November 2023.
It’s hard to paint a positive picture of the world, as the news never ceases to remind us of the challenges we face in every field: geopolitical, obviously (horrors of the past are resurfacing in Israel, Ukraine and Gaza are being bombed, Armenians are being persecuted once again, etc.), ecological (global warming is getting worse and worse) and ultimately economic (fragility of financial markets, start-ups which after the euphoria are experiencing a harsh return to reality, pressure from shareholders, etc.).
Iconic companies such as Google and Amazon are announcing mass departures of their employees, even going so far as to use collective redundancy for the first time in their history.
And the list of redundancy plans at unicorns grows longer by the day…
Where the concept VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) has long been used to describe this ever-changing world, another term, “polycrisis”, evoked by sociologist and philosopher Edgar Morin, now finds particular resonance.
Unlike in the past, when one crisis followed another, we are now witnessing the stacking up of multiple major challenges.
These issues are overlapping, both for companies and their employees, requiring simultaneous transformation on multiple fronts.
Various studies conducted in recent years by the Boston Consulting Group, Bain&Company and Forbes reveal that 70% to 90% of transformation plans fail to achieve their objectives. Faced with this reality, we ask ourselves what avenues are open to us to deal with the polycrisis environment.
“Nothing is more fragile than the human faculty of admitting reality”, wrote philosopher Clément Rosset in Le Réel et son double (1976), recently mentioned in #Philomag.
Yet it is impossible to generate strategic transformation without addressing reality.
The challenge is no longer how to avoid each crisis, as we can see: the world is in crisis, and may remain in perpetual crisis.
Trying to fight this new reality only leads to exhaustion.
Rather, it’s about learning to navigate a constantly changing world, preparing to face the unknown, developing resilience and adaptability.
In other words, to get by: we propose to accept the normalization of the exceptional.
We will focus on increasing our capacity to analyze and initiate appropriate approaches, rather than waiting for crises to disappear.
We will work on practices and technologies that help us process large amounts of data in a short space of time, and create space for innovation.
We need to innovate quickly, with fewer losses, and with greater impact.
In a world where interconnections reinforce global complexity and reveal our incredible interdependence, we need to resist the idea that the solution is to simplify everything.
It also seems that compartmentalized approaches are no longer appropriate, and that a greater openness, an ecosystemic viewpoint, and a capacity for cross-disciplinary construction are emerging.
A Ukrainian conflict thirty years ago would have been handled very differently without the existence of social networks, just as the covid-19 crisis would have been handled very differently without the possibility of videoconferencing.
Ken Wilber’s four-quadrant approach shows us that organizational issues cannot be approached in a one-dimensional way.
The four quadrants – the individual, the collective, the inner and the outer – allow us to consider both the subjective and objective aspects of any situation, and to pay attention to perceptions and experiences, which influence resistance to change.
In business, this means that to understand and solve complex problems, it is essential to take into account employee perspectives, group dynamics, internal processes, as well as environmental and economic factors.
This integral approach fosters a holistic vision, encouraging more informed decision-making and the implementation of more comprehensive solutions, thus contributing to better management of complexity.
Beyond the so-called “hard” issues (business, organization, technology, etc.), the biggest challenge remains the human aspect: supporting employees through change, and also helping managers to feed their thinking and develop relevant strategies in this time of crisis, in the knowledge that any transformation is above all created through the men and women who work on a daily basis.
So how can we be in a position, every day, to bring about a new deal in the various economic, geopolitical and social fields?
To manage complex issues with a superficial level of information.
It is therefore necessary to familiarize oneself with paradoxical situations and increase one’s skills.
As Edgar Morin put it: for complex situations, complex thinking!
Today, we’re surrounded by “wicked problems”, where it’s important to understand that sometimes there’s no solution that doesn’t have a negative counterpart. Learning to navigate with the absence of a clear-cut solution, which delights everyone, is a skill that managers must learn to exercise. Because very often, “one and the other” are true at the same time, and you have to move forward with that.
Human beings are inclined to avoid change, finding comfort in the familiarity of the “cave”, representing a reassuring refuge, a certainty.
This aversion to change is even more pronounced when the external environment is characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).
Yet we are not resistant to change, but rather to loss.
Some studies have suggested that losses are twice as psychologically powerful as gains.
As a result, it’s easier for us to focus on the threat and avoid change.
So we cultivate denial or resistance, hoping that passing difficulties will quickly disappear.
But reality shows that new challenges are constantly arising.
To deal with these situations, it’s essential to adopt a collective approach, coupled with a more personal process of self-questioning.
By accepting the idea that a disruptive element, such as a potential new wave of covid, is now part of our weekly reality, and that it’s possible to live with it, without falling into burn-out or anxiety.
The “Theory U” approach, promoted by MIT lecturer Otto Scharmer, teaches us that when transforming, instead of simply trying to get from point A to point B, it is necessary to descend to point C, in order to mourn certain things, prune what is obsolete, and then ascend towards new goals.
By engaging in this process of mourning, reflection and reinvention, we can embrace change with a more constructive attitude, relying on our ability to evolve and adapt.
To conclude, we’ll use the words of Elizabeth Badinter: “What is certain is that fear is a poor advisor. Let’s not give in to fear”.
In the face of increasing complexity and constant challenges, let’s not succumb to anxiety and resistance to change, but adopt a more resilient and adaptive approach.
Accepting the normalization of the exceptional, building complex thinking and adopting new managerial postures where the human is at the center, are for us crucial steps in successfully navigating this polycrisis landscape.
If you’re working on these transformational issues, or would like to develop them further, get in touch with us to find out more about Connection Leadership’s practical solutions.
Plus qu’un cabinet de conseil, Connection Leadership est votre partenaire dans la transformation holistique. Our approach, based on transversality and pragmatism, brings you all the necessary elements to co-construct the transformation of your company. This co-construction is carried out with all levels of the company to improve collective commitment. Our coaching and transformation programs are designed to bring impact and concrete results, ultimately empowering you in your transformation.
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