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"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

We remember this phrase from President Roosevelt's inaugural address in 1933, promising to confront the Great Depression without fear by transforming the economy and even the foundations of American society through the New Deal.

Despite all distances, organisations are going through times of great uncertainty and complexity, which require risky and courageous decisions on the part of those who lead them, decisions that involve facing major changes, profound transformations in the face of which it is normal for doubts and fears to arise. The EFQM 2020 Model, of excellence and transformation, has undergone its own metamorphosis to provide answers that help and guide us along this path where shadows may abound and mistrust may lurk.

Perhaps you identify with one of the five fears that we present, and for which we propose, or rather EFQM 2020 proposes, solutions that allow you to face them. We are going to do it from Lord Kelvin's management perspective: "define, measure and improve" models that can help us to emerge victorious from the battle with each one of them.

FEAR OF THE LEADER'S LONELINESS

 "Only three things occur naturally in organisations: friction, confusion and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.”

 Peter Drucker

To face this fear, EFQM 2020 proposes a new leadership in which loneliness is no longer the leader's natural state, but rather orients us to work on a shared and inspiring Leadership Model, which achieves, from sincere humility, the involvement of the maximum number of people by working on competencies and behaviours related to:

• Participatory vision and planning: Decision-making and goal-setting based on information, knowledge, data and forecasts that come from listening to the greatest number of partners.

• Efficient execution of team activities: Definition and improvement of processes based on collaboration, communication and teamwork. Efficient management of activities based on the care of commitment, avoiding the generation of demotivation, and the training of people, as well as the adequate provision of resources.

• Management control based on trust: Honest delegation of responsibility to teams for the achievement of results, with supervision of indicators rather than people, with a vision of talent management that is more focused on results and the contribution of value.

• Collaborative learning and innovation: Analysis of causes and problem solving in teams, from the synergy of creativity and experiences, systematisation of proven improvements, and knowledge management so that it is shared.

FEAR OF COMMITMENT

 "If leaders don't manage the culture, it will end up leading them" Dan Denison

Perhaps we could better say fear of not achieving the commitment, engagement and enthusiasm of our people, aspects that today, in the VUCA environment in which we find ourselves, are fundamental for the achievement of the organisation's Purpose, Vision and Objectives. Based on understanding commitment as a continuous search for mutual benefit person-organisation, and characterised by the proactive attitude of both parties to maintain the quality of the long-term link between them, the EFQM 2020 Model proposes as a key solution to achieve it the development of a Culture Model that allows us to work on the beliefs, values and norms, written and especially unwritten, of the organisation, as a means to obtain the change of behaviours (proactivity, flexibility, making extra efforts, adaptability, support for transformation) that will allow us to achieve the desired results.

In order to have the greatest impact on our performance and sustainability, EFQM 2020 recommends that this Culture Model should be comprehensive in order to develop in a balanced way:

• The culture associated with the involvement of all our stakeholders in the definition, deployment and monitoring of a strategy that can develop an inspiring purpose for all of them.

• Culture relates to the definition and implementation of clear values that govern decision-making and the coherent and coordinated action of the different parts of the organisation.

• The culture that drives people's commitment, from the promotion of autonomy and responsibility of individuals and teams, the development of their capabilities and the promotion of active participation in decision-making.

• The culture of innovation and learning, with a focus on achieving customer loyalty by encouraging risk-taking, promoting a non-blaming environment, valuing active listening and empathy.

Example of a High Performance Culture Model

FEAR OF FAILURE

"Success lies in the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm".

 Winston Churchill

This fear would be associated with failure in our attempt to project our future with guarantees, to not being able to define strategies with a minimum of stability and reliability.

The solution to overcome this fear, according to EFQM 2020, would be associated with the definition of a single, simple and flexible Strategic Framework, connected to the operational layer, and with which to make decisions in an agile way, and which could be composed of:

• A reduced set of priorities or challenges, in the form of Strategic Lines, which allow us to strike a balance between setting the axes of our preferred work and enabling us to react with agility to changes in the environment.

• A Key Results Table, with corresponding targets set periodically, which allows for understanding of the objectives and facilitates deployment in all areas of the organisation.

• A Project Portfolio that integrates the organisation's existing strategic transformation projects, enabling all participants with responsibility for them to understand the why and wherefore of these initiatives associated with the achievement of the strategy.

• A clear deployment of some of these goals by linking them to the proper functioning and improvement of the organisation's Processes, thus connecting the formulation of the Strategy with its practical implementation through the monitoring and control of the day-to-day operational activities of the processes' dashboards.

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

The species that survive are not the strongest, nor the fastest, nor the most intelligent, they are those that are best adapted to change'. Charles Darwin

This fear is related to the barriers that appear when we feel the need to go out of our known zone of action to react to changes in the environment, and even more so when the need to address a deeper transformation arises due to the intensity or flow of these changes.

In order not to be paralysed and to avoid the deception of "Let's make everything change so that everything stays the same", EFQM 2020 guides us to develop a scheme associated with Transformation Management that outlines how to carry it out:

• Connecting strategy with transformation projects (digital, cultural, business model, management model).
• The use of continuous improvement, innovation and learning tools.
• Analysis and reflection on information with systematised sources and methods as part of Knowledge Management.
• The standardisation of changes in management processes as a result of proper Change Management.
• The promotion and management of innovation projects, and the effective extension and exploitation of their results.

FEAR OF FLIGHT

"Effectiveness and efficiency secure the present, but only innovation can take us into the future. "

Nacho Torre

The fear of "taking off", of leaving behind our stable and sometimes very rigid management models, to face the need to adapt and respond to changes in the environment with a different, agile definition and management of processes that takes advantage of the possibilities of technology to provide and analyse the key information of the Process with speed and value:

• Contribution to the Strategy
• Connecting with the Customer Experience
• Needs and expectations of process customers
• Interrelationships with other Processes

And that EFQM 2020 suggests could be in a good Process Monitor:

• PERFORMANCE Monitor
• RISK Monitor
• CHANGE Monitor

By way of summary and conclusion, and as our colleague Mónica Nájera expressed in a talk on Sustainable Growth: In these turbulent times, as proposed by EFQM 2020, we need inspiring leaders from the example of a Culture of integrity and social responsibility, who define and communicate strategies that guide us on this uncertain path, taking trust as a starting point, overcoming difficulties thanks to the commitment of all, and having as a goal an inspiring purpose with an impact on the improvement of society.