THE HYBRID EXPERIENCE

Each employee, from the sales representative to the R&D Engineer, to the janitor, to the CEO, has a different experience of what the business is. A different interpretation of the business. We often ask managers, sometimes in the same team, to write down the company strategy, or purpose, or vision. And most of the time, we receive back widely different answers from the different managers. This is normal, but nevertheless problematic (and a great icebreaker exercise 😉 ).
It has become more challenging to keep an organisation aligned around a coherent understanding of what the business is and should be, since the external and internal eco-systems change at fast pace. This is one critical root cause of why change is so hard, because people are pulling in different directions, following their own interpretation (and being limited by their individual knowledge and competency). This critical alignment is the foundation for transformation that works.
The traditional mechanics to keep the organisation aligned, such as Strategy & Planning processes, annual kick-off events, trainings and leadership development seminars carry less impact, as they are often top-down, slow, and heavy to run. As a consequence, key concepts like the existing and future business models, financials, values, and principles for decision making are not always well understood in the sense that there is not a common understanding of the meaning and intent across the organization.,
When we explore the business system with our clients, we help everyone connect the dots between the strategic intent & expectations from the CEO, and the daily experience lived at work. This exploration leads to breaking down silos, creating a common language, and develop understanding across functions and teams. It also helps to discover the real critical problems, that then can be addressed by leaders from different parts of the organisation pulling in the same direction. We do not do that by forcing people to come to one single interpretation, but by facilitating free sharing, open communication for enabling team to find their common path to transformation together, and commit to it .
The outcome of the work is that everyone is equipped to improving both the business management system and the leadership system, making the organisation more efficient and effective in pursuing the business objectives.
Exploring the Business Experience would however be a theoretical exercise that leads nowhere, unless you integrate an exploration of the Human Experience into the work………..

We all have a very rich life inside us, in our brains, in our bodies and in our hearts, that is only partially visible to others and even to ourselves. Emotional reactions: Anger, fear, sadness, enjoyment, disgust set the stage for entire dramas to play out in our minds. This drives behavior, and impacts business. Especially in times of change and disruption, that by definition triggers emotions, and adds to the mental charge. This is quite human, one cannot expect that everyone thinks and interprets things in the same way, as every individual is indeed unique.
To create conditions for good business, it is important to have an environment that is good for human beings. Trust, respect, empathy, vulnerability, psychological safety are not only buzzwords. An organisation and a leadership system that truly embodies these concepts, allow people to connect their inner lives to the business reality, and to behave and act in line with the business objectives. In this regard, we aim to meet people where they are at, without judgment. From that point, we can all go forward.
Much of this is invisible, some is taboo, and in many organisations, it is ignored. The inner life of people and teams is then not connected to the business experience. Sometimes they are set up as polarities. Business priorities vs. peoples needs. The consequences is inefficient organisations with high risk and low performance.
Our work on coaching, consulting, and learning about the human experience is based on the INSEAD Executive Master in Change, a 2-year transformative program on the underlying dynamics of organisations, coaching, consulting, and learning. The competency as well as ethics from this program provides a solid base for our practices, and a network of experts in this field. We anchor this INSEAD experience into business reality thanks to the operational experience of managing large organizations and businesses that our experts carry.
We help you explore and discover what the human experience is in your organisation, and how it is connected to the business experience. We help you revel those things that you do not know that you do not know. Things out of awareness. Things that you have not (yet) put words on.
The outcome of the insights you can gain from this work can be true breakthroughs in change, behavior, and culture, that enables business performance. It is also a mean to create a great place to work, improving wellbeing and addressing health issues.

When people in the Organisation is starting to do work to explore, understand and improve the business and the organisation, addressing issues and taking action, there is some magic happening under the surface.
In small increments, there is also a development towards a new way of working together. Mindsets shift from “I am executing my job-tasks” to “We are building something bigger together”. Communication is becoming a bit more fluid. Collaboration a bit more efficient and effective. Decisions get faster and better.
This evolution allows the people in the Organisation to take on bigger and bigger challenges over time, of how to compete in the market, shift to new business models, and continuously transform and change the business system and the organisation.
This represents a real culture shift and on organisation evolution that happens over time. It is not something that can happen overnight, no matter how much time, money and effort is put into it. But over time it will happen when it is managed systematically. And this is what we do. We always keep a long-term direction in mind, so that all the short-term initiatives helps contributing to a long-term evolution.
When you invest in connecting the business and human experience, over time you will get a culture shift and organisational evolution towards an organisation that is able to re-shape itself, react to change in its environment, and proactively develop the necessary capabilities to thrive.
Imagine Organisations where individuals and teams collaborate effectively. Where initiatives are taken, and where decisions are made and acted on swiftly. Imagine a workplace where people ask themselves the right questions and help each other to see how they can contribute to create value in their role. A place where empowerment, responsibility, and competency development of everyone goes hand in hand with the CEO agenda.
In such an Organisation there is less needs for costly transformation programs and external consultants hired to shake things up. There is employees that take charge to get things done. There is less absence and health issues. There are people feeling truly engaged in the work. There is less problems and more time and budget to develop strengths and help people prosper.
In such an organisation there is a very natural connection between the Business Experience and the Human Experience, one enabling the other. We design our projects as an emulation of a future potential new way of working that we instill from day one to our clients’ teams. In our Vision, we call that future state a Dynamic Networked Organisation. Our highest hope is that organisations can provide a positive Hybrid Experience for all it’s employees. We know it is possible to do so.