400 million jobs, blue collars or white collars, could disappear thanks to automation, most of the jobs available in 2030 don’t exist yet, data analysis is the key to living in a more and more Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous World. We cannot deny that data, AI and automation are now part of our daily life (even if we don’t know if we will have the necessary energy to maintain the growth, but it is another story). Meanwhile, we promote changes in leadership behaviors from the competition and best individual players to coaching and best team players. It looks like we would balance the technological journey with more humanity and relationship at work.

I propose you watch this Ted from Margaret Heffernan. She illustrates perfectly this scissor movement and how we must compromise between efficiency, anticipation and agility, and adaptation. The risk today is to trust too much our data and to leave the driver's seat: it is easier to do and it generates less fear. To quote the talk: “These technologies attempt to do is to force-fit a standardized model of a predictable reality onto a world that is infinitely surprising”. We must not forget that most of our analyses do not provide us certainty but only give us trends and possibilities; the example of the COVID crisis is a good one, we knew that the risk for a worldwide outbreak was increasing but we did not know when, where, why and how it would start.

We are now living in an environment that defies so much forecasting; efficiency won't just help us, it specifically undermines and erodes our capacity to adapt and respond. Our today leaders must understand technology, and data but also must bring the human touch to the organization by developing experimentation, imagination, stamina, cooperation/competition, bravery, and support.

As HR we must create the conditions for such a leadership to blossom, as coaches we must support the leaders to embody those changes and find the right balance for their organization.

You are a leader, a manager who thinks a coach could support him to find the right balance, please contact ThinkYou!