In today’s business world, collective intelligence has become an essential lever for the success of any transformation project. Participatory approaches, consultation and co-construction, bottom-up initiatives—all have become common practices to mobilize teams. But this rise of participation inevitably raises questions about the evolution of the manager’s role. What is their place in the enrichment phase? And what are the key elements they need to consider in order to exercise their responsibilities wisely in this context? These are the questions we explore in this second article in our series “Turning a change project into an opportunity to strengthen the management line.”
The challenge of the management line in this phase of involvement: combining trust and clarity of decisions
During the initiation phase, stakeholders—starting with the leadership team—worked on projecting themselves intellectually and emotionally into the transformation to be achieved. This led to a shared vision of the change to be carried out together. Then comes the enrichment phase, where this vision is refined and detailed through the contributions of experts. This stage challenges the initial vision of the transformation path proposed by the core management team by drawing on the insights of specialists. It mixes moments of dialogue with moments of decision.
At this stage, Talisker’s differentiating practice is to require decision-makers to make dialogue the cornerstone of wider involvement, whatever method is used. We believe the real challenge for managers lies in their ability to balance two fundamental aspects: building trust while asserting their decisions. On the one hand, stepping back and giving space to experts fosters collective involvement. The more space given to dialogue, the more ideas teams will bring to enrich the transformation project. Once the proposals have been formalized, it is up to the management line to make the structural decisions: to choose among the ideas put forward.
Balancing decision-making responsibility and relational responsibility
The best way to combine these two aspects of managerial responsibility is to continue exercising both decision-making responsibility and relational responsibility. The involvement of experts (and of the teams concerned) requires transparency: managers must commit to explaining which ideas were retained, which were not, and why. Having a clear explanation of decisions is essential: contributors will be all the more motivated to keep investing if they feel their suggestions were heard and considered—even when they are not adopted. Conversely, their engagement will fade if they sense their input is ignored. Explaining choices directly and clearly is therefore crucial to sustaining the collective energy needed for the project’s success.
Many leaders fear exposing themselves in this way. Yet every transformation project is a unique opportunity to grow in their role, to learn how to navigate between trust granted and responsibility assumed.
Responsibility: a transversal as well as vertical challenge
It is common for this enrichment work to take place simultaneously within various teams. It is therefore essential to ensure perfect consistency between the transformation projects across different managerial domains. Enrichment is not only a vertical exercise, it is also profoundly transversal. Alignment among peers is crucial, both rationally and relationally. Rationally, it is about ensuring the coherence of the project and the proper coordination of the efforts required from teams. Relationally, future success depends heavily on the willingness to carry out implementation together.
Feeling a sense of mutual responsibility among managers is key: by explaining to peers the decisions made within their own scope at the end of the enrichment phase, each manager helps consolidate trust and smooth future coordination. In turn, understanding the actions planned by others reinforces the need to deliver on commitments within one’s own area.
Trust as the key ingredient of enrichment
Too many companies neglect the work of building trust between managers, focusing only on the technical aspects of transformation projects. Yet without the shared sense that one’s professional success depends partly on the actions of peers and other teams, it is impossible to generate the level of collective energy needed to overcome the difficulties inherent in implementation. Trust among managers is therefore a fundamental lever to turn coordinated actions into genuine collaboration aimed at success.
In short, the success of the enrichment phase rests on the ability to build solid trust among all those involved in the transformation. At the individual level, this means each manager striking the right balance between trust granted and final decision-making throughout the co-construction process. At the collective level, it is about managers aligning their actions, but above all, feeling mutually responsible for them.
And to ensure the change succeeds all the way through implementation, don’t miss the next and final article in our series!
