Involvement and withdrawal

We often mingle mobilization and involvement . But if we mobilize people - often by paying them - so that they do what we want, they have to get involved themselves to take the risk of making what they think is good. Indeed, the coordinator is not always everywhere. The people who get involved can take initiatives according to information they have but not the coordinator. Involvement is absolutely necessary in an unpredictable environment which changes permanently, for example in the field of innovation or else when we working with people rather than machines or objects.

Three things can influence on the level of people's involvement :

• Motivation (esteem, pleasure, learning new things...)
• Restraints (lack of confidence, precarious self security, fear of being unable to withdraw...)
• The threshold level of acting out (an easy-to-understand project, reactive managers ...)

A special alertness about withdrawal is neededbecause it is a contagious illness in a group. Two expressions must alert us:

• "Holy Shit!" (spotted out by François de Closet on the problems with the ORTF, the former French TV broadcast)
• "It's not my problem !" (we stay mobilized but not involved...)