CDO Consulting

One way to assess the usefulness of a manager is to observe his or her effect on the organisation as a whole. Sharpen the awareness of their impact, making the organisation more profitable from all viewpoints.

Based on an old story about the painter who was repainting his ceiling ...

Unscrewing a light bulb is an activity like any other, unless you see four people carrying a table on which a fifth person is standing still, holding firmly onto the bulb they want to unscrew. If we then see the four people lift the table and carefully turn it (in the right direction) to release the bulb from its housing, this sounds like something from a silly joke.

And yet we do see this in reality, in the form of so many unproductive attitudes, through efforts made that are all out of proportion to the desired effects or which are completely unsuited to the situation at hand. People clearly sometimes take more reassurance in the fact that something is happening rather than in the quality of the action. Each situation we encounter can be viewed from three angles:

Sensemaking management

This "new" management emerged as a result of fresh market demand in the modern world. We could call it "Management of the 2000s" to improve production.

If the first angle we look from is sensemaking, it is because it is the first viewpoint to take into account in situations of changes made to systems or organisations. If we consider the very short-term visibility that the marketplace gives us, optimising organisations is unfortunately something of a dream, given that optimising ... takes up more time!

The importance of Sensemaking management is also underlined by what we learn about neuroscience on the considerable capacity of our brain to calculate possible trajectories, provided that we give it effective marker points.

Sensemaking Management is still a recent concept. There isn't much literature written about it yet, other than a number of books on corporate values (including by Prof. Simon Dolan). We believe that this subject will spoken of with reference to him for some time to come. Sensemaking management responds to concerns widely expressed by management teams who find unable to come up with solutions based on management by objectives, as currently practised. These concerns, to name a few, relate to adapting to change, flexibility in activities management, responsiveness without hyperactivity, the feeling of knowing where we are going when everything changes etc.

Sensemaking Management largely responds to the need for people to feel that they always have marker points showing the direction in which they are going, or the reasons behind their actions. This awareness extends endurance and resistance to stress. A good clarification performed on corporate values - a clear basis for management by values - can explain the "for what reason" behind the interaction of the organisation's own resources. We all know the saying "pulling in the same direction" - but we would rather say "pushing together in the same direction".

With Sensemaking management, we have a clear overall framework which encourages considerable freedom of creativity. Our vision for managers is that only an intuitive guide will be effective to respond freely to the daily demands of maintaining a consistent guarantee of success.

Action management - management by "comprehensive" objectives (MBO)

Although excessive freedom is detrimental in terms of human resources management, it can be tamed by the second element of the three management pillars: the perspective of action management translated in terms of quantitative results and above all qualitative results.

Management by objectives (MBO) emerged in the 1950s, after a significant increase in the individual education levels and, consequently, people's array of skills. The average person is more competent, they desire greater autonomy and the concept of performance become firmly entrenched to increase productivity.

A distortion of MBO today makes a frequently unilateral expression of production results by management (services, goods, etc). An informed manager will remember that extending the management of results to that of required skills is comprehensive management which pays off over time. This definition of "results + skills" MBO becomes a valuable ally to management by values (MBV). One can be used without the other, obviously, but at the cost of direct impact on the organisation that sometimes results from low levels of motivation, increased resistance to change, increasing passivity, etc.

Management by objective, as described above, also includes the ability to anticipate based on a cockpit management made up of indicators necessary for proactive management. It becomes a comprehensive, effective management by objective.

Management by rules and laws - management by instructions (MBI)

Within an organisation, if the Sensemaking is clearly set out, if the objectives are consistent, nevertheless bringing people together in a structure does involve sharing a certain number of rules specific to each field. These rules are expressed by the laws, processes, procedures, work instructions, safety, etc.

Management by Instructions (MBI) is an important tool to keep the organisation and its resources within manageable functional and operational limitations. Detailing, drafting and applying operational rules is nothing other than the application of the third pillar of comfortable management.

We won't go into such detail on this subject, as it seems to be a solid fixture already and does not require much more information except that its origins do not lie so very far back in time. Indeed, in the 1920s, it was all about production and of ensuring the completion of tasks through precise instructions.

We have to reiterate that we believe management by instructions to be essential to cover situations that are not sufficiently well covered by MBV or MBO!

To act as a mobile "three-pillar" approach - like a set of scales with 3 trays

Reclaiming the notions of natural common sense. Used alongside the three management styles to generate a sense of balance, and consequently durability and profit.

Consistency becomes a means of reassurance to a manager. From an operational point of view, it is enough to have an empirical, practical and efficient management tool for empirical for scorecard information. Once again, we seek the means to match of our ambitions: to have the pleasure of building a future that combines profit and balance.