(Expansion) – After more than a year of pandemic and talking with various clients about the experiences and challenges that have arisen in recent months, a question emerges that has more than one of us spinning in our heads: how has the power map in organizations? How were those spaces that symbolized something redefined?
And when we talk about symbols, I want to refer to the concept of Carl G. Jung, who stated that symbols represent a construction of common meaning and in this sense the constructions of power in corporations were given by what we could see, live and in direct, tangible.
An important part of the hierarchy of an executive was reflected in physical elements with which we determined who or who were important: the size of the office, the desk, the proper location of the offices: with a view to the outside, the street or in the powerful corners, the location and size of the personal parking lot, the private bathroom, the exclusive meeting room; in short, a series of elements with which we can observe that companies were full of symbolic constructions, some of power and others of common meanings.
Many will not let me lie, but entire floors or buildings existed (and exist) only for senior executives and if at some point you were called or required to attend a meeting or board, the experience was like visiting “Olympus”.
Given this example, we see that physical distance from people was a symbol of power and a common denominator among leaders. Irony of the current times where now the distance with the people becomes somewhat counterproductive.
That said, where is the power now? Let’s forget about symbols for a moment and look for where the power lies in this current context that we are going through. Now, the size of the chair does not matter in the employee’s house or in the bosses’ house. The construction of power today is truly in the ability of leaders to influence, to mobilize teams, to build value with greater agility and flexibility.
There are many firms that have already been working on a series of elements related to better management by managers and senior managers, adopting new management strategies in search of management dynamics more focused on the adoption of more inclusive and participatory cultures.
However, there are many others that will continue to be anchored in very archaic work dynamics, with overly structured work schemes and rigid organization charts where information only flows from top to bottom and there is no feedback on both communication bands. The latter resistant to the change of the new organizational dynamics, will stop growing or perish.
The new leaders will have to transform those physical symbols, irrelevant for now, by personal characteristics that ensure the commitment of their collaborators, where the focus on “power” becomes “being able to help” and generates value from the inside out.
How to do it? We explore four axes that will undoubtedly be part of the change in our leadership role.
– Focus on people’s needs. The new leader must be able to listen empathically and connect with the aspirations and talents of his collaborators, understanding their needs and serving as a bridge with the organization so that it can reach its maximum potential.
– Focus on serving. His new mission is to lead the team so that, using innovation, communication and orchestration, it is able to put its talents at the service of the mission.
– Encourage flexible and digital collaboration. You must be able to find the ways in which the team operates using collaborative and digital platforms to the maximum, that work efficiently in remote, hybrid and face-to-face environments.
– Champion of inclusion, equality and diversity. Entire generations wait for a leader who knows how to combine interests, visions, ways of being and thinking and achieve that his team achieves extraordinary results. It is on the basis of trust and absolute respect that the leader gains the trust and credibility of the team in exchange for their best performance.
In summary, the winners of the pandemic in terms of building value, but not power, are those leaders who can mobilize individuals, teams and organizations through their level of influence, their ability to orchestrate and, of course, to inspire. .
Symbols must be transformed into closeness, courage, and forceful leadership to leave a mark on this moment in history and for years to come.
Editor’s Note: Rogelio Salcedo is Managing Partner of Olivia Mexico. Follow him on. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
