An Everyone Culture

An Everyone Culture

Through the examples of three enterprises, an analysis of a new type of organization based on the continuous development of staff.

Author(s): Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press

Date of publication: 2016

Manageris opinion

This book presents a new type of organization, which makes the continuous development of staff members a key axis of development. It relies on an in-depth analysis of three enterprises: Next Jump, an e-commerce enterprise, The Decurion Corporation, a group active in different industries (cinema, real estate, pensioners’ life) and Bridgewater, an investment fund. These three enterprises are very different, and yet they share a common conviction: a considerable performance lever is wasted in traditional enterprises because the individuals have neither the incentives nor the sufficient means to confront their fears and their limits. A lot of energy is spent hiding weaknesses, rather than acknowledging them in order to work at improvement. To avoid this phenomenon, these enterprises have developed a whole range of practices that anchor continuous development in the workflow itself and make it a corporate responsibility. We notably discover a culture of permanent feedback, not only between the employee and the manager, but among all the team members as well. Mobility paths are accelerated to encourage everyone to continuously develop his capabilities. The development needs of each person are shared publicly, to enable colleagues to formulate better-targeted feedbacks. Some of the methods put in place might seem very radical—you can adhere or not—, but they have the merit to make you think of what can enable everyone to use his full potential.