Ten years from now, management will be nothing like it is today
This article is the translation of its French version published in Les Echos: https://business.lesechos.fr/directions-ressources-humaines/management/gerer-et-motiver-son-equipe/0602942537072-dans-dix-ans-la-facon-de-diriger-n-aura-plus-rien-a-voir-avec-celle-d-aujourd-hui-337186.php interview by VINCENT BOUQUET, 04/05 at 07:00
The disappearance of hierarchical subordination, the empowerment of teams, the rise of purpose-driven organizations… By 2030, the enterprise will have undergone a Copernican revolution, according to Luc Bretones, CEO of Purpose for Good, organizer of The NextGen Enterprise Summit and President of the G9+ Institute.
Will the current health crisis have a lasting impact on management?
The confinement episode, though constraining and painful, provided the world’s greatest remote working experience of all time. Companies that were calling corporate social networks and other chat, video conferencing and SaaS tools at worst gadgets and at best platforms of the future, finally found the time, in a rush, to get on with it. Those who described remote working as harmful or thought it to be impossible, have understood its potential — productivity, time saving — but also its long-term limitations, such as social distance. In both cases, these new skills are signals for the future of management, which is more collaborative, transparent, empowering and engaging.
Will tomorrow’s leadership and management fundamentally change?
In 2030, people who will be looking at the way we handle management today will perceive us as prehistorical managers. The way we manage will no longer have anything to do with how we practice it today. We are already seeing this in all organizations prefiguring the next generation company, such as the Russian bank Tochka, the Brazilian insurance company Youse, the Dutch federation of psychiatrists and psychologists Mentaal Beter, the Holaspirit platform, the French firm Octo Technology or, on a project scale, in the Michelin and Decathlon groups. The gap between these companies and the traditional ones is widening at this very moment, and this dynamic will accelerate dramatically in the years to come.
What will radically change?
The hierarchical subordination between people will seem archaic. Today’s management is based on a power relationship, linked to the possession of information. Yet the Internet undermines this power at the roots by making information accessible to all. The subordination relationship will therefore give way to a more flat hierarchy, with teams working together because they will be accountable to one another. The manager will find his added value in his ability to give each member of his team the opportunity to express themselves not at 30 or 40% of their capacity, as is currently the case, but at 70 or 80%, in order to boost initiative and innovation.
In order to make as many people as possible responsible for their sphere of action and allow them to carry out most of their tasks autonomously, governance will have to be adapted and systemic agility will need to be implemented throughout the company. Rather than embarking on long and outdated restructurings, companies will constantly adapt with smaller, more humane teams, in line with the Scrum methodology . Companies in 2030 will therefore operate according to three principles: decentralization of authority, transparency and trust, and team accountability. Power relationships will no longer be the guiding and motivating factor. This factor will rather be determined by the purpose of the collective and the desire to have a positive impact beyond the bottom line.
Is this model really adaptable to all companies? Won’t managers apply the brakes?
They won’t have a choice! Organizations that do not adapt will inevitably disappear because of a lack of agility and attractiveness in the eyes of employees, customers and stakeholders. Moreover, companies in 2030 will no longer be limited to their employees alone, reduced in some cases to the bare minimum. They will call on outside expertise to meet their needs. In this context, the organization will, above all, be identifiable with its purpose, which will become one of the only sustainable element over time. Based on this, the organization will define a contractual framework with its stakeholders to achieve a given mission, encouraged by the purchase choices made by its consumers.
Taking this further, we can even imagine a fairly strong evolution in terms of capital ownership. To boost their full commitment, some companies could start adopting an intermediate form, halfway between the cooperative and the classic public limited company. This would encourage the development of a long-term project that would benefit all stakeholders, from shareholders to employees, as well as ambassador clients, representatives and suppliers. Without a transition to these less speculative forms, a positive impact on the environment and a capital sharing which will motivate many people and restore meaning to their work, large groups are exposed to a gradual phasing out.
