According to the Global Leadership Forecast 2021 conducted by international consulting firm DDI, no fewer than 10 issues are keeping executives up at night. For 55% of them, leadership is the main concern, with one major question: how can we attract, retain and develop the leaders of tomorrow? A crucial issue in today’s VUCA¹ world, exacerbated by the pandemic. The health crisis acted – and continues to act – as a real catalyst, highlighting the difficulty for companies with traditionaltop-downhierarchies to adapt to this unprecedented context. To prepare for the “next world”, these organizations also need to rethink their managerial methods, and thus their internal organization. The aim is to move towards a modern, integrated, flexible and scalable organization – or “opal”, in reference to Quebec sociologist Frédéric Laloux’s work on the reality of existing organizations. At Connection Leadership, we are convinced that every organization today is called upon to evolve its organizational paradigm to find the one that is most in tune with the challenges of today’s business world, and to attract the future leaders whose values are so fundamental.
To help companies enter tomorrow’s world, collective transformation is an essential part of the solution; it is also a major lever for unleashing innovation, another concern revealed by the study for 50% of CEOs. However, this work on the collective must be thought through taking into account the experience and specific needs of individuals within the organization. Indeed, to have an impact, the approach must also be based on individual transformation, at all levels of the company.
Starting with managers, who are called upon from all sides, with sometimes contradictory injunctions: from employees, who expect them to be ever more exemplary; from shareholders, who are highly focused on financial results and often favor short-term visions over traditional medium- to long-term strategic plans; and from customers and public opinion, who demand more sustained communication from CEOs, as well as integrity and consistency in their image.
Considered as the locomotive of an organization, the CEO needs to be coached to enable him or her to feel the direction and current of his or her leadership in the midst of an ocean of diverse recommendations. Coaching is one of the keys to helping leaders identify the levers of performance, for example by overcoming the five behavioral drivers defined in transactional analysis (“be perfect”, “be strong”, “make an effort”, “hurry up” and “please”), or by identifying the mindsets and actions that are best suited to their objectives. And this is precisely Connection Leadership’s field of intervention, and the added value of our holistic approach²: to bring out the unspoken, the cultural or political biases of the company through targeted diagnostics, to create emulation between the individual and collective dimensions, to identify and anchor the meaning of each person’s action, and to inscribe the company’s transformation in the dynamics of its ecosystem. Very often, CEOs are surprised by the difference between their perception and the actual reality, but also by the untapped potential brought to light thanks to our support.
“Considered as the locomotive of an organization, the CEO must be accompanied to enable him to feel the direction and current of his leadership within a sea of diverse recommendations.”
However, by reaction, CEOs have a natural tendency to reinforce their shells, all the more so in these times of pandemic, when work organizations are in upheaval and the economic future is uncertain. This closed posture makes it more difficult for CEOs to step back and take the open-minded approach needed to deepen and strengthen their identity, and to find the courage of their leadership, in the service of their company’s raison d’être and objectives. CEOs like Carlos Tavares (Stellantis) and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) seem to have grasped the importance of alignment. Standing their ground, even if it means displeasing others, they illustrate the symbolism of the lighthouse, by setting – and assuming – a clear and honest direction, which satisfies the expectations of all internal and external stakeholders.
So, tomorrow’s CEO needs to develop this inner alignment in order to feel the trajectory of his or her ambition. It is with this vision and a determination to meet this need that we at Connection Leadership have developed unique training and individual coaching offers. In a caring environment, we help them to bring out the hidden face of the iceberg, to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to increase their level of competence and confidence, while raising their awareness of the practices of conscious, enlightened leadership. An approach based on agility, creativity, collective intelligence and mindfulness.
¹Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity
² In reference to Ken Wilber’s integral approach
Co-founder of Connection Leadership, a consulting, training and coaching firm specializing in business transformation, Patrick Hoffstetter spent 30 years in a number of management positions at SNCF, Yahoo, SFR, lastminute.com and Renault.
He is a senior advisor at Vivatech, and a member of several boards.
For advice on your transformation, contact us at formations@connectionleadership.com
