> Manageris Blog
Setting challenges to reinforce trust?

Setting challenges to reinforce trust?

What about setting challenges to your teams to reinforce their cohesion? Research in neuroscience shows that the impact is real. A team at the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies has been working for years on this key question: what brings people to trust each other? It started by showing that trust is linked to the production of oxytocin: this hormone encourages individuals to interact and to rely on each other. It then focused on the managerial behaviors that foster the production of oxytocin. Unsurprisingly, it pointed out the fact of acknowledging the quality of the staff and leaving them margins of maneuver, but also the fact of regularly proposing “micro challenges” to the teams. How does it work? When we assign a team a difficult yet reachable objective, the moderate stress of the task releases neurochemical substances—notably the famous oxytocin—, but also adrenocorticotropin. These intensify concentration, reinforce social bonds and help people better coordinate their actions. Beware however: this approach only works if the objectives seem realistic and have a concrete aim. An excellent lever to create a culture that combines collective effectiveness and trust.


Source: The Neuroscience of Trust, Paul J. Zak, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2017.

Boosting collaboration… by simplifying the organization

Boosting collaboration… by simplifying the organization

During the 2003 World Athletics Championships’ final, the French women’s team won the 4x100m relay race. Yet, facing them, the American team gathered the fastest runners in the world. How to explain this apparently paradoxical result?

This French team performance stems from a better cooperation: each athlete was ready to set aside part of her energy geared at her individual performance to guarantee a better efficiency during the baton exchange, for example by shouting to indicate her precise position to her partner and to communicate her energy to her. To encourage such a state of mind in companies, we must be ready to review some organizational “best practices” that hamper cooperation. For example, it seems rational to precisely document the roles, to clarify the scopes of action and to measure the performance according to these well-defined scopes. Yet, in such a situation, what is the interest for the individuals to collaborate with their teammates or other departments? What do they gain by getting out of their scopes to help colleagues?

What is gained in clarity and rationalization is often quickly lost in smoothness. To remedy this, ask yourself the question: do all the job descriptions, all the processes and all the key performance indicators put in place encourage individuals to collaborate, or do they create obstacles and conflicts of interest?


Source: How too many rules at work keep you from getting things done, Yves Morieux, TED@BCG London, September 2015.

Do you sufficiently care for your current customers?

Do you sufficiently care for your current customers?

In their race for growth, most companies focus their efforts on the conquest of new customers. But do they already do all they can to retain their existing customers? The question might seem banal. Yet, a study by McKinsey reminds us that, to compensate for the loss of an existing customer, it can prove necessary to acquire up to three new ones. Thus, 80% of the value generated by the largest companies stems from their capacity to regularly and proactively renew the quality of their existing customers’ experience. Thus, do you actively listen to your customers on an everyday basis? Do your performance indicators and objectives sufficiently focus attention on the continuous improvement of the customer experience? This could well be the next growth lever—a lever that, in hypercompetitive markets, can prove much more effective that the acquisition of an ever-increasing number of new customers.


Source: Experience-led growth: A new way to create value, Victoria Bough, Oliver Ehrlich, Harald Fanderl, Robert Schiff, McKinsey Quarterly, March 2023.

Investing in humans to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence

Investing in humans to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence

The global economic growth will essentially be driven by new technologies in the coming years, in particular by the innovations relating to artificial intelligence. Yet, seizing the AI opportunities entails much more than betting on the best technology.

Companies that present the best growth potential even consider that the technological aspect only represents a minor part of the challenge. According to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting group in 2022 among 700 business leaders from all sectors of activity in 47 countries, the companies best equipped to reap the benefits of the innovations brought by AI follow the “10-20-70” rule. Only 10% of their efforts are invested in the design of their AI model; 20% are dedicated to the collection of quality data; and the remaining 70% focus on the organization and the people. These companies primarily aim at attracting and retaining the best talents, at training their employees to obtain the right mix of competences, at anchoring a culture of innovation and at making their internal processes more agile and collaborative.

An analysis that invites to put some perspective on your investments: does their actual distribution enable the reinforcement of the company’s capacities to reap the benefits of the ongoing technological disruptions?


Source: The New Blueprint for Corporate Performance, Amanda Luther, Romain de Laubier, Saibal Chakraborty, Dylan Bolden, Sylvain Duranton, Tauseef Charanya, Patrick Forth, BCG, April 2023. 

How about giving your boss some work?

How about giving your boss some work?

How can you develop a constructive relationship with your direct superior? An essential point consists in knowing when to solicit them so that they can bring their added value at the right time. Indeed, when entrusted with an assignment by our N+1, our reaction is often to try and progress alone as far as possible, to deliver an accomplished deliverable. By doing so, we run the risk of being disappointed. Instead of bringing the so hoped-for validation, it is common that the superior embarks on a hunt for details or suggests other ways of addressing the project, to the greatest frustration of both parties.

To minimize this risk, it is more valuable to seek the contribution of your N+1 throughout the course of the project. Delegating an assignment does not mean that we don’t want to hear about it! Solicit your superior regularly, at key moments, to further your thinking: at the beginning, reformulate the challenges and ensure that your boss is in tune with you; present your different scenarios to check that they are coherent with the strategic priorities; ask for rapid feedback on a report structure before finalizing it in detail. This regular exchange dynamic will enable you to better understand each other and to avoid many frustrations.


Source: Designing Jobs Right, Roger L. Martin, Harvard Business Review, January-February 2023.

Free trial

Discover our synopses freely and without commitment!

Free trial

All publications

Explore