Un monde en ébullition

Amid change, we are confronted on all sides with new expectations, a new environment, different generations with values, and a vision of work that are poles apart.

It’s in this context that I’m evolving and I find this managerial challenge fascinating. What will our organisation of tomorrow look like? How can I reconcile a traditional vision with these new concepts?

I took a detailed look at holacracy to see how I could use the benefits of this vision in my very traditional organization.

Holacracy: what is it?

But perhaps we should first define what lies behind this term:

Holacracy is a system of organisational governance where decision-making is distributed across self-managing teams rather than centralised in a traditional hierarchy. Roles are clearly defined and flexibly distributed, enabling more dynamic collaboration. The aim of holacracy is to encourage transparency, efficiency and responsiveness by removing bureaucratic barriers and allowing every member of the organisation to take initiative and responsibility.

Interesting, isn’t it?

When I read Frédéric Laloux’s book Reinventing Organisation, THE BIBLE of holocracy, I was confronted with his final comment on implementation: a difficult, if not impossible, hybrid implementation. Either management decides to adopt this vision for its entire organisation, or it doesn’t work.

When there is a transition from a traditional hierarchical type of organisation to a Self-Governed Company, more than 50% of managers leave the company within 2 years. This is a question of power, of the « traditional prestige of the managerial function », which is greatly diminished. Control is no longer centralised, objectives are set by the team, and decisions are taken by the people in charge of the activities. Managers who arrived in these positions to bolster their egos, and for whom this dimension of power is essential to their professional fulfilment, can no longer find their feet in their new role.

Nor is it a panacea for employees who have lived all their lives in a highly hierarchical structure in which their decision-making power was limited. Suddenly they’re told to « decide ». And there’s panic. That’s not what they signed up for!

It also calls into question the whole remuneration system, the bonus policy, which becomes obsolete. In some holacratic companies, salaries are decided by the employees!

Transforming an established way of thinking?

So I found myself faced with a philosophy that spoke to me, but a mountain to climb to put it in place, if not an impossibility. My conclusion after several weeks of reading is that I’ll never be able to get my organisation to completely embrace this concept. On the other hand, certain elements should enable me to change the very traditional way in which certain teams operate towards a more flexible, less bureaucratic mode, giving employees more organisational and decision-making freedom … when they want and can.

So I decided to distil this philosophy slowly, based on small group projects, initiatives and pilots. And maybe in this way we’ll succeed in getting these two visions to coexist within a traditional organisation. Because in the end, the vision of holacracy is more or less what the new generation expects. Responsibility and a lot of freedom. What they sometimes forget is the responsibility part….

The articles that follow are dedicated to the various experiments I’ve been able to set up and their success… or failure! I hope they will inspire you! But above all, don’t hesitate to share your ideas on the subject with me.