Made by AutentiCoach Partners

Marc DUFRAISSE - AutentiCoach

Finding your own personal way is possible, we accompany you on the path to your Authenticity.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Continuous improvement is no longer enough. We need innovation and entrepreneurial spirit!

In a mature market with lots of competition, differentiation is based on the ability to provide service and continuously improve.
It's essential at operating level. It demonstrates the ability of the organization and the workforce to be flexible and customer oriented.


It may not be enough.
Over-capacity and shrinking market demand generate tensions. No market is protected. It is necessary to revisit the market and prepare options for the future that go beyond simple improvements.
It's not only necessary to listen to customers and teams. We also have to raise the strategic insights and review operational drivers with different perspectives.


Let room for the imagination, the foolishness, the madness. Let room for new connections.
The combinations of elements that create a competitive service offerings are endless ... and few may be relevant and appropriate. We need to identify and analyse them.
And it takes commitment and courage
Sometimes it is impossible to justify a new winning strategy with classical analysis tools ... There's like an alchemy that makes it work or not. We need to take the risk ... But if this risk is shared with the teams and if the project raises the enthusiasm and energy levels rocket high, we are putting all the chances on our side. And minimizing the risks of failure ...



Do you know the definition of engagement? What is the difference of engagement between the chicken and the pig in bacon and eggs? ... The chicken is involved, the pig is committed! We wants pigs, not chickens ... We want commitment, not involvement.


Take risks. Innovate with teams ...that are committed!

Teams accepting risks and having entrepreneurial spirit and ownership for our ambitions!

Monday 20 June 2011

The inner resources of Authentic Leadership

To know how other people behave takes intelligence, but to know myself takes wisdom.


To manage other's people's lives takes strength, but to manage my own life takes true power.


If I am content with what I have, I can live simply and enjoy both prosperity and free time.


If my goals are clear, I can achieve them without fuss.


If I am at peace with myself, I will not spend my life force in conflicts.


If I have learned to let go, I do not need to fear dying.


Lao Tzu

Wednesday 1 June 2011

The fantasy of unilateral command.

We human beings are complete, creative and resourceful. To become adults, we learn to be independent. And to be interdependent in relating, sharing and working with other people.

How come we have fantasies about power? About having people under our control?

We don’t like receiving orders. We like to contribute on missions that motivate us, that we are passionate about. On topics aligned with our beliefs, our values, our objectives.

But if someone gives an order, we tend to sneak away.
Depending on who’s giving it. If we admire or love the person, we may want or accept being under the influence.
But if it’s your boss at work and the only reason to obey is to keep your job ...You’ll end up fulfilling the request. But your motivation level may not be very high ...

Then, why do we have this belief that leading people is about giving orders?
Where does it come from?
Could it be related to our education?

All along our childhood we learned to be sitting for hours listening to boring and sleepy teachers explain how to be educated and intelligent. How docile we have to be from a very early age!
At home our parents continuously tell us what to do and how to do it.
If we go to university, we are told that we are the country's elite, that we are going to drive the economy of the future, that we’ll be tomorrow’s managers and entrepreneurs.

It’s not surprising that with these experiences we become disciplined and arrogant soldiers. With dreams of grandeur, with a vain and conceited posture... and authoritarian managerial fantasies!

On the contrary, the truth in management lies in human relationships, in contact, connection, empathy, support, recognition. The basics are listening, communicating, negotiating, discussing and sharing. With open feedback, with honesty and integrity.
Management is about stretching for the other person, sharing a mission, an activity, objectives. It is about planning and organizing in teams to deliver a service, a product, to get a result.

Today, more than ever, people need a meaningful work. They need to contribute to something compatible with who they are. The management style is key to motivate people and have creative, open,  fully committed teams.

To acheive this, managers need to have listening skills, openness, empathy that allow them to connect with the teams and meet their expectations or needs.
The manager must have human values. It has to be more human, more authentic, more himself / herself. More of a leader.