Skip to main content

Future organisations.

The future organizations will be different. The industrial age has brought to us organizational hierarchies for daily decision-making, the rigor of group meetings, and unfathomable goal tracking herded by someone. They have made stock expectations and role-based job assignments mainstream. It is plain unproductive; misses the whole point; people are capable of much more.

In the future, leaders who care to make an impact need to think differently. Organizing people for some useful cause requires a more common sense of the past. Throughout the history of mankind, communication, worthy cause, and well-organized efforts have separated those who have progressed in their intent from those who have not.

History shows us that many emperors have rallied locals from geographies they conquered and turned them into loyal troops through organizational structures that were loosely coupled. They focused on giving people a sense of purpose (albeit to the detriment of peoples' own social structures), and common beliefs. To build loyalty, they offered stature through broad responsibilities and recognition.

Fast forward to the present day. We have industrial-age organizations that mimic historical command and control models. They too created purposeful structures which focused on achieving leaders' visions. The environment was efficient, and individuals progressed. Their specific skills remained relevant for their entire career span. However, over decades this model has taken away independent thinking.

As more and more of us discover this, large organizations with an industrial mindset are likely to be fast out of fashion. They are devoid of ownership and responsibility. And accountability. Instead, one is faced with stripped decision-making and has to battle with hierarchies which cause dissatisfaction.

On the flip side, the workforce knows the future belongs to them when they possess skills. They don't need to hesitate to seek the agency back in their corner. If they push hard, they are sure to get deep and wide responsibilities. So they can demand full-stack, end-to-end responsibilities that allow them to be accountable.

The new age contributor likes having control over what they take up on their shoulder and says no to what they don't want. 

Beware! The change is underway on both sides of the coin. Experience it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Checks and balances!

Defining a good purpose, setting a target goal and getting people working on them is usually not enough! There are too many aspects involved in getting the results we want. For example, there is an aspect of painting the big picture, working on motivation management, productivity tracking, building experimentation labs, and erecting resilient systems that systematize the workflows. Just putting bodies to work and defining milestones rarely achieves the right results. The other aspects that help march towards the milestones in an orderly manner, they are equally important. At the very least, they make objectives widely understandable and results more attainable. The job of a thought leader is to enable progress and enable recovery. Therefore, it is never enough to have just ideas. Those with ideas also have the responsibility to assemble the work environment in such a way as to create situations containing the energy disperses. Energy dispersal from lack of clarity, loss of motivation, ...

Choking the communication channel.

There are instances where everything looks in order. Structures are rightly in place. Right roles are defined. Responsibilities are distributed. Bi-directional open communication is expected to take place. And with that, collective work is expected to turn out productive. Yet, when the action begins, everything breaks apart. Productivity dwindles, cooperation is missing, and ad-hoc interactions are common-place That creates chaos. No one appears in charge even though there is someone responsible. It clearly is a sign of broken communication channels. A well-orchestrated workplace focuses on methods to communicate grounds-up and top-down. It encourages patient listening, internalizing and responding rather than reacting. All effective open communication channels are a result of making such communication possible. Often, the structures are set such that you centralize communication of every bit of your activity to someone in the hierarchy. Over time it turns into a permission-based inter...

The hyacinth at the surface - nectar - just beneath!

The envy of comparison is an unconscious, quietly growing emotion, like water hyacinth spreading unnoticed on a pond's surface. It surrounds the nectar of the water, creating the illusion of poison. The water itself, however, is inherently sweet, with the nectar infused deeply within it. But just cast off the tangled trap of those creeping vines, and the water will reveal its true nature—flowing freely, tirelessly, with a sparkling clarity. Water’s existence, its entire journey, is one of cooperation, of giving endlessly with a pure heart.  Even in the face of numerous obstacles and thorns along its path, water remains undeterred—a divine miracle, no doubt, but one forged through relentless effort. Who notices this journey? Who understands it? Water has no respite—it constantly battles friction and wear. "Why is this thorny life my lot?" It may ask, as feelings of resentment, anger, jealousy, hatred, sorrow, and helplessness arise. Just when it seems trapped, its spirit s...