A call to more humane managers

This is essentially the message of the great leadership specialist Henry Mintzberg, whose 20th book, Stories for Insomniac Managers, was published by Éditions de l'homme in August.

<q data-attributes = "{" lang ": {" value ":" fr "," label ":" French "}," value ": {" html ":" The soulless or substantive management , has become a real epidemic in society, says Mr.Mintzberg. The worst situations are created by mean-spirited and tyrannical people who use these flaws against each other. "," Text ":" The soulless or bottomless management has become a real epidemic in society, "says M .Mintzberg. The worst situations are created by petty and tyrannical people who use these faults against each other. "}}" Lang = "en">The soulless or bottomless management has become a real epidemic in society, says Mintzberg. The worst situations are created by petty and tyrannical people who use these faults against each other.

The report is brutal and without appeal: the way we manage businesses today is no longer appropriate. Those who are considered leaders must change. Companies need to review how they lead employees to the targeted goals.

For that, says Mintzberg, you have to rely on leaders who are committed to helping employees, who come out of their desks, come down from their pedestals, bring out grassroots strategies, and make natural connections with people. and who weave true relationships of trust.

Communication needs to be open so that [the] ideas can circulate, says the professor from McGill University. Start by getting rid of the bombastic vocabulary of "senior management". Stop using this term. This way, you will be able to look around, rather than just up and down, and appreciate the people who are best placed to carry out each task.

Companies must rethink the hiring criteria of their leaders, says the specialist. Managers should be chosen for their flaws as well as their qualities, he writes. […] Managers who are successful are imperfect.

Henry Mintzberg savagely attacks the very numerous and very hard decisions of reorganization and rationalization in the companies. Do you know why reorganizations are so popular? Because they are easy. Move a few people on a piece of paper and the world is suddenly transformed … on paper, at least. Imagine what would happen if these people were moved from one office to another to help them forge new links.

Reorganizations, like the streamlining announcements, only serve to enrich senior leaders, according to the author.

It is the rationalizers who should be rationalized, and the executioners who should be executed.

The best is the enemy of good

Henry Mintzberg does not hide it: he does not support the influence of the stock market in organizations. According to him, the pressures of the shareholders and the stock market are harmful to the corporate culture.

The specialist, who has been teaching management for 50 years, finds that is much easier to draw organizational charts than to manage organizations. And that's why he invites young future managers to study at the school of life rather than just relying on what they learn at school.

MBA programs are useful, he says, as long as they are recognized for what they do well – training people for certain specialized tasks within a company. However, it is important that they are also recognized for what they are doing less well, namely preparing people for management. It is time to go beyond the MBA by offering real management education.

Management must be exercised as an art dependent on insight, he adds. The visceral understanding of an organization is much more useful than a body of brain knowledge. […] Let's leave aside, not our standards, but our obsession to want to be the best, so that we can devote ourselves to being as good as possible.

Henry Mintzberg is a world-renowned professor of management and leadership issues. He selected 42 posts from his blog on these issues to write this book. He has already said that the best way to know a person's faults … is to marry him or work for him! Reading his last book can be useful too!