My second book should be published before the end of the year. Titled “Game On! Tactics to Win When Change is Constant” it uses a soccer analogy to describe how individuals and organisations can not only survive but thrive in a world of volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous change.
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Accessible information and knowledge is a key factor in productivity, competitiveness, employee engagement and growth. It is not enough to make information available; it needs to be accessible – and accessible by all.
In a flat organisation, knowledge and information flows freely and employees are enabled make decisions and drive change as they have relevant knowledge and information available to them.
Read MoreAgile is not a noun. It’s not about IT or control or the work. It’s not a Band Aid solution. Are you ready?
Read MoreI recently wrote an article for AXELOS about digital transformation..
“Like conducting heart surgery, leaders need to open up and look inside their organizations to see how they are going to help their workforce innovate, experiment and make decisions.
Though the traditional “command and control” structure won’t work for today’s organizational transformation challenges, neither will sending people on an Agile course alone.”
Read more.
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This post in the series “Kill the Hierarchy” I explore how a flatter organisational structure requires an environment of high trust and mutual respect.
Without trust, things just wont get done as fast as they are needed. If we are removing unnecessary managerial layers we have to trust employees to do the right thing. Employees have to trust their leadership to do the right thing. Establishing trust is also a prerequisite to flattening the hierarchy in the first place.
Read MoreI love Tracy Maylett’s description of an organisation without employee autonomy. Writing for Entrepreneur, he says:
“Without it your workforce may become the “land of the working dead,” roaming endlessly in zombie-like fashion, waiting to be told what to do next. Not an enjoyable workplace for employees nor managers, by any stretch”.
Employee autonomy is about giving employees the right to do the work they want, how they want and when they want.
Read MoreIn a world of constant change, there are only three roles we need in order to create a resilient workforce - managers, coaches and players. A winning team that says "Game On!"
Watch this animation to find out more.
Read MoreCommunication is the flow of information between people.
Organisations will not survive without it.
Open communication occurs when everyone can participate, discuss, debate and express ideas.
Everyone is equal and participating on a level playing field with a transparent relationship.
Organisations will not thrive without it.
Read MoreWhen organisations nurture leadership on an organisation-wide level, the entire organisation and every employee will prosper and grow.
Everyone has a significant contribution to make and their voices need to be heard.
More over, they need to be able to challenge the status quo, make decisions, initiate and drive change and be seen as leaders in their own right.
Read MoreIn a hierarchical organisation, employees tend not to be engaged or committed to the work they do. There is limited collaboration.
More and more organisations are recognising that their structure is hampering effective collaboration. Its hierarchical and siloed structure obstructs cross-functional working, collective problem solving and decision-making located where best suited, and effective communication to support dynamic collaboration.
Read MoreIn this post in the series “Kill the Hierarchy” I explore how the organisation needs to give employees ownership of outcomes, if it is going to survive in a world of complex and constant change. A flatter hierarchy will be needed to achieve this.
Read MoreTalking with Sonia Irwin, Founder and strategist at Redgrass Communications. Sonia is also the organiser of Convergence Australia, a change conference now in its third year.
Read MoreFor an organisation to survive and thrive in a world of constant and uncertain change, the organisation has to be one in which leadership is important, but MORE important is a collaborative workplace in which transparency and creative freedom reign over hierarchical boundaries. Organisations need to give employees increased influence which is enabled via a flat or flatter organisational structure.
Read MoreFlatter structures work well for organisations that need to innovate and respond quickly in a rapidly changing environment.
Large organisations with traditional hierarchies and a command and control management approach have to flatten the hierarchy and operate more like a smaller organisation unless they want to be adversely disrupted.
Read MoreIs your organisational struggling to adapt to a world in which constant change is the new norm?
Is your organizational change management approach aligned to rapid, continuous and iterative change?
No? It can be.
Read MoreIn traditional hierarchical organisations, titles are very important. They are a sign of past performance, power and prestige.
Some organisations that are genuinely flat have done away with roles and titles altogether!
At Morning Star everyone is known as a “Colleague”.
At W.L. Gore everyone is known as an “Associate”.
At Zappos everyone is known as a “Partner”.
But there are various degrees of de-labelling.
Read MoreIt was refreshing to read the 4 Change Management Trends in 2020 by Tim Creasey, Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci.
I wonder if you are seeing the same four trends that the 1,778 change practitioners told Prosci?
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We have seen some serious repercussions in Australia from poorly thought out targets and metrics. They have had lasting repetitional and financial damage. There are serious lessons to be learnt.
Read MoreThis post in the series “Kill the Hierarchy” I explore how flattening the organisational structure will increase a manager’s span of control but does not mean increased workload. Adoption of self-management will avoid that and bring additional benefits.
Genuine flat structures have a workforce that is self-managing. Employees have delegated decision-making authority, autonomy, empowerment and red tape is eliminated.
Therefore, the ‘manager’ has less to do!
Read MoreWell it was an early start for me today. Up at 4am to watch my Liverpool FC play Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final from Kiev.
Despite the result not going our way, (Madrid 3 - Liverpool 1), just watching the behaviour of the manager, coaches and players and the supporters inspired me to continue my posts that have a soccer analogy associated with them.
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