Scale-up: the secret of hypergrowth

Is your company struggling to turn a corner, to get up to speed? Are you worried about its future?

On the other hand, when you open the newspapers you see scale-ups that impress you with their speed of development.

But how do they do it?

What are their keys to success in developing so quickly?

The classic way of doing business is being questioned

The traditional company focuses on performance and financial value creation.

The shareholders are very important. Employees are productive resources at the service of the strategy. CSR is seen as a regulatory obligation and not as a lever for development. Financial pressure is high.

This mode of development has worked for decades and has had the merit of bringing enormous progress to the world.

But it has also generated imbalances: unbridled globalization, layoffs in order to maximize financial performance, burn-out under pressure, earth’ global warming ...

This way of doing is today largely rejected by the younger generations (and not only), both as employees and consumers.

Linking everything together in coherence

B-Harmonist offers a new approach: the harmony in the company.

What is it?

It is about being coherent and agile around a powerful and embodied corporate culture.

It is about looking at the company in a holistic way, having meaning, authenticity, and alignment around a clear and responsible business project.

How is it different?

Harmony is a new way of managing the company because it is all about connecting everything...

1. within the company, between all departments, because the company is a complex living system in which everything interacts.
2. linking the company and all stakeholders, with the willingness to care sincerely about them and to align interests: customers, suppliers, shareholders, public partners, education, associations, etc.
3. connect the individual and the company, so that each employee who joins is energized by the company's project and is compatible with the values, and has the favorable framework to give the best of himself and to blossom.
4. connect the company and the planet, seeking to have a positive impact and participate in the transformation aimed at ending imbalances and creating positive externalities.

It is not a question of denying traditional business, nor the necessary creation of financial value. It is ALSO about taking into account the meaning, the human, the interest of all stakeholders, the respect of the environment, the social (diversity, inclusion ...), etc...

And it's about having a holistic, balanced vision that makes sense. It's about linking all the components together and making them coherent around a radiant corporate culture!

The results? Unsuspected outperformance, fluidity and durability

Just like companies that succeed in hypergrowth, this is why the results are powerful when the company manages to develop harmoniously:

1. The internal coherence and the clear framework provided by the corporate culture reduce tensions, generate trust and autonomy of the teams and facilitate management.
2. Better alignment with stakeholders creates a caring and mutually supportive ecosystem.
3. The ESG (Environmental Social Governance) impact generates a strong attraction of customers and talent, which makes it easier to sell, to hire and to retain the best talent.
4. Individuals blossom and are therefore more committed and loyal, in the service of a higher collective interest that transcends and motivates them.

And everything interacts and enriches each other at a greater speed.

Everything is agile and responsive because everyone is listening to each other.

And so a virtuous circle is created. Things become more fluid because a large part of unproductive tensions disappear and energies go in the same direction, in an ecosystem of trust.

Hence a super performance. But not an outperformance only of money. Rather a multiperformance, on all levels and for all stakeholders (individual fulfillment, business development, societal and environmental impact, added value for stakeholders and value creation for all).

The company is also becoming more sustainable over time, the foundation being solid because it is coherent, and adaptive because it listens to the needs of each individual.

This is what we call the harmonious development of the company.

They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it

Is managing the company with such an integral approach a sweet dream? A utopia impossible to achieve? A "teddy bear" concept? Is it really possible to manage all these aspects at the same time?

By having a "systemic" approach and ensuring 360° coherence around the compass of a powerful corporate culture, it is quite possible to better align and energize the company.

Companies such as Leboncoin, Castalie, Phenix, Camif, Patagonia, Clinitex, Ouicare, Voltalia, Diam, Contentsquare, Salesforce, Netflix, etc. are doing it well and are succeeding in the long run!

A change of mentality is necessary

However, this is a new conception of the company.

Many talented young people are already convinced of this, because it just seems normal to them.

As for the planet, it is a wake-up call for us (destruction of biodiversity, climate storms, global warming).

Even financiers are becoming more and more aware of this (the latest annual letter from Larry Fink, Blackrock's boss/CEO, bears witness to this). They see that the best ESG companies are outperforming. And subscriptions to SRI funds are skyrocketing, sending a mountain of money to responsible companies.

In fact, the key cog... is the leader. It's up to him to be willing to take the teams with him in this new way of looking at things, which often requires profound transformations and a change of mentality.

As Emery Jacquillat, Jean Moreau, Thibault Lamarque, Geoffroy Bonnet Eymard, Damien Neyret, Guillaume Richard and many others had the courage to do so... These entrepreneurs are leading the way and the dynamic is growing, encouraged by companies such as Good Place to Work or Glassdoor …

"The difficulty is not in understanding new ideas, but in escaping old ones" (Keynes)

When you are a leader and a manager, it is a question of being open to a new way of seeing things, behaving and acting. It is about reasoning business, finance AND global, with meaning and by respecting all stakeholders.

It is a more holistic way of doing things, which integrates new themes (corporate culture, impact, respect for stakeholders, etc.). It requires shaping a powerful corporate culture, connecting what is separate, creating coherence everywhere, finding converging balances.

While most business schools and classical consultants still think in terms of breaking down the company into silos, we must on the contrary think in terms of global coherence !

This is why we created the profession of Harmonist, to coach and encourage managers to shape their culture, reinforce their coherence and find their own harmony as efficiently as possible... because each company must implement its own way of doing things according to its culture.

Harmony in a company, is possible and highly beneficial

Once installed, the company is not only efficient, it is virtuous and multi-efficient ... Hence the impressive development of hyper-growing companies.

Yes harmony you can!

It's up to you to play if the heart tells you to. The Harmonists are at your side to maximize your chances of success and be efficient.

Patrick Vignaud, Harmonist

Acknowledgements: this article was written with the contribution of all Harmonists and following an exchange with Allen Rohr, management consultant, to whom I extend my warmest greetings.