The NextGen Summit 2021 in a Nutshell
GRAMM was pleased to have been invited to participate in the Next Gen Summit 2021 in Paris, which took place from November 24 to 26, 2021. This event brought together people who are building “next-generation” organizations: companies that choose to place people at the heart of the organization, to transform the modes of governance, to distribute authority, and to adopt a proactive position in favour of employee well-being.
I had the chance to represent our team on-site and experience an exceptional event, both in its logistics and in its choice of speakers and the diversity of backgrounds that were represented. Below I’ll share with you the learnings, insights and highlights of this very inspiring event.
“From Conscious to Concrete”
This was the theme of this second edition of the NextGen Summit — but the first physical edition. It was a wise choice because, while many organizations are directly or indirectly interested in the concepts of the next-generation organization, taking action is a whole different story.
Awards Ceremony
The event kicked off with a beautiful ceremony to recognize organizations that bring the concepts of the next-generation organization to life. There were winners of all backgrounds and organizational size, from French giant Decathlon to Quebec leader Michel Bundock to Dutch e-commerce company bol.com. In total, 11 laureates were congratulated on their innovative management style and the difference they are making in the labour market.
Insights from the Conferences and Workshops I Attended
Change begins with yourself.
Any leader who wants to transform their organization or team must start by changing themselves: bringing the values of the next-generation organization to their team requires the deconstruction of several deeply ingrained mental patterns.
You learn more about someone in 1 hour of play than in 1 year of life.
This is my takeaway from the “Discover Purpose with LEGO Serious Play” workshop led by Melanie Wydler-Bloch, who had us illustrate our purpose using LEGO pieces. It was a powerful exercise in conceptualizing through play that had us relive our childhood pleasures. In teams that bring together individuals with diverse personalities, it is interesting to offer diverse means of expression. Play is a great medium, both for exploring creativity and for team building.
Awareness is a crucial step before taking action.
Michelle Holliday challenged us on the importance of this first step, which lays the foundation for construction: taking action before you have established your vision can do a lot of damage to the organization. Action should emerge from the vision. The difficulty lies in the art of finding the right balance between rushed action and taking refuge in a vision that never materializes.
This point echoed what I’ve observed with one of our clients. We’re helping them to lay the first concrete bricks of a vision that has been refining for 3–4 years, working towards a self-managed organization. I have witnessed the value of previous years of work in the shadows: the employees have already internalized the main concepts of self-management and the cultural change has already begun, which greatly facilitates our current work.
Organizations are not machines but living systems.
According to Michelle Hollyday, productivity and profitability are the result of domination and patriarchy that have led us to view companies as machines. It is time to reconsider these organizations as complex, living ecosystems.
Performance comes from meeting the needs of both hemispheres of our brain.
In his fascinating lecture, Rajkumari Neogy challenged us on neurochemistry’s role in the performance of individuals at work. While a person’s commitment, motivation and curiosity at work are fed in the left brain, we must not forget to feed the right brain’s circuits that control emotions. How? Through play, support, human warmth, a sense of security and so on.
There is the right kind of leadership for every personality.
Through a dynamic intervention brought to life by a performer, Jean-René Levy told us about Process Communication, a communication model I discussed in a previous article that works miracles for our customers. The idea that there are many types of leadership is nothing new. What Process Comm further highlights is that each individual is more receptive to a particular leadership style based on their dominant personality. Understanding this can dramatically improve the climate in the workplace by nurturing the psychological needs of each team member.
The traditional hierarchical model and the liberated model cannot coexist in the same structure for very long.
In a very clear-cut presentation, Niels Pflaeging gave us the example of traffic in England: if we asked the English to start driving on the same side of the road as other European countries, we could not decide to apply this change to cars only, and continue to let trucks run on the same side as usual.
According to Niels, it is the same for organizations: you cannot have teams that operate with self-management and others that work with the traditional model. I share this opinion with a long-term perspective, but in the short term, not only do I believe it is possible, I even believe that it sometimes makes sense to test self-management in a specific team before deploying it on a large scale.
The Xs don’t exist.
According to the X vs Y paradigm, X individuals work because they are forced to and are motivated by money and fear of losing their jobs, while Y individuals enjoy work, are fond of responsibilities and have underused creativity. According to Niels Pflaeging, there is no such thing as an X individual, and that is why all the traditional management practices created “to motivate the X — which, again, do not exist” should be thrown away.
Among these outdated practices: bonuses, performance reviews, job titles, salary scales, individual goals and so on. This point can be debated, but Niels’s point of view is bold enough to be transcribed here.
Holacracy in large companies: it is possible, but with a special approach.
The Roche Group — helped by Unic — deployed Holacracy on a large scale a few months ago. In a workshop, we reflected together on the challenges of implementing Holacracy in large organizations. It appears that some challenges are the same as in small and medium-sized organizations, especially everything related to culture change, change in positioning of former managers or even ego management.
The main difference is the complexity of the implementation due to the number of people to be trained and the high number of roles and interconnections. This is why the implementation approach must be significantly different in large organizations.
Holacracy is not the only way.
We have known this for a long time now: although the Holacracy model in its purest form is suitable for some next-generation companies, more and more organizations are choosing to adapt it to their needs.
This is the path bol.com has taken in the Netherlands by adopting a management model inspired by Holacracy. Among the brilliant adaptations presented to us by Tineke Pool and Splinter Dijkstra, we find the following: the choice of the word “spark” to replace the word “tension”, which still has a negative connotation in the collective imagination. Or a simplified governance process, although still supported by the great founding principle of Holacracy: “safe enough to try”.
We are entering the era of purpose-driven organizations.
For several years now, a profound change has taken place in the workplace with the emergence of purpose-driven companies, that declare their raison d’être through social and environmental objectives. In line with the P.A.C.T.E. law, the B-Corp movement is growing, and many companies are modifying their legal documents to officially register their raison d’être, which goes beyond the sphere of their operations.
This is the message that French politicians Roland Lescure and Stanislas Guerini (representing Bruno Le Maire) came to convey, to confirm that the ideals carried by the NextGen Summit community have a real echo in the political and economic sphere. Note that the status of a company with a mission does not confer any tax benefit: “We do it because we believe in our mission; not for a tax credit.”
The NextGen 2021 Summit Was Also …
Some movement
Anne-Charlotte Vuccino from Yogist told us her incredible story and gave us some tips for strengthening our eyes or adjusting our posture at work. These small yet useful adjustments are still not highlighted enough, yet they have a direct impact on our health.
Unexpected and surprising workshops
One surprising workshop was led by Jolanta Pastor on Business Constellations, a concept inspired by family constellations. We explored the power of the non-verbal, of feeling and intuition to resolve issues of all kinds, in an almost esoteric way.
Art and fun
Between the magical animations of Corona Teatro and the demonstrations of the urban dance Move and Art collective, the event took place in a festive atmosphere that I did not expect to find crossing the Atlantic.
When three dancers improvise to a song they are hearing for the first time, with the mission of delivering self-organized beauty without a designated leader, the result is immediate: harmonious, synchronized and poetic. Their post-improvisation testimony? “Sometimes you have to lead, sometimes you have to follow, sometimes you have to push.” Their secret: a genuine connection to one another, a lot of listening to the non-verbal, and real emotional and collective intelligence. If all organizations worked to strengthen these points, the transition to the next-generation company would be a snap.
The Final Word
I leave this NextGen Summit 2021 with the certainty that the train of change is indeed on its way to transforming the labour market and there will be no turning back.
With the firm conviction that my personal WHY — and that of GRAMM — fit perfectly into the response to the fundamental issues faced by organizations of today and tomorrow.
With the energy needed to roll up my sleeves, to continue to educate the market and raise awareness.
With the gratitude that I was able to connect in person with all of these incredible human beings who share my beliefs and ideals.
And last but not least, I leave this NextGen Summit 2021 with much optimism and hope.
I will conclude with these words by Ludovic Cinquin, which speak for themselves: “There is more risk in doing nothing than in attempting risky things.”
Thank you to the entire NextGen team for this wonderful event.
Thank you to our partner Holaspirit for the invitation and the great discussions.
Thank you to all the speakers, co-creators and artists for this very rich exchange of ideas.
And thank you to the fabulous human beings I crossed paths with and who helped make this event memorable: Giada, Isabelle, the entire OpenDecide team, Ana, Solange, and the people I forget to mention.
See you next year!
À propos de IDEHŌ
Basée à Montréal, IDEHŌ se donne pour mission de créer des entreprises libérées, innovantes et humaines. IDEHŌ offre du conseil en management et transformation organisationnelle. www.ideho.ca
Autheur : Anne Chabert