Five months ago, I decided I would take some time to develop myself more. I wanted to get to know better the trends, meet always new people and organizations, and share my discoveries in this blog. Time flies, and I always find myself running after it. Although I do not share as much as I would like to, I hope my quick updates are still useful. In this one, I highlight some of my findings. You can always ask me any question, give me any feedback or request stories.

• In a lot of organizations – at least those which perform well, humans are back at the centre of work, that is something exciting. I see organizations caring about their workforce, as never before. Many initiatives take off. This is a beautiful journey full of opportunities. I am happy when I see people sharing, more and more, inside and outside with their stakeholders.
• Some conversations bear more fruits than others. But how to make sure they all do? I still see how hard it is to let go off command and control for more empowerment. In this period of change, organizations try to move the cursor from hierarchies to networks mode. And some find it more comfortable to control conversations. From my experience, the more you control, the less you get. Why do you think the weather is such a natural topic between strangers? If you need to yield business outcomes, it is even more important to invest into building relationships.
• Are you making the best of your network of givers? Givers want to take an even bigger role in your company. For instance, they want to define the vision and to innovate services and products. They also want to spread the word about its achievements, and solve problems. Different tactics are possible to make the best of their energy, and to make this energy viral across your organization and around. Givers are a treasure hidden.
• Implementing the vision is still the hardest piece to achieve. Why do senior managers struggle with cascading their vision? I see three main reasons for this. First, if you expect a change of behaviours from staff, then managers should act as role models. Employees will not take all the risks alone – only a few audacious will. Second, you need more examples to define the vision. You need to make sense of the desired change. A strong belief is not enough. And you need to give concrete demonstrations of how this is going to work in practice and offer support along the way. Finally, the top-down approach alone does not work. Organizations need to start a transversal approach, for similar business functions. And a bottom-up one – for better accountability.

Good times for givers that will play an instrumental role in leading your company’s future. Start the treasure hunt and “educate” them while making them grow. If you don’t care about them, their disengagement can also become contagious.