The little story about a learning organization called Projexia!

What employer has not already thought of writing to Santa Claus with the wish to develop the autonomy of its staff, wanting its employees to become more responsible, more motivated, and better equipped. Here is a nod to a holiday tradition in this pre-holiday period to make you dream a little! An achievable dream …

Here is the little story of a company that gave itself the means to achieve its dream, long before December 25^th, and without the help of Santa Claus. This week, we are celebrating Projexia which, amidst the outbreak of the pandemic, embarked on the adventure of a leadership journey, with Iceberg Management. The objective was to fill the knowledge gaps through training and to co-create an organizational structure that meets their clients’ needs through facilitation. To do this, Projexia’s management team involved all the key players in the company (hierarchical line, support and technostructure), for a total of 12 participants.

Projexia gave itself the invaluable gift of “taking the time to take the time” to build a learning culture, focusing on collective learning and adopting empowering leadership.

Empowering leadership facilitates the sharing of power among team members. It “promotes the faster emergence of key skills such as autonomy and a sense of initiative while contributing to the adoption of more efficient behaviors in the performance of work.’’[1] By taking a leadership-coach position, Projexia’s management enables its employees to discover their own solutions and to take responsibility for the actions to be implemented. The process allows for increased confidence, delegation of tasks and responsibilities, as well as individual and collective performance within the company.

In order to favor a learning organizational culture, we opted for a method known as Facilitating Collective Intelligence. During the workshops, participants are given a goal to achieve and the tools necessary for co-creation. Work sequences are orchestrated so that participants can emerge, converge, and then reproduce the information created as a team. Each participant agrees to invest in the workshops by adopting the behaviors previously chosen by the team. Ideological confrontation is encouraged; participants are invited to stand up and debate their point of view by accepting their emotions and those of others. In fact, training on emotional intelligence had previously been offered as part of the leadership journey. As a result, we then observe behaviors and attitudes that illustrate an increased autonomy of the individuals. Over the weeks, new skills in decision-making, time management and organization of teamwork methods are thus expressed.

It’s obvious that Projexia trusted its staff: After 12 hours of co-creation, the team had built the Client Way, the RACI as well as the ideal organizational structure to support the client’s needs! The management team, with the help of Iceberg Management, is only involved at the end of the process to give final approval.

Result: commitment to work is strengthened and testimonials on the meaning of work are multiplying. Because the employees understood the meaning and the usefulness of doing this. This is called empowerment.

Gaining autonomy is first to trust and it is to understand the meaning of what you are doing and what you need to do. It is also to understand your contribution, your role, and your added value in the company. An old saying says that alone we go faster, but together we go further. Turning your employees into strategic partners means giving them the power to take responsibility for their own success and that of the company.

What do you want to add to your wish list to Santa Claus? Iceberg Management’s elves could definitely help you achieve what you want.

By Médina Cayer, MBA, Adm.A., CRHA

[1]  Vincent Rousseau, Caroline Aubé. (2020) Le leadership d’habilitation : une clé pour motiver les équipes. Gestion, consulté en ligne le 20 novembre 2020. https://www.revuegestion.ca/le-leadership-dhabilitation-une-cle-pour-motiver-les-equipes