This article was originally published by Bernard Marie Chiquet, founder of l'institut iGi et créateur du management constitutionnel.
Embracing the idea of tension allows individuals to move on and become true entrepreneurs. They are able to identify and project themselves towards an ideal, which sets them in motion to resolve their tension.
Before looking at the notion of dynamic tension, let us start by clarifying the framework of our discussion. It is not a question here of dealing with personal or interpersonal tensions, but rather of positioning ourselves at the level of the organisation and the roles which characterise it and drive it.
The company can in effect be divided into three systems and six territories. The first system is concerned with the individual, the second with the collective, the social body, and the third with the company as a living organism.
Each of these systems is divided between what is visible - behaviour, relationships, structure - and what is invisible, feelings and beliefs, culture, and the potential for value creation. It is at this third level, that of the company, that the dynamic tension can be expressed.
It is the expression of an organisational tension, of a limit actually encountered in the value creation process of a role. It is this tension that is brought to the governance meeting. This tension can be defined as a gap between a situation that is and a situation that could be.
It is clear that many companies have difficulty integrating this notion, confusing tension with a problem. The concept of tension often comes up against a wall, an intellectual block that needs to be removed
It's all about focus
This approach is very well explained and illustrated in the book "The Power of TED" by David Emerald. This book is primarily about the question of how to move from the dramatic triangle - or Karpman triangle - that creates misfortune to a triangle that creates value. He emphasises an essential point. Depending on the selected emphasis, one's inner state will be different, as will one's behaviour.
To illustrate this, let's take an example. When people focus on a problem, it creates stress and anxiety. To cope with it, they will react. Not to the problem but to the stress and anxiety it has generated. So the problem is never really dealt with in a sustainable way. A bit like the person who thinks he or she is a bit too fat and decides to lose weight so that he or she can put on a swimming suit on the beach. But as soon as the first effects are noticed, and the first praise is received, the person's stress decreases, he or she starts to eat as before and is soon back where he or she started.
On the other hand, a person with an entrepreneurial spirit will focus in a different way. They will not react to a problem but will position themselves as creators. They are consumed by a vision, an ideal, the creation of values. From then on, her inner state is neither anxiety nor stress but passion. She will seek to build, in small steps, over time. She sets herself in motion in a virtuous circle.
How do you move people from problem to dynamic tension?
The idea is to help everyone move from a reactive mode to a creative mode that allows them to create from tension. Of course, it will be easier to achieve this if the company relies on a constitutional management system that natively integrates this notion of tension, thanks to the holacracy engine, allowing everyone to gradually integrate this new attitude.
Let us proceed from the theory. A person perceives a hindrance in his or her daily life and considers how he or she can move towards what he or she sees as an ideal, often unconsciously. The first step is to become aware of this ideal. This is the prerequisite for moving from a focus on a problem to a focus on a tension. For it is the gap between the current reality and the desired ideal that constitutes the tension.
By being aware of and feeling both at the same time, this gives the person a new energy. Each person looks reality in the face while being fully aware of their ideal. This is the source of creative energy. The individual moves from being a victim to being a creator of values.
It then follows that we have to set ourselves in motion, starting from reality. The idea is to progress in small steps towards this ideal target. By taking this action, everyone sees their creative energy increase.
To demonstrate this, let's take a concrete case. That of an industrial company where the teams work in 3 shifts. In the shift that starts in the morning at 6 a.m., Pascal, a machine operator, arrives at his workstation and cannot conceal his anger. He has a problem: his predecessor in the night shift has left the shift in disarray, as he does every day. Tools are out of place, others are missing. He loses time, has to chase his targets. It's hard for him to hide his exasperation.
His first reaction is to head to a governance meeting in the afternoon and bring in, impose a policy. This approach is doomed to failure, however, because coercion is not the right answer. Once he has calmed down, something else is offered to him, explaining that his problem is nothing more than a brake on an ideal he is pursuing. The question is asked: what is this ideal for him?
After a short introspection, and allowing himself to dream, he becomes aware of his ideal: that the workshop should always be clean and tidy. He is then asked to take hold of his dream and current reality simultaneously. From this double polarity springs creativity, and a form of neutrality, of emotional distancing from the situation. He then becomes aware of what a dynamic tension is, that his problem is ultimately nothing more than a brake towards an ideal he is pursuing.
Once this first step has been taken, he is then asked to think about a first "small step" he could take to move towards this ideal. His answer: "I should buy some storage furniture". As simple as the idea may seem, no one had thought of it before...
For his second step, he would like to know where his colleagues stand. Like him, do they want to have a tidy workshop? In reality, everyone shares this aspiration, and this questioning will create a positive group energy. This even leads to a joint movement towards this dream workshop.
Through this work, we were able to move from a reactive mode of action to a value-creating approach, initially at the level of an individual and then at the level of the group. This is the demonstration that if, on the scale of a company, which is based on a structural management system based on holacracy, all the people approach things in this way and set themselves in motion on the basis of their dynamic tensions, an incredible creative energy will be released within an organisation where everyone is now an entrepreneur.
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