Agile Know-How Magazine • Fall 2017
ourselves. The goal is not to ask ourselves how to find clients
to optimize the product, but how to reinvent the business
model, how to reinvent the products and actually step out of
the framework.
The ability to manage complexity
When we are confronted with complicated problems, what we
usually need is more expertise (or the right one), a little more
time, and that experts collaborate to find a solution. What
will come out from this work is an understanding of the entire
problem we are facing. The path to follow will show up, as after
analyzing everything, experts will have achieved a strong level
of certainty regarding the conclusion that if we do this or that,
then we will get such and such result.
Organizations’ environments used to be simple at times and
often complicated, but this is not the case anymore. For me, the
environments of today’s organizations are sometimes compli-
cated and often complex. And here, there is a great difference,
as the approaches that are efficient when facing simple or
complicated challenges or problems are the same, but with
more depth. On the other hand, approaches that are efficient
for complex problems, like the ones we face in expeditions, are
very different.
The question is “why?”
And not “why” the cause,
but rather “why” the purpose.
In other words, what is
our mission?
A problem becomes complex when there are too many
variables, actors, and interactions for us to be able to grasp
everything as a whole. Often, this system, this combination, is
unstable over time. If we try to understand part of the system,
we find simple solutions. When we implement them, they do
not take into account some essential dimensions, so we realize
that it does not work.
Since this realization occurs late in the process, costs are high.
We try to have a global vision of the system, but there are so
many variables, so many elements and interactions, that we are
not even sure if we are aware of them all. We are not sure that
we have the levers to act on these elements, and when we try to
model all of this, we end up with factories that can’t be used.
In the face of these complex problems, what we need is not
only more expertise and more time, but also better collective
intuition.
It is not about doing everything intuitively, but we still need to
resort to intuition. And not only MY intuition because I am a
manager, head of department, business executive, or expert.
We need collective intuition. Collective because it will give us a
variety of viewing angles.
When facing a complex problem, we need the big boss’s
strategic vision as much as that of the most recent employee,
the client, or the supplier. We need everyone’s visions. We need
specific methods that allow us to make sure we have access to
100% of the intelligence in terms of people’s situational point
of view.
The indicators
All that remains is to put a few Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) on that to make sure we are going in the right direction.
We obviously need to measure financial performance, but also
the organization’s well-being, and that is, not only through a
work satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness survey every six
months or two years. We need to have the ability to see, day
after day, if the business’ wellness level is increasing or decrea-
sing. Simple tools exist to assess this.
We also need to evaluate the business’s ability to learn.
Because the more the world changes, the more the ability
to learn quickly from competitors offers a competitive
advantage. These are real ongoing projects, not only in terms
of the amount of training or its quality, but also regarding
internal coaching and mentoring. It can even be about the
search I made on Google. All of this is learning.
An efficient business has a mission, Agility, and management
that facilitates creativity and breakthrough innovation. It has
the ability to face complex problems and closely monitor, on
a daily basis, its financial performance, its well-being, and its
ability to learn.
Meet the inspiring adventurer Olivier Soudieux:
www.vialaventure.fr :
agileknowhow.com
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