Philosophy of collaborative governance
Searching for the means to increase their performance, organizations that are driven by the economic stakes of sustained growth have never stopped looking for methods that would work miracles on their productive apparatus. With the reinforcement of the almost absolute determinism inherited from our education system, these methods are rigorously deployed through transversal projects or programs. Is it still the case that the organization and its original hierarchical system does not feel threatened and perceive the interest and return on investment. A new management method will only be deployed if it produces convincing results. A variety of methods have thus won over a large number of organizations around the world. Lean management and the Agile method are among those that have probably made their mark. Other governance or management models such as holacracy, sociocracy or the liberated enterprise try to introduce more transversality in organizations by flattening their hierarchical system. Of course, each has its advantages and disadvantages, and all have their supporters or detractors. In fact, there is always something good to be gained from everything if nothing is dogmatic.
The concerted and “networked” governance carried by “The Good Company” movement adopts a holistic approach with a central consideration of Man as a thinking, responsible and caring being and as a social, emotional and instinctive animal. Its fundamentals do not reveal a particular structuring of the target organization. They are more like a philosophical approach of introspection and search for common sense at the heart of organizations. It is a way of questioning the collective or community about its “raison d’être”, its common future, its responsibilities, and its social and environmental missions at a larger scale. With its 9 fundamentals, humanism and ethics are the only invariants.
This approach transcends fashionable methods, it is not opposed to any of them. Its objective is to humanize humanity by inspiring, bringing together and supporting people to live and act better together. This translates in the organization by:
- An introspective work of individuals and the collective,
- A quest for individual and collective meaning,
- A culture of consultation and of the whole,
- Agile processes, facilitation committees and resonance centres,
- A mission committee
The COVID-19 crisis is forcing organizations to rethink the way they operate on an economic, social, and environmental scale. The trend is for the new paradigm to be more collaborative and participatory in working for the common good. This is why concerted governance is a key to success in profoundly transforming our organizations and territories.
Introspective work is a journey of full awareness about self-knowledge, knowledge of others, relationships with others and open-mindedness. Several tools accompany this path to create harmony and trust: personality analysis, personal and collective coaching, analysis of collective and emotional intelligence, team building, meditation, creativity exercises, cultural discovery… Creative and inspirational leaderships, as well as those for training people, find new areas of fulfilment and can thus easily reveal themselves. Positive and off-centre leaders easily share the ideas that the collective grows and transforms into operational projects and actions.
The quest for individual and collective meaning comes back to the discovery of a star and a common desire. Like a supreme cause expressed with the same elements of language. This quest requires a real letting go of Men of power to the point of ignoring the hierarchy. Men of thought often enter into action in concentric circles starting with the most visionary. Inspirational leaders reveal themselves, discover this previously inaccessible star and create a dynamic of training with ambassadors. The brighter the star shines, the more visible it will be, the more it will be desired by all, the clearer will be the path to be followed by the organization that will find its true “raison d’être”. Useful tools are based on consultation and collective intelligence in areas where the stakeholders’ usual reference points are not available, strategic analysis, etc.
The culture of consultation and of the whole makes it possible to mobilize, involve and acculture all individuals to the organization’s challenges. Complementary and resonant spaces for consultation open the door to concerted governance. They are spaces for expression, sharing, co-construction and co-innovation where all the structuring subjects of the organisation are addressed. From there, programmes and projects emerge. The necessary tools are the result of consultation and the animation of collective intelligence, communication and event management, design thinking…
Agile processes, facilitation committees and resonance and conquest centres embody the way the concertant organisation operates without hierarchy. The first defines the value chain with roles and responsibilities, the multifaceted committees, whose composition evolves as the organization’s strategy evolves, leads and coordinates projects, operations and missions, and the resonance and conquest centres strengthen the organization’s influence and brand image in its ecosystem. Useful tools include techniques for conducting highly agile meetings, team cohesion, emotion management, personal development, process governance, dashboard management, project management, etc.
The mission committee is a mechanism that extends the coordination of the concerted organisation with a social and environmental mission. Made up of internal and external stakeholders, it ensures that the organisation’s commitment to its social and environmental missions for the common good is consistent.
As a trusted third party guarantor, ETHICS Group with the synergy of its specialised offers, its culture, all its singularities, its digital offer Colidée, its third place Ethics Village and its philosophy acts, as an inspirational leader to accompany all public and private organisations, of all sizes, who wish to embody or adapt to the next world. Anticipating and innovating are a way to gain agility to better live impermanence.
The book “The Good Company” provides the foundations of this approach. It is accompanied by various booklets and editorials, such as this one, which forge its spirit.
The Simplicity Store provides the scope of our offer, but it is through an exchange that we will be able to co-construct the offer that corresponds to your culture, your profession, your market and your ambition in this world full of uncertainties that we must approach with conviction and optimism to embody our future as we would like to see it.
