Does your company's environment encourage the search for continuous evolution or, on the contrary, does it reinforce the power of routine and past habits of thinking and acting?
*By Oscar Motomura
Some companies exude conservatism, shyness, fear of change - even of trying small changes. They exude the outdated, the obsolete, in their way of operating, in the way people work or hold meetings, in the formalism of communications and relationships, in the decoration, in the colors; anyway, in everything.
Others exude hesitation, insecurity. They want to change, but they also don't want to. These are the companies that are "on the fence", between the fear of change and the fear of losing opportunities towards the future. Many conversations, even many ideas - but very few decisions, in physical environments full of contradictions and non-harmonic contrasts.
But there are also those that exude motivation, enthusiasm, daring. exude life. These are companies that have a way of working light, loose, forward. They seek evolution in every day-to-day detail. There is zero accommodation on every level, from summit to base.
What do these companies, which exude life, do differently from others?
Some consciously invest in the design of contexts, to create a favorable climate for new ideas, for new ways of making things happen. They create different spaces, with unusual furniture and objects, which illustrate the unorthodox and stimulate people's creativity.
Others bring "outside" stimuli. They organize concerts for employees, bring in artists and creative people from different fields to interact with their teams, and so on.
There are those who, instead of investing in form, dive into the content of things. They create contexts not for the physical, but for the meaning of things, for the level of challenges, for "stimulating equations", which bring out in the organization the best that people have within them. Equations that encourage them to seek the common good and to want to come to work every day. Even when the physical environment is far from ideal, people, highly motivated, are always at their best and committed to generating evolution all the time.
There are also those where the leader is the context. Through his personal action, his example, his energy, this leader generates, in everything he involves, a climate of innovation, of high creativity, of exceptional actions on a daily basis.
There are still companies that exude life not because of the leaders, but because of the people who compose them - happy, joyful, positive, forward people. They set the tone for the context, even when leaders aren't the best role models.
And, of course, there are those "rare" companies where there is complete consistency: physical design inspires continuous strategic innovation and reinvention, inspirational equations are at the base of everything, leaders are exceptional and there is a distinguished team of talented, well-rounded people. with life even in stressful situations, with great changes and increasing challenges.
By the way, how rare do you want your company to be?