... A leading manager who must know how to cope with stress without drowning in it. Avoid the burnout of the individual who is too involved, who "messes up" his body to the point where his mind becomes confused and his moods deleterious. Agile to question oneself, to reinvent the solutions found the day before without becoming a confused weathercock.

 

 

 

www.lecerfthomas.com