Territories of tension, ecosystems of balance
Organizations are a realm of tension. If they are businesses, it's because they need to survive in competitive markets. If they are government agencies, it's because they navigate the complex relationship between politics and the creation of public value. People experience a significant part of their lives in relation to their professional position within organizations. They confront the expectations placed on them by organizations with their own personal expectations.
Both organizations and individuals share the tension between present and future, how to deliver results in the present and capture a future in which they can recognize themselves.
Working essentially means fulfilling three functions: delivering results, adapting, and learning. If we don't deliver results, we become functionally dislocated; if we don't adapt, we lose the capacity to contribute; and if we don't learn, we age professionally rapidly and enter what Peter Drucker called "sudden incompetence." To perform these three functions, people must be able to generate their own motivations and have meaningful agendas. And that only happens in companies where—despite being naturally fraught with tension—a balanced ecosystem emerges. We feel good when things are reasonably balanced.
Antoni Calvo López
A balanced ecosystem is one where a company is highly customer-oriented without neglecting its employees. It's a professional community where people respect each other because they learn from one another and are able to think, act, and deliver results together. Part of this balance also involves ensuring that a company's shareholders, who continuously take risks, receive returns that compensate for their risk without resorting to speculative practices. Finally, the surrounding community is also part of this balance.
Most people feel comfortable in companies with talented and good people. Where results and behavior don't clash with dignity. Where there's an invisible infrastructure—the corporate culture—that's geared toward respect for people. Where the logic of growth through growth prevails over a logic of growth at the expense of others.
Leadership plays a fundamental role in the delicate balance of an organization. It's a leadership style where leading is about serving, not being served. When someone is at the top, they don't feel like people are working for them, but rather that they are working for others. It's a leadership that empowers people to reach their full potential, thanks to the positive influence that good leaders can wield. It's a leadership that inspires, not just commands. It's a leadership that creates and defines opportunities for its teams.
The need for humanistic management
We are facing a revolution in data technologies (IOT, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence) and sophisticated automation systems (advanced robotics) that will have a high impact on the world of work.
To maintain balance, we must resolve the people-machine equation in favor of people. It's the only reasonable thing to do.
Companies will need to be competitive and will use a lot of technology to achieve this, to gain a competitive edge. But technologies tend to become democratized; one day everyone will have them, and ultimately, it's always people who make the difference. People with the capacity to think and act. If we think, technology empowers us. If we don't think for ourselves, technology mimics us and ends up robbing us of the meaning of many of our jobs.
In this era of artificial intelligence, the need for humanistic management is emerging strongly—management capable of delivering results, but not by any means. Management that allows people to thrive in balanced ecosystems, where one can contribute and deliver results rather than excuses, within a framework of equilibrium and learning.
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