Human Resources Managers, whose mission mainly consists in developing team skills and identifying the most specific profiles, unfortunately face a certain disappointment during interviews, or after the first test periods. Moreover, whatever the new technologies, tools or approaches involved in the hiring or management processes, not only don’t they always bring the magic they promise to but these tools also require a much longer time in the process, creating more frustration and causing even more delay at the executive and operative levels.

Meanwhile on the ground, the increase of the rate of absenteeism and sick leaves seems to be closely correlated to a lack of motivation, a lack of belonging and a loss/lack of cohesion to the Company’s value. Yet, unfortunately, productivity and performance can’t exist without these aspects. In these circumstances, what is the secret? Where are the “chosen ones” hidden, these ones supposed to energize the system and the productivity whatever may? How to deal with the already existing resources, with their strength but also weakness as well as requirements?

Are Company Leaders now expected to become charitable souls instead of Entrepreneurs? And what does ecology have to do with it all?
Ecology.

Work, just as any other evolving and moving system, has ecology which needs to be respected in order to keep the best productive and sane environment. What happens when this ecology is not respected is the same thing that happens in any other system where interaction of the existing parameters (in their environment) is not taken into account, with all the imaginable sorts of disorders and imbalance that this might cause.

As a system, work ecology implies the interaction of various backgrounds, possibilities and potential, but also the interaction of various expectations and constraints. This work ecology includes as many other parameters as the culture, the needs, the habits, the fears, the possibilities, the various motivation triggers, etc. of the team involved.

What actually happens in the Company’s everyday life is that the whole ecosystem is ignored and driven into a “push approach” to achieve what is to be considered as the hugest priority: the Company’s goals.

The discussion is not to argue about the importance or not of the ecosystem (which is a totally other matter), but rather to understand how taking this ecology into account helps to achieve a Company’s goal and what is the best strategy to reach the summits. Nature, physics, History… Whatever the point of view, everything shows it as evidence: pushing creates pushback. And pushback is not what you want in your Company if performance is what you are looking for.

Thus, Companies Leaders are not expected to turn into soul Gurus of their teams, but in some ways, they need to understand these interactions going on internally, in order to identify the most efficient way to have the whole system stick to the Company’s goal in a “pull approach” rather than in a “push” one.

A sane work ecology lies on a sane and vivid internal communication system.
Given this situation, how are Leaders expected to deal with their internal ecology, with the stake of the Company, facing at the same time external requirements and expectations from Clients, partners, providers, and institutions?
There is little chance anyone ever dealt efficiently with all these parameters at a time. Nevertheless, dealing efficiently is possible but one step at a time, beginning strategically with the closest ecosystem which is internally.
Like in sales, identifying the needs of the system is the best way to understand its functioning, and this begins with the first step: observation of the ecosystem.

Then comes the second step which consists in transmitting relevant post-observation information to the relevant levels and cells, in order to have a flow allowing a global adhesion and commitment. And this is communication.

What actually happens in most Companies is that Managers often consider this communication aspect as either unnecessary or automatic, expecting collaborators to understand the intention behind their decisions. Unfortunately, and most studies focused on entrepreneurship and performance have clearly shown it, the lack of communication generally causes a global lack of understanding of the stakes and it thus, also is the biggest cause of internal dysfunctions in Companies.

Yet, on the run, dysfunctions have a cost on the year-end balance sheet, not talking about the global performing losses caused by the lack of commitment and adhesion to the Company’s goals which itself is resulting from a global lack of understanding of the Company’s stakes.

Work ecology doesn’t mean loosening pressure or being gentler. It only means taking every strategic parameter into account for a better performance.

This ecology aspect at work is often misunderstood, thus not much accepted by some Leaders who see in it a threat to their authority and to the Company’s ethics and discipline.
The point here is not about loosening pressure or adopting proximity or a start-up management system (which by the way, doesn’t always fit in every context). Neither is the subject about creating an endless communication flow giving people floor to any kind of relevant or irrelevant types of information.
Respecting the work ecology is not necessarily about softening the management system or equipping desks with ping-pong tables (unless you wish it, which might by the way have its positive impacts on the global mood). The point is about being clever enough to understand the ins and outs of one’s own system, its needs and interactions, in order to know where to intervene and which language to use in which type of circumstances, when to communicate what sort of information to what kind of people at which moment, in order to avoid smothering conflicts, threats of strikes and internal explosions.
And when you know that most of the issues Companies have to deal with internally are based on relational incompatibilities that eventually impact of the good running of the work, in addition to uselessly wasting time and energy within teams, you understand that sparing your Company from these kinds of potential explosive situations is more than urgent. And sparing your Company is practically not possible unless you learn to dig deep enough into your work ecology, and understand it enough to give to each situation the answers it looks for.
Specific issues require tailor-made solutions and not standard ones.

Last but not the least, though some situations might be recurrent in most Companies, understanding that each context has its specificities is the smartest performing way.

Most leaders seems to be afraid of solutions that don’t fit into standards, but if standard solutions might be more comforting and securing, not only don’t they necessarily fit in all systems and standard processes, but standard solutions are expected to bring standard results and performance. While, only tailor-made solutions made for specific situations can create a tailor-made smart growth.

Ready for a try?
Cornélia ANDRIAMASY R.
+261 34 06 885 76
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