Redefining Leadership in a VUCA World
You might have heard or even seen the traditional image of a C-level corporate executive — decisive, solitary, unshakable, sometimes even cold, and devoid of emotions. Behind the prestige, power, and all the perks lies a ‘silent epidemic’ — isolation.
In fact, half of CEOs admit to feeling lonely, with 61% acknowledging that this loneliness impacts their performance, according to CEO Snapshot Survey™. First-time CEOs are especially vulnerable to this sense of isolation, with nearly 70% reporting that it adversely affects their ability to lead effectively.
However, one company in Belgium is redesigning how its management team works. The dynamic nature of today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world demands a new leadership paradigm. Laboratoires ORTIS, a pioneering plant-based health company with 60 years of experience in phytotherapy, is doing just that.
Here’s how its leaders embrace collaboration while maintaining their strategic edge in a complex and heavily regulated industry.
1. Participatory vs. Autonomy: Finding the Balance in Management
Leadership doesn’t have to oscillate between authoritarian control and laissez-faire autonomy. In December 2019, Ortis began transitioning towards a Participatory Management Model (PMM). Inspired by the intelligence of nature, the management team sought to naturally connect its stakeholders as it aimed to design a new, vibrant, and creative way to work together.
The transition was made official through the change in its organizational structure from just having a CEO to having a ‘CO,’ which translates to CO-Team, composed of its divisional Board of Directors, who collectively act as the company’s CEO. This bridges Ortis’ five key divisions: commercial, operations, marketing, supply chain, administration, and finance, thus giving each group equal importance and voice in the company’s direction.
In this model, group autonomy takes precedence over individual autonomy, ensuring that decisions affecting the organization are made collaboratively. This way, Ortis leverages its diverse perspectives while avoiding silos that often hinder implementation and progress.
2. Owner Participation: Redefining Leadership Presence
Leadership participation doesn’t require micromanagement. In the case of Ortis, Michel Horn, the owner of Laboratoires Ortis, does not spend his day looking over the shoulders of his Board of Directors/CEO. Instead, he has a regularly scheduled half-hour meeting every Friday morning with the CO-Team, where strategic decisions are discussed in a strictly board-style setting. This disciplined approach ensures that the leadership remains accessible yet respects the autonomy of the operational teams.
It is worth noting that while internal friction in such settings is inevitable, it can also be a catalyst for innovation and growth. This approach fosters ownership among team members while keeping the larger organizational goals in focus.
Leaders must remember that their team comprises humans with emotions — not just numerical figures on an Excel sheet. Striking this balance ensures that decisions reflect logic and empathy, paving the way for sustainable growth.
3. Impact-Oriented Decision Making
In a collaborative leadership model, decisions are based on their potential impact on internal teams, suppliers, and customers. Ortis seeks to get unanimous agreement among its CO-Team members despite requiring more time and patience. It believes the payoff is a deeply committed ‘Ortisiens’ ready to execute the decision effectively. Otherwise, decisions made by a single person and done in haste could cause more disagreements. They will only lead to members putting a brake on it at different levels of the organization.
When making strategic decisions, more time is allocated to preparation and communication at all levels. When disagreements arise, structured checks and balances, such as a decision tree, identify potential consequences based on different response scenarios. This allows for well-prepared and thoroughly designed implementation plans.
For instance, Ortis faced regulatory challenges in its EU operations that required significant shifts in its business. With over 100 employees and countless customers, the team leveraged a collaborative and connected approach involving inputs from employees, suppliers, and board members. The resulting decisions weren’t without complexity but were marked by readiness and resilience, illustrating the power of participatory governance.
4. You Go Alone Fast; Together, You Go Further
Like the African proverb, building an effective leadership team fosters cooperation and inclusivity. From selecting leaders to involving external consultants, every decision must aim to create groups capable of charting and moving towards a shared direction.
A practical process applied by Ortis for its group decision-making includes:
- Presenting the direction and seeking input.
- Leaders are encouraged to ask themselves, “Can I live with this decision?”
- Addressing objections openly and collaboratively.
- Reassessing and iterating until a consensus emerges.
Frameworks like ‘L’holacratie’ exemplify distributing authority and autonomy in the organization’s expert teams to assess the pros and cons while maintaining a unified organizational vision. Note, however, that in such a framework, roles are clearly defined, and boundaries are established upfront, creating a foundation for collective decision-making.
5. Dealing with Ego: The Art of Trust and Empowerment
‘Ortisiens’ are invited to do their best, and Ortis enjoy their growth. Much like in nature, Ortis believes that the whole ecosystem vibes when each of its elements thrives. The CO-Team has its members’ expertise and fosters an environment of mutual respect. Building a high-functioning team is a product of empowering members from the staff level to management, nurturing them with the competencies to be subject matter experts.
Trust, accountability, and mutual support are the cornerstones here.
By entrusting team members with responsibility, leaders uplift morale and create a culture of accountability. This mutual recognition of capabilities strengthens the collective, mitigating the impact of individual egos on group dynamics.
Environmental Impact of Shipment
Conclusion: The Power of Participatory Management
In the VUCA world, leadership is no longer about standing at the top but about standing alongside. Redefining corporate leadership through participatory decision-making, shared accountability, and ego management allows leaders to harness the collective strength of their teams.
Ortis recognizes this need. It is veering away from a ‘copy and paste’ management model. Instead, it is paving its path towards CO-creation that works for them.
To ‘Ortisiens,’ the future of leadership lies in the ability to inspire collaboration, navigate complexity, and build teams that follow and thrive alongside their leaders.
———————————————————————————————
Established in 1958, Laboratoires Ortis is a plant-based health company with over 60 years of phytotherapy experience. It is a market leader in producing, quality assurance, and distributing health supplements related to intestinal sluggishness, with 60 formulas as of writing.
