Blog Alexis Monville (en)

Category: General

  • The Future of Consulting: How Clarasys is Redefining the Game

    The Future of Consulting: How Clarasys is Redefining the Game

    In the ever-evolving business world, it’s not uncommon to come across companies claiming to be ‘innovative’ or ‘disruptive.’ However, occasionally, you stumble upon a gem that embodies these terms. One such company is Clarasys, a consulting firm that has taken a bold leap from its traditional roots to become a beacon of innovation.

    The Journey from Classic to Cutting-Edge

    The consulting industry, known for its rigid structures and hierarchical models, has seen little change over the decades. But Clarasys, with its forward-thinking approach, has decided to challenge the status quo. As highlighted by Corporate Rebels, their transformation journey is nothing short of inspiring.

    The 8 Progressive Principles: A New Blueprint for Business

    What truly sets Clarasys apart is its commitment to eight progressive principles. With 200 people and operations in the US and the UK, they have proof of the validity of their principles. These aren’t just fancy buzzwords; they represent a profound shift in how businesses can operate in the modern age:

    Team of teams: By promoting networks of teams, Clarasys fosters agility, speed, and engagement. This structure enhances responsibility and cultivates a deeper sense of belonging among employees.

    Purpose over profit: While profitability is essential, Clarasys emphasizes building a workplace centered around a shared purpose and values.

    Distributed authority: By decentralizing decision-making, the company ensures that those make decisions with the most relevant knowledge and understanding.

    Freedom & trust: Clarasys believes in treating its employees as responsible adults, granting them autonomy, and trusting them to deliver.

    Radical transparency: In an age where information is power, Clarasys champions a culture of openness, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

    Talents over titles: Rather than being confined by job descriptions, employees are encouraged to work based on their strengths, talents, and passions.

    Servant leadership: Leaders at Clarasys support and uplift those on the front lines, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment.

    Experiment & adapt: In a dynamic world, the company values real-time learning over rigid predictions, ensuring they remain at the forefront of industry changes.

    Final Thoughts

    The transformation of Clarasys serves as a testament to what’s possible when businesses dare to think differently. Their journey from a classic consultancy to an innovative powerhouse offers valuable insights for companies and leaders looking to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.

    As we move forward, it’s essential to ask ourselves: Are we merely adhering to age-old practices, or are we brave enough to redefine the rules of the game? The choice, as always, is ours.

  • How to Win Friends and Influence People

    How to Win Friends and Influence People

    We all know the importance of building strong relationships and effective communication skills. Do we?

    One of the best resources to learn these skills is Dale Carnegie’s classic book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Originally published in 1936, this book has remained popular for decades because the principles it outlines are timeless and effective. I referenced some of the principles in this older post about Radical Candor.

    In this blog post, I’ll outline all the principles from the book and explain how they can help you become a better communicator, build stronger relationships, and achieve your goals.

    Principle 1: Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain

    The first principle in the book is to avoid criticizing, condemning, or complaining about others. According to Carnegie, this is one of the quickest ways to create resentment and push people away. He says: “If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.” Instead, he recommends focusing on the positive and addressing problems constructively. For example, if you have a complaint, try to frame it as a suggestion for improvement rather than a criticism.

    Principle 2: Give honest and sincere appreciation

    The second principle is to give honest and sincere appreciation to others. Carnegie explains that people crave recognition and praise, and giving it to them can help build positive relationships. However, it’s important to be genuine in your praise and avoid flattery or insincere compliments.

    Principle 3: Arouse in the other person an eager want

    The third principle is to understand the other person’s perspective and show them how your ideas can help them achieve their goals. Carnegie explains that people are often motivated by their own self-interest, and by showing them how your ideas can help them, you can persuade them more effectively.

    Principle 4: Become genuinely interested in other people

    The fourth principle is to show a sincere interest in others and listen attentively to what they have to say. According to Carnegie, people are more likely to be receptive to your ideas if they feel that you genuinely care about them and understand their perspective.

    Principle 5: Smile

    The fifth principle is simple but effective: smile. Carnegie explains that a smile can go a long way in making others feel at ease and building a positive relationship. This is especially important in the business world, where first impressions can make a big difference.

    Principle 6: Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language

    The sixth principle is to use a person’s name when communicating with them. According to Carnegie, a person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language, and using it can help make them feel valued and important.

    Principle 7: Be a good listener

    The seventh principle is to be a good listener. Carnegie explains that listening to others and showing that you understand their perspective can help build trust and rapport. By actively listening and asking questions, you can show interest in the other person and their ideas.

    Principle 8: Talk in terms of the other person’s interests

    The eighth principle is to show how your ideas or suggestions can benefit the other person and their interests. By framing your ideas in a relevant way to the other person, you can make them more receptive and interested in what you have to say.

    Principle 9: Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely

    The ninth principle is to show genuine interest and concern for others and make them feel valued and appreciated. Carnegie explains that people are more likely to be receptive to your ideas if they feel that you genuinely care about them and their well-being.

    Principle 10: Avoid arguments

    The final principle is to avoid arguments. Instead of arguing, try to find common ground and work towards a mutually beneficial solution. As Carnegie notes, “The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”

    These ten principles may seem simple, but they can profoundly impact how you interact with others and how they perceive you. By implementing these principles, you can become a more effective communicator, build stronger relationships, and achieve your goals.

    Feb 23 edit!

    I created that post using my reading notes from a long time ago. And as I recommended the book to a few people, I re-read it. When I did, I was surprised that my notes were incomplete. I stopped at ten principles, but there are a lot more!

    I believe I had the feeling that they were a bit repetitive. Is it a question or a justification? I don’t know.

    For reference, here are all the principles from the book!

    The book is structured in four parts, with principles in each parts:

    Part One – Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

    1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
    2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
    3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

    Part Two – Six ways to Make People Like You

    1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
    2. Smile.
    3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
    4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
    5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
    6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

    Part Three – How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

    1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
    2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
    3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
    4. Begin in a friendly way.
    5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
    6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
    7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
    8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
    9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
    10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
    11. Dramatize your ideas.
    12. Throw down a challenge.

    Part Four – Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

    1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
    2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
    3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
    4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
    5. Let the other person save face.
    6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
    7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
    8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
    9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

    Header Photo de Priscilla Du Preez sur Unsplash


  • This is Season Three of Le Podcast!

    This is Season Three of Le Podcast!

    Season 3 of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership features interviews with experts on leadership and related topics.

    In the first episode, Jared Kleinert, the CEO, and co-founder of Offsite and the founder of Meeting of the Minds, discusses the importance of meeting in person in the future of work, the process and considerations for organizing offsites, the role of facilitation in building and deepening relationships. He also provides hiring advice from a serial entrepreneur.

    The second episode features Laurence Duarte, a global management consultant who helps businesses protect and grow their reputation. The episode discusses the concept of reputation, its importance for a company, reputational risks, and steps for managing those risks. Laurence also discusses the importance of building a shield to protect against reputational risks and the critical trait of a leader.

    In the third episode, Jurgen Appelo, a serial founder, successful entrepreneur, author, and speaker known for pioneering management practices to help creative organizations succeed in the 21st century, discusses his work on agility, innovation, and leadership, and provides insights on how to foster innovation in organizations and develop oneself as a leader.

    The fourth episode features Ashley Freeman, a writer, facilitator, and coach. The episode covers Ashley’s work creating Flourishing Work and discusses topics such as developing a personal brand, building trust, the importance of continuous learning through book discussion clubs, and the essential traits of a leader.

    The fifth episode features Philippe Coullomb and Charles Collingwood-Boots, who design processes for bringing individuals together to collaborate and solve complex problems. The episode discusses the factors that are important when bringing people together to work on complex issues, the role of facilitation in successful collaboration, the importance of context setting and engaging sponsors in collaboration efforts, the challenges and differences between hybrid and virtual collaboration, and the importance of the physical space for enabling successful collaboration.

    The sixth episode features Joseph Jacks, the founder and General Partner of OSS Capital, a fund that focuses on investing in early-stage commercial open-source companies. The episode discusses the benefits of investing in open-source projects and companies, the motivations of people who contribute to open-source projects, and the importance of a key leadership trait in the open-source world.

    In the final episode of the season, the BEPS framework is introduced as a tool for understanding a leader’s different roles and responsibilities and focusing on key areas for success. The BEPS framework consists of four axes: Business, Execution, People, and System. OpenAI interviews Alexis Monville, the creator of the BEPS framework.

  • How to change

    How to change

    I spoke at Lean Kanban France, the ancestor of Flowcon, ten years ago. A big thank you to the organizers who invited me to speak again at the celebratory edition. I first said no to avoid another travel, and then finally accepted as I was pitching for Red Hat at a public sector event in Paris the next day.

    I also want to thank the Agile Tour Bordeaux organizers, who invited me to deliver a keynote address the following week.

    I planned to discuss change and, more specifically, how to change on both occasions.

    Can we change?

    To build on the shoulder of giants, I chose to use Robert Kegan‘s model of adult development. I also used learnings from his book, Immunity to Change.

    I represented Kegan’s model as concentric circles in the first talk to better demonstrate that all stages of consciousness are always present within us and that we can behave as our 2-year-old sometimes.

    As George Box said, all models are wrong, but some are useful. Kegan’s model is helpful for two reasons.

    The first one is that too many people still envision development as happening from infancy to childhood, from childhood to adolescence and that once we reach adulthood, it is all downhill.

    The second one is how we go from one stage to the next. From subject to object. For example, we start being the subject of our perceptions, and then in the next stage, perceptions are objects we can reflect upon and use. We have perceptions.

    At each stage of our development, we can handle more complexity. We improve our ability to make meaning of the world.

    All models are wrong, but some are useful

    George Box

    Once we established that we could still change and develop ourselves, we discussed the question of what to change or how to support our introspections with the help of others.

    What to change?

    We have to seek the perspectives of those close to us, managers, peers, teammates, and life partners, to narrow down on what is the one thing to change.

    We can send a 360 feedback survey to our peers and teammates to learn what we could start, stop, or continue to increase your impact.

    Of course, those are only biased opinions, and we will still need to decide what to change. Check with someone close to us that our choice makes sense to them. Always surprising to realize they already knew something you were not.

    What prevents us from changing?

    It is not about willpower. We know what to change. We commit, and still, it seems impossible.

    Robert Kegan explains that we develop a sort of immunity to change. Our immunity to change takes the form of hidden commitments that prevail on our newly made commitments.

    Until we reveal those hidden commitments, change is impossible.

    For the second talk, I represented the stages linearly and mapped the adult population to the stages. The two on the right are reached in the second part of life, when reached.

    How to reveal the hidden commitments?

    First, it is about listing all our behaviors and circumstances going against our goal. Let’s use a simple example: smoking or not smoking. A behavior could be picking a cigarette. The circumstances are critical: when I am alone and bored, I want to focus, I am relaxed, I enter or exit a place, I am with people, and so on.

    Once you have the behaviors and circumstances, you can reflect on how you would feel if you were not doing those things in those circumstances. What are your fears? Or what is the advantage of not changing?

    One of my former managers always added his two cents in all conversations. I tried to explain how it was demoralizing to people that he did not even listen to what they had to present before sharing his opinion or making a decision. It had close to no effect.

    I tried the approach of inquiring about his fears. It fits in a sentence, but the process took quite some time. His answer: “If I am not adding value, people will think I am useless.”

    By revealing that fear, it gave us the opportunity for a fantastic conversation. I was even surprised that he nearly stopped that behavior entirely after that.

    How to change?

    The next thing is to define tactics for all the behaviors and circumstances. As our behaviors are hardwired to triggers and events, we need to be ready with a tactic when something pops up.

    With our tactics ready, we can reflect daily on what happens, by ourselves or with an accountability partner. Benjamin Franklin picked one virtue to work on at the beginning of each 4-week cycle and then moved to the next one. In doing so, he could work four weeks a year on each of the 13 virtues.

    • Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
    • Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
    • Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
    • Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
    • Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
    • Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
    • Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
    • Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
    • Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
    • Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
    • Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
    • Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

    At the end of each day, he would reflect on how he did and mark his progress on the chart.

    I wish you great and continued development. Please support the development of people around you so that together, we tackle humanity’s critical challenges today!

  • The Coaching Habit

    The Coaching Habit

    The Coaching Habit is a book by Michael Bungay Stanier (aka MBS). In telling you about the book, I feel I am giving away many of my secrets. But, yeap, they are not mine.

    The subtitle is: “Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever.” It is just perfectly telling everything.

    The book is for leaders. Leaders who are in a manager or an individual contributor role.

    In seven questions, the author can cover everything that matters. Here they are:

    1- The Kickstart Question: What’s on your mind?
    2- The AWE Question: And what else?
    3- The Focus Question: What’s the real challenge here for you?
    4- The Foundation Question: What do you want?
    5- The Lazy Question: How can I help?
    6- The Strategic Question: If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
    7- The Learning Question: What was most useful for you?

    And that’s all!

    Of course, that is not really all. It is just a summary, valuable only because I read the book and experimented with the power of the questions.

    In the book, you will learn the rationale behind using the questions and develop your ability to be curious, which is the real secret.

    Curiosity is everything.

  • The 67 days of the leadership challenge

    The 67 days of the leadership challenge

    The compilation of all the LinkedIn posts published over the summer of 2022 with the hashtag #67daysofleadership.

    The-67-days-of-the-leadership-challengeDownload

    Thank you for your support during the challenge.

    My initial idea was to list the names of all people who shared, reacted, and commented on the posts. I realized it was a pretty challenging task – as it continues to move daily, even on old posts – and that it will not bring much value to the reader. You know who you are. Thank you.

    At the end of the challenge, Jérôme Bourgeon was the first one to ask if I had reached my goal. The goal I set for myself on Day 1 is to share and learn about leadership daily.

    The answer is nuanced.

    Yes, I want to continue to learn about leadership every day. The situations I face daily are good opportunities for that. Writing about those is helpful to thinking and consolidating the learnings.

    No, I don’t want to have the pressure to share daily.

    Furthermore, I had no expectations about the metrics: the number of views, shares, reactions, and comments.

    But, it is very addictive.

    I learned through the comments a lot. It sparked some fantastic conversations with people I was not expecting to have. So, I wanted more comments so that I could have more of those conversations.

    I looked for the validation and support of the reactions. I discovered there were more choices than likes during the challenge (I know, it was probably there in front of me the whole time, and I had ignored it.)

    I learned that shares could extend the reach of your message to an entirely different network sparkling new connections.

    I was disappointed with the LinkedIn algorithm. Some posts were viewed more than 30,000 times, while others collected just a bit more than 100 views. The algorithm picks winners and losers every minute based on criteria that are still unknown to me. Even my wife, Isabel Monville, who is an executive coach, and could have been interested in them, and would have certainly supported me, was not seeing them. She knows better ways to support me daily than through LinkedIn. Maybe that’s why the algorithm chose not to put my posts on her feed. 

    Early engagement on a post, the reaction from the people mentioned, the content itself, keywords, emoticons, pictures, videos, and links are probably factors, and I still don’t understand them.

    Even if I try to remind myself that metrics were not the point, sharing and learning were. It still frustrates me a bit.

    Overall, it was a great experience, and I feel blessed and grateful for all it brought me. Thank you!

    What I intend to do:

    • I continue to write. Writing to think and consolidate learnings.
    • I connect with people. People I already know, people I don’t, so that we discuss and learn together.
    • I share from time to time on my blog or LinkedIn. Sharing to create conversation opportunities.

    Let’s talk!

    Enjoy your journey!

    [edit on Sept 8, 2022]
    I woke up this morning with a notification of a new post on LinkedIn from Michael Doyle. He created a cover for the pdf I assembled with all the posts. Thank you, Michael!

    Michael also shared the whole process of creating your ebook. Check it out here.

  • Peer-to-Peer Feedback Survey

    Peer-to-Peer Feedback Survey

    During my #67daysofleadership challenge, on Day 47, I shared about Three Trillion Dollar Coach. I mentioned that I want to use with my team a peer-to-peer feedback survey inspired by one used at Google and described in the book.

    To give some context, my team is the one leading all engineering at Red Hat.

    🤔 What are your thoughts about the adaptation?

    For the past 3 months, using a 0 to 10 scale, to what extent do you disagree (0) / agree (10) that each person :

    – Displayed extraordinary in-role performance.

    – Exemplified world-class leadership.

    – Achieved outcomes that were in the best interest of both Red Hat as a whole and his/her organization.

    – Expanded the boundaries of what is possible for Red Hat through innovation and/or application of best practices.

    – Collaborated effectively with peers (for example, worked well together, resolved barriers/issues with others) and championed the same in his/her team.

    – Contributed effectively during team meetings (for example, was prepared, participated actively, listened well, was open and respectful to others, disagreed constructively).

    Please, provide your best feedback using the text areas for the last two questions:

    – What differentiates each team member and makes him/her effective today?

    – What advice would you give each team member to be more effective and/or have a greater impact?

    Last question for you, the reader of the post, would you favor an anonymous survey?

  • What to Nurture in Sustainable and High-Impact Organizations?

    What to Nurture in Sustainable and High-Impact Organizations?

    by Alexis Monville and Jérôme Bourgeon.

    When old innovations depreciate quickly, and new ones become a standard in a short time, how to facilitate your organization’s resiliency, agility, and responsiveness to an ever-changing ecosystem? How to attract and retain talents? How to keep them focused, motivated, and engaged in our ever more challenging new hybrid world?

    Some companies seemed to evolve organically to fit their economic and sociologic context, no matter their sizes. How are they accomplishing that wonder?

    No magic formulas are available on the market. You would have already applied it to your organization.

    Igniting the change in your organization requires the development of three capabilities. In developing those capabilities, you will uncover the magic formula for your organization and shift its culture.

    This article provides you with the questions to assess where you stand in developing the three capabilities and suggest tools you can use to push the development further.

    Superior Strategic Focus

    An organization can achieve extraordinary results when all people row in the same direction. We love to start here because everyone smoothly agrees that a clear purpose, vision, and strategic objectives are fundamental to success.

    One approach to facilitate the shared understanding is engaging the organization, starting with the leadership team, in drawing an impact map. The impact map represents a shared understanding of the assumptions about the future and pushes all people in the same direction.

    Questions to reflect on:

    • Why do we exist, and what do we do? How would people in your organization answer those questions? Are they in agreement?
    • How does your organization define performance?
    • Which of your business assumptions is at risk of being invalidated?

    The Organization is a Product

    Building the organization like a product is our mantra. An organization that provides an incredible experience to employees in a hybrid world. An organization that enables them to do their best work, providing a fantastic experience to partners and customers.

    The “way we do things here” has some time to be protected. Some traditions and rituals are essential pieces of the culture. Sometimes they have to go or evolve to let the organization move to higher levels of development.

    Applying the Impact Map to the organization is a way to do that. Explore how to create working agreements. Explore how new rituals fit the new hybrid world: company roulette and culture on a plate (ask us if you want to know more about those).

    Questions to reflect on:

    • What is the last story you heard in your organization that moved you?
    • What is the next feature your organization needs to provide to generate more value?

    Curiosity about Perpetual Change

    As humans, we crave stability. It does not exist. Ourselves and our environment change constantly. Being curious about change and accepting the reality of perpetual change is dawting individuals and organizations. Building positive reinforcement loops facilitates acceptance.

    Observe the organization in place and compare it to the original design. Observe the connection between the organization and the product and services of the organization (Conway). Explore how to develop Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to foster positive reinforcement loops.

    Questions to reflect on:

    • What could be the next capability your organization needs to create?
    • What have you changed your mind about recently?
    • Which of your beliefs have you let go lastly?

    Starting the three capabilities development journey shifts the culture, and brings meaning and purpose to your organization. The first steps reveal obstacles and constraints to remove to achieve more sustainability and higher impact. Motivation and engagement grow with a higher focus, a better organization, and a freshness of curiosity.

    In the long run, the development of the three capabilities creates the condition for your organization to evolve organically, enabling your business to develop and pivot when needed.

    Illustration by Jérôme Bourgeon

  • A New Habit for the New Year

    A New Habit for the New Year

    Changing Your Team From The Inside chapters end with an activity for the readers to try. The exercise suggested at the end of the first chapter, titled Be The Change, is the Best Possible Self. When you follow the last link, you can learn how to do the activity and why you should absolutely try it.

    Thanks to the newsletter from the Greater Good Science Center of the University of Berkeley, I was reminded of the activity. A newsletter you may want to subscribe to. You may even want to follow their flagship course on The Science of Happiness.

    When you have a more optimistic vision of the future, you are more likely to take the necessary steps to get there, which means installing new habits in your days.

    Last year, in the new year post for this blog, I talked a little about willpower, bringing back the previous new year post, mentioning Kelly McGonigal’s book The Willpower Instinct. Let me do it once again. Being harsh when you miss a day or a commitment, especially when you want to take on a good habit or quit a bad one, triggers guilt, which pushes you to seek comfort. Comfort you may want to find in the very thing you are trying to stop doing. In short: be kind with others and with yourself.

    Speaking of habits, maybe you want to make a new habit of listening to exciting podcast episodes? What about you start listening to Creatures of Habit, another great episode of Hidden Brain, a podcast by Shankar Vedantam.

    Whatever you pick as a new habit, I wish it will serve you well, and that you will achieve your best possible self in 2022.

    All the best!

    PS: I would love to take some time to have a chat with you. Ping me on LinkedIn to make it happen 🙂

    Le Podcast – Season Two

    Le Podcast – Season One

  • A tale of a leadership team workshop

    A tale of a leadership team workshop

    Day One: Coming Together

    For some leaders from different organizations that will merge into one in the upcoming weeks, the face-to-face meeting is the first opportunity to meet in person with each other and their new manager. Even if the three facilitators made sure to greet everyone as they entered the room, the tension was palpable over the friendly chit-chat.

    The organizational structure has been announced over the last week, but not all leaders have been appointed yet. The departure of some leaders has already been communicated, and the others intuitively feel we are not done yet with those kinds of announcements.

    The oversized room feels comfortable. The tables are in a U-shape facing two giant screens on which we can already see the faces of the four people who were not able or willing to travel. Participants are used to the social distancing rules and leave one empty seat between them, spreading across the room.

    We are together for two and a half days to establish, define, and align the mission and the organization’s strategic objectives.

    One of the facilitators kicks off the meeting with some housekeeping words and gives the freshly appointed senior vice president the floor for opening remarks. She speaks about the opportunity for the organization and the chance to start together. She thanks the participants for their hard work and acknowledges their deep experience and vast expertise.

    She is able to show some vulnerability mentioning she feels tired and nervous. Easy to understand that she could feel that way, as she was appointed six weeks before to tackle the critical challenge for the organization.

    She asks people to be honest, speak up, be ready to let go of the past, and consider everything as fixable. She brilliantly closes by mentioning how if we are successful, employees, partners, and customers will look at us differently.

    Now we can really start, and the facilitator is back at the center of the room to establish the ground rules and make the participants express what they need. A good time for the facilitators to share their roles. One stays in the background, takes notes, monitors the chat, and shares the documents. The two others alternate being in and outside the circle. The one outside warns that she will take the liberty to reformulate straightforwardly what she heard expressed indirectly.

    Alternating at the center of the circle, she asked: “Think of a person you have not good thoughts about.” It was quite amusing looking at people looking around in the room, while an image popped into my mind instantly. Are those views really personal, or are they organizational views? Do you think what you think because people are part of another org? Then, she asked to put those past thoughts in the past files and give people a chance in the present moment.

    Now is the time for something big hairy, scary, stinky… Do you guess what is coming? Elephants, of course! Being open is being known, expressing what is only known by you so that others can know it. Participants are asked to express what they need and make it about themselves. The round table allows each participant to say something, building on what the others already shared. It is a nice combination of hopes and fears. Only one participant declined to say anything, revealing frustration from one facilitator who dropped: “You have three days, man.”

    In her closing comments, the organization leader mentions how she feels pressured to solve all the problems mentioned. She highlights the opportunity for the leadership team to select what problems to solve first and solve them together.

    If you feel it is time for that team to get to work, you are going way too fast, a leadership team needs maturity, and one cannot rush maturity. The facilitator is back in the center speaking of “pre-resilience”: the resilience you built in the past, and that is now in your “bank”.

    The organization leader is now in the center to share a story of resilience that will make the whole audience shiver, close to shedding a tear. Asking people to share their stories of resilience in a large group would be too much for many of them. The participants split into groups of four and spend the next 45 minutes sharing their stories. Interesting exercise of sharing vulnerabilities, that group of Senior Directors and Vice Presidents are all human, in the end, facing their own life challenges.

    Now that we have gone through the first phase of team formation let’s get to a shared understanding of what the employees in the organization and the rest of the company, the customers, and the partners think, feel, and do.

    Once again the group is split into small subgroups to reflect and propose their understanding. The readout is shared after the session with the whole group. The discussion is positive and fluid. The group of remote people demonstrated excellent engagement and collaboration, providing the rest of the group with a great readout.

    The last session of that first day is dedicated to defining who we want to be as a leadership team. What would we be ready to commit to? Similar things are brought in all formation discussions of teams. 

    Two things I found worth sharing here:

    • Someone proposed to add “assume positive intent,” which drove a lively conversation around the proposal. People approved, but it is not an excuse to be a jerk; you have to give people good reasons to assume positive intent!
    • Someone proposed to add “calling out” people on their bad behaviors not respecting the shared commitment. The proposal sparked another lively discussion. I loved the resulting proposal that instead of calling people out, we should maybe consider calling them in, as they belong to the group, or calling them up to their potential.

    All agreed that we would all have to invest some time in building relationships and that the face-to-face meeting was only a first step toward that goal.

    It is time for a nice dinner together to close the day.

    Day Two: Working Together

    “Can you count to 15 as a team?” asked the facilitator as the second day started. The facilitator immediately starts saying: “one,” one participant says “two,” and three participants talk over each other, saying “three.”

    We failed the first attempt, as each participant had to say one number without ever talking over another person. We are not allowed to “strategize” as the facilitator starts again immediately with “one.” We improved. We “only” failed at “five” this time.

    The facilitator reminds us that we have to include the people online. Another attempt, another failure. Frustrating. I am sure that we could do it if we had the time to agree on a strategy. But it is not allowed.

    Instead, the facilitator asks us to take a few deep breaths, close our eyes, and focus on our breath returning to normal. She uses a lovely “meditation” voice, and we continue to get back to the breath. We slowly emerge from that short meditation session by opening our eyes again.

    We then made another attempt. A successful one! Interestingly, I was absolutely sure it was my turn to speak when I said “ten.” How did I know? I don’t know. It seemed we felt more confident and more focused after that short meditation session.

    I am convinced that first success helped us for the rest of the day. We started bringing some other elephants into the room just after that. An excellent way to start the day!

    In her opening remarks of the day, the organization leader starts with an outside-in view, goes through the company goals, and how critical today is in defining the purpose and objectives of the team, and not only what we will do, but how we will do it.

    The framework used to work on the mission and purpose is simple and efficient. We just have to fill in the blanks.

    This organization exists to…

    We will do this by…

    So that…

    We decide as a group to focus only on the first and last “blanks”: This organization exists to […] so that […]. Building on the team formation work that was accomplished the first day, that quite a large group of people emerges after 45 minutes with a sentence. A sentence that we are all ready to consider as the sentence representing the purpose of the organization.

    Now is the time to fill in the middle blank with 3 to 5 strategic objectives, and for that, we are back in small groups, that the facilitators designed to be slightly different from the previous ones.

    We are back in the large room, and I am a bit anxious that the other groups will not align at all with each other. The readout starts, and I am happily surprised that the first group has strategic objectives that are nearly 100% aligned with what we have. The wording is different, by this is quite close.

    We discussed the rationale behind the wording of each proposal as a team. It progressively becomes clear that we can converge the four groups into one proposal.

    The facilitators will close the day saying that they will craft a converged proposal.

    We then applied the same framework to craft the leadership team mission providing clarity and driving consistency.

    And we call it a day! Another dinner is ready for us, and people start to get closer to each other.

    Day Three: Coming out with one Leadership Voice

    The last day will be a half-day, and I feel it is enough! The idea is to be able to express all that we discuss with one voice—being able to deliver the message to the different audiences we will address.

    We have 20 minutes to prepare a 2-3 minutes pitch to the audience of our choice.

    Before getting each of us to deliver our pitch, the facilitators propose to warm us up with a Leadership Karaoke. What are the rules of the game? Simple: each of us will go on the stage in turn, and say: “What you always want to know about…” which will prompt the facilitators to go to the next slide. Then, we will have to speak for 2 minutes… Of course, the slides are kind of random, from a picture of a hot dog, Hannibal Lecter from the Silence of the Lambs, an electrical telegraph device, or a slide mentioning “company values”… We had a lot of fun and debriefed as a team on the best way to engage the audience.

    After the next break, we all went back on stage to deliver our 2-3 minute pitch. After each pitch, the facilitators encouraged us to send a direct message to the person who just presented mentioning one thing we liked, one thing to consider to upgrade the pitch.

    A very energizing session in which we confirmed our alignment. We also learned a few things to refine our understanding or increase our impact.

    Of course, the last person to go on stage is the organization leader. The address also serves as closing remarks and farewell as some are already traveling back home while the others will stay a bit more to prepare the next day Townhall.

    The Next Day

    I am sitting at the airport lounge when I join the virtual Townhall gathering all the people who will be part of the new organization. I witnessed an impressive leadership team delivering a clear and consistent message. Furthermore, the way they complemented each other when answering the question was very impressive.

    This is just the beginning for that newly formed Leadership Team, but this is a very promising one!

  • Invest a few hours to excel at public speaking

    Invest a few hours to excel at public speaking

    A few months back, I was doing some research on public speaking, and I stumbled on this short video of one of the world’s experts in public speaking Conor Neil. What I learned in the video changed forever the way I envision starting and finishing a talk.

    Yes, there is a grownup way to say: Once upon a time…

    Funny enough, I found a reference to Conor in a post from Michael Thompson which gave me the courage to send emails to people I don’t know to thank them for their great work. Something you may want to try!

    Michael, the co-author of I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge, told me that even when you are not keen on public speaking, you can always use the improvement to make an impact when the moments arise, like saying something poignant at a birthday party, or maybe setting the best tone possible when meeting someone new.

    Speaking about meeting someone new, I recommend using the One-on-one Discovery technique and/or prepare The Story of Your Life in 5 words as recommend in the episode of the podcast Hidden Brain.

    I think there are many ways to use public speaking skills beyond the fear laden speaking in front of 300 people that most people think about (well at least I do) when we utter the words “public speaking”.

    Michael Doyle

    You may need more to be convinced that you can excel at public speaking. What about you try the MIT Course in which Patrick Winston teaches How to Speak.

    Then you can get to work on how your talk sound with Julian Treasure. His TED talk, How to speak so that people want to listen, has more than 45M views! In his talk, you will learn about: register, timbre, prosody, pace, pitch, and volume.

    Once you learn from those world experts, you have to seize all the opportunities to practice. In the next meeting, the next internal lunch and learn, the next internal conference, maybe a meetup about something you are passionate about, or even submit your first talk? You can also join a local Toastmaster?

    I experimented with the teaching from those world experts in the last talk I gave at the Tech Leadership Conference. Happy to hear your thoughts about what I should improve!

  • Emile wants to solve consistency the open source way

    Emile wants to solve consistency the open source way

    Do you remember Igraine from the Primary Team story? Igraine leads the EMEA region of a global company. Bob, Igraine’s manager, told the Field Leadership Team that he wanted to get more consistency from the three main regions and that Igraine, leading EMEA, Yun, leading APAC, and Aileen, leading Americas, should come up with proposals. Bob wants to drive more consistency to scale the business and avoid duplicating efforts in the three regions.

    At this point of the story, Igraine invited Emile, the consultant passionate about Leadership and Organizational Development, to discuss how to solve the challenge. Emile built a rapport with Igraine when he dared to discuss the Tribal Leadership stages with her. Find more about that in Are you at the right table?

    Emile is super excited about the opportunity. He heard noises from the grapevines that the pendulum was about to swing from decentralization to centralization. Some even say that there will be complete top-down control from the global organization over the regions.

    Emile has another idea in mind to solve the consistency and duplication of efforts issues. He reached out to Veronica, the head of the Sales Operations team in EMEA, to get a sense of the concrete problems and evaluate his idea.

    As the three regions grew independently, they put processes and tools to support their sales team. The global team at that time has no interest in standardization and was ready to invest in more people to solve the reporting issues caused by the inconsistency between the regions.

    How to solve that?

    Emile wants to solve consistency and duplication of efforts in the open source way.

    The open-source model is a decentralized software development model that encourages open collaboration, meaning “any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike.”

    Levine, Sheen S.; Prietula, M. J. (2013). “Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance” Organization Science.

    Emile proposes to identify the top 3 processes that are the most time-consuming for the teams. And then, Emile offers to engage the three regions in staffing cross-functional teams with people from the three regions to make the processes consistent and select the tooling. Veronica is onboard with the idea! She is ready to join forces with Emile to convince others that the open source way will be better than centralization like for software development.

    Emile imagines that with three successes, they will select the next three and even have a more open approach to get people to volunteer to contribute to the selection and the resolution of the next challenges.

    When Veronica and Emile go to Heiden, who leads the finances team for EMEA, he took a good 30 minutes to poke the holes in the approach.

    After that, he pauses and laughs. Veronica and Emile are puzzled.

    Heiden, just says: “okay, you are really serious about it, and I agree that we should try.” He then continues waving the book Humanocracy in front of the webcam: “Like Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini said in the book, central planning, and central control is the model of the old USSR, not the model an innovative company should embrace, right?”

    Let’s propose the open source way!