Making decisions in complex situations
Agility, Innovation and Engagement in a Digital, Uncertain and Complex World
The Tea Strategy is a book that truly impressed me. Over the course of the last twenty years of reading, it is one of the rare works where I found truly pioneering and interesting approach, methods and tools.
Alessandro Biscaccianti, Expert in Change Management and Teams’ Effectiveness, President of Transformactions
Olivier ZARA invites us to reflect on the 7 challenges of our organizations in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.
This book shows us how to develop operational and decision-making excellence, using concrete methods to foster collective intelligence. A book to read and re-read!
Stanislas Callot, Dr. Ing. Propulsion Aéronautique, Black Belt Lean-6, Head of Civil Engine Support Progress at Safran Aircraft Engines
Olivier Zara's entire collection must not be missed if you want to be a good manager, a good leader or just to enjoy your work. He replaces a panoply of coaches, corporate psychologists or ergonomists, and management professors. He gives the keys to improve performance and strategy in companies in a simple and pragmatic way, with an implacable method.
Romain HEITZ, Director of Innovation at Solutions Productives
More than a book! The culmination of fifteen years of reflection on the success of companies in a VUCA world as well as a great deal of practical advice to implement in a way that wastes no time and lifts spirits!
Guillaume Peter, Senior Auditor at SFR Corporate Academy
The Tea Strategy, by Olivier Zara, presents an approach that is as solid as it is smart for going beyond the traditional pyramid model that is still dominant in most businesses in France, without falling into the dogmatism often found among proponents of new managerial approaches such as Freedom Form organization or Holacracy. The guiding thread of the work is the search for decision-making excellence that emphasizes what he calls “upstream performance,” as opposed to “downstream performance,” which is solely focused on execution.
Contrary to Freedom Form enthusiasts, Olivier Zara does not suggest that middle management be eliminated, but proposes that they be connected to new sources of legitimacy in the face of what he identifies as the four great categories of “blank pages”: complex situations, for which there is no obvious solution.
Addressed to first line managers as well as project managers and executives, The Tea Strategy enriches the body of works on management and digital strategy with reflection that is both subtle and pragmatic. It offers keys for mobilizing agility, facilitating innovation and generating engagement in an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA).
It is in my view one of the most pertinent and useful works that you can currently read on this subject, and on decision-making excellence.
Robert de Quelen, International Business Coach
I discovered Olivier Zara by chance while looking for books on collective intelligence. I bought a copy of his book “Le management de l'intelligence collective.” What an experience! I then bought all his books and enjoyed that same wonderful experience again.
The Tea Strategy is an exceptionally clear book. It presents highly innovative concepts. It propels into the future any leader or manager who wants to create purpose, trust and engagement by mobilizing collective intelligence.
As a bonus, eight chapters are available to download free of charge: two for the price of one! This book is a must-read and, for me, a valuable resource.
François Lavallée, Organizational Biologist, Director of AliterConcept wwwaliterconcept.com
The book could be called “The T-Square Strategy,” so completely at right angles is it to conventional management methods and practices. Reading it reveals how important it is to manage complex situations differently from complicated ones. Practical approaches such as sharing leadership, making appropriate use of hierarchical and collaborative relationships, and applying methods for collective creativity and intelligence are explained, helping readers understand how to master complexity, nonlinear phenomena and unprecedented situations. The challenge with this book is that a first reading is not always enough to absorb the wealth of fresh concepts and tools it offers. You can sense the author's respect for his readers, and the reading needs to be followed by personal reflection to fully grasp his ideas and adapt the techniques to your own environment. An important chapter is devoted to collective reflection: how to elicit relevant contributions regardless of hierarchy, expertise, seniority or level of responsibility. This is revolutionary because it calls the very foundations of managerial legitimacy into question. Yet, by mobilizing people's intelligence, it proves to be a powerful instrument for success, collective engagement and the inclusion of every talent.
This book is not for everyone. The Tea Strategy is intended only for organizations facing a shifting, unpredictable environment. The tools it describes are of little practical use to organizations operating in a stable, linear environment.
The Tea Strategy is also for organizations and individuals capable of combining humility with ambition. It takes considerable humility to admit that you do not understand the ramifications of a complex system whose interactions can sometimes be treacherous. At the same time, it takes great ambition to volunteer to lead the climb at the foot of an unknown mountain. This book will be subversive for many established managers who, as they turn the pages, will inevitably sense that they are becoming more and more part of the problem and less and less part of the solution.
Marc Weltmann, Director of Nexidée, International Procurement Specialist & Former Armed Forces Commissary
The Tea Strategy is the strategy of infusion, complementary to diffusion. Infusing know-how entails mutual enrichment, constructing together to such an extent that the final brew is homogenous. Behind the relevant image hides a profound reflection on identifying essential know-how in our VUCA world and on how it is acquired and co-acquired. A good reading, conceptual as well as practical, all of which is much needed. Olivier Zara is a helicopter man who knows how to bring readers to the top of mountains as well as down into the valleys.
Dominique Turcq, Management Consultant and futurist, founder of the Boostzone Institute who specializes in the managerial implications of new technologies and political, economic and societal change.
The world of the 21st century is:
It requires us to work with two components: order and chaos. They are opposed, yet together they contribute to sustainable business performance, provided we move beyond the Taylorist paradigm of the last century and its binary thinking to embrace the challenge of complex thinking through paradoxical management. You will tackle seven challenges:
This paradoxical leadership, as a form of social innovation, will then spread through an experiential (rather than cognitive) approach, driven by pioneering employees and managers with Olivier Zara's The Tea Strategy.
Xavier Richard, Branch Manager at Caisse d'Épargne CEPA
Business leaders who want to grow their companies should all have read this book! It discusses the way in which economic performance conjoins with social performance thanks to effective collaboration by means of a true collective intelligence.
Soazic Pincent, Consultant in Marketing Strategy & Management, founder of SPI’WINCH
I recommend this new UFO designed by Olivier Zara, who offers you the very precise keys to understanding how to participate concretely and serenely in the managerial revolution that is underway!
Stéphane Durand, Consultant in management and complex project management
To borrow the Tea metaphor, this book is delicious and refined. It demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between the complicated and the complex. It invites us to no longer confuse the collaborative intelligence useful for executing a decision with the collective intelligence useful for designing it. It illuminates concepts and suggests concrete, objective and coherent approaches.
This book is convivial and fresh, all while offering impact unparalleled effectiveness! The Tea Strategy is an unmissable book to manage effectively. Olivier Zara illustrates in a remarkable way the importance and urgency of addressing management differently.
Maritza Mustelier, Founder and facilitator at AiSens