There is intense discussion on the role of managers in the post-Covid era, and rightly so: the whole public debate revolves around how to restart the economy and the great challenge of doing business.
It is a crucial topical issue: in this unprecedented moment, there has certainly been an awareness of what company managers can actually do and of the fact that they can do it much faster than those that could be assumed before the emergency. pandemic.
On our desks daily interviews, articles, studies on the management of the current complex situation and on the possible solutions for the exit from the economic crisis are poured out.
It is said that everything is different but we talk, then, as if everything were more or less the same.
It is clear that there has been – unfortunately – and a change is taking place and it is still difficult to understand which of the effects of the pandemic will be temporary and which will prove to be permanent: the pandemic is not a parable, an emergency that then lands on the same ground, but a spiral of transformation.
Yes, it will return to normality, but to a new dimension, with ‘transformed’ business methods, probably with greater technological and financial disparities.
A return to normality that will have little to do with the pre-COVID one because the world and work have now changed: we must take the opportunity for a change, even cultural, albeit forced, which will lead – if it hasn’t already done – to an essential awareness to move towards the work of the future in which technology, skills and organizational flexibility will be the strength of companies and individuals.
Each company, each entrepreneur will build its scenario with an organizational, circular and global approach that today more than ever becomes fundamental for everyone’s work.
And in this context of good management there is really a need (not that in the past there was none!) Because it plays an important social role both in the management of the company and in communication with its employees, customers, partners.
What will be the challenges of management?
For this reason, 2021 is a challenging scenario for the world of companies and work that must necessarily lead management to reflect deeply on its role, on the duty and power to do business, because internal processes and organization have forcibly changed. external transactions, as well as access to the market and financial capital.
The fundamental critical factors of management have changed: the value of space, time, organizational syntax, personnel management and human capital.
Management will no longer be able to do without managing resources and skills to be developed from scratch, with partnerships to be rethought in ways and places. value proposition to be created, to maintain and create new business opportunities.
Marchionne he said that “a great leader is able to lead change, indicate general direction, set goals, incredibly bold, surround himself with the best people he can find, and make them work“: It takes sensitivity, balance, wisdom and the ability to weigh complex actions and reactions, be aligned with people, motivate them, overcome resistance to change, invest in employees / collaborators, putting hand to organizational structures, operating systems, welfare.
What is underway is an acceleration towards a new business model in which management will have to generate trust and consensus for the good of the company by interacting with the multiplicity of stakeholders (property, banks, employees, trade unions, representation, local authorities, PA , etc …).
The crisis urges managers to do what Marchionne called “the courage to change”, An all-encompassing change, equipping itself to quickly pass from the traditional version to a version in which the watchwords must be sharing, competence, simplification, strategic vision.
The management challenge, therefore, will be to navigate in sight, with less form and more substance, to glimpse the opportunities for improvement, to ‘guide’ the ship towards a safe harbor (or almost): look to the future and rethink plans and organizations under various points.
To do this he will have to act in smart mode – agile and digital – with an expansion of delegations, decentralized decisions, strong relationships of trust and the ability to make people work asynchronously, without ever forgetting human contact.
To satisfy common interests in a team game where ‘no one can win alone’.
What direction should management take towards its internal and external stakeholders?
Managers are called to make important choices and have a great social responsibility not only with regard to communication with suppliers (who must feel supported in order not to lose the commercial link established), but also with their employees (who must feel motivated to continue to be productive and not suffer the ’emotional’ isolation from smart working), customers and other stakeholders.
Business models, finance and supply chain will be redefined through an even more decisive use of digital, with an increased ability to relate and share knowledge and skills, intercepting needs and translating them into concrete requests for the market, to move from traditional logic to a more strategic one.
In 1998 the Prof Claudius Demattè (In Economics and Management, No. 1, 1998) he wrote “From time to time the managerial profession, so inclined to become opinionated when it wins some battles, and serious management studies are shaken by some provocation that resizes ambitions, that forces you to think, that forces you to deal with the reality that escapes to cataloging, to models, to the ‘scientific’ claim to harness it or to the authoritarian will to dominate ita”.
And it is true, we must come to terms with reality: the crisis has accelerated some work processes that had already begun, but were struggling to develop.
It has shown that it can be done and has ‘cleared customs’ new ways of working.
The great future challenge that managers are called to face is that of a profound transformation of “management work” and its foundations, the same foundations that Prof. Demattè identified in technique, planning and political art.
A broader vision is needed, which is not limited only to solving the most pressing problems: the reference framework for the new organization of work and the direction to be taken will be to manage human and financial resources in a sustainable context for a long time. term, act in an agile and digital way, with lean structures, able to interpret internal and external signals to continuously renew the offer of goods and services and work methods, for the satisfaction of workers and the company, having to manage more flexible, innovative and customizable employment contracts.
There cannot be a simple solution to the challenges that will have to be faced in the aftermath of this crisis, because what changes must be the way of seeing and managing the business that will place companies in front of old and new challenges.
A path is underway whose point of arrival is unknown but, of course, in the transition to the next normal there will remain an extraordinary space for digital, both because there is no going back and because it can be a place for socialization and consumption. if the “real” could not offer sufficient freedom due to the new regulatory constraints, allowing exponential experiences and socialization.
The management must be able to involve all the stakeholders, interpret the new expectations of the people and reorganize the company, with attention to the environment, sustainability, safety and social responsibility, with flexibility, harmony and teamwork; it will have to promote the culture and development of smart working, also at the level of the Board of Directors; it must always be “on the spot”, in a strategic way and open to innovative channels; he must be the promoter and facilitator of generational change; he will have to be able to analyze and evaluate the risk, also to manage crisis situations, not only in theory but also in practice.
Therefore, acting with motivation and performance in the short term thinking about the long term, that is to say, not only about short-term profit but also the “lasting” well-being of all stakeholders.
Management must have a clear idea of playing a fundamental role in society which is to generate meaning locally, in their daily operations, helping people to develop an identity in a concrete way.
After all, who are the people who are confronted daily with the difficult social realities of our time? Who has the experience to handle multiple sources of identification, be it customer needs or employee diversity? And who are the people trained by the experience to manage the different market imperatives, national regulations and bureaucratic demands?
I Manager.
Managers can contribute to developing and implementing those processes to help consolidate the fractured structure of our market with a view to the inclusiveness, sustainability and responsibility of the companies they manage, as required by the fundamental role they are called to play.
Entrepreneurs and managers have understood that the solution is not to guarantee an income, but to create a job that produces income for the company and its workers because without work there is neither health nor ‘dignity’.
Mainini & Associati *