Traditional companies are learning to work more agilely and collaboratively to cope with increasing pace, growing customer demands, and a more turbulent business environment.
More self-organized, flexibly composed, networked teams are a characteristic of future-oriented organizations (fluid organization). Employees can have multiple roles, also changing in different teams, (instead of rigid job descriptions).
Self-organization often succeeds quite easily with teams that form around a topic. Communities, for example, come together through a common interest and a unifying theme. Leadership tasks are usually distributed among several people as needed or performed by them alternately.
It looks different in a hierarchically shaped environment. Misunderstood, self-organization would be seen as pure self-abandonment or freedom from hierarchy. Self-organization needs a clear framework and rules.
The Tuckman model provides orientation to the different stages of self-organization:
In our work with various companies, the following principles have proven successful in practice:
- The teams work within a binding, clearly communicated framework and fulfill a defined responsibility with a clear business result orientation.
- Within this framework, the teams act in a self-organized manner and shape their work with a view to their goals. This includes planning and executing tasks, information, coordination and decision-making, feedback and learning.
- All professional competencies required to achieve the goals are represented in the team. Collaboration requires a high degree of personal responsibility and discipline from all involved. The participants have confidence in their own expertise and that of others.
- Control is managed through result points (measurable outcomes), reviews, and learning loops. An open dialogue about goal achievement of measures or projects of the teams is crucial. OKRs are helpful for consistent and transparent goal management.
And What Does Leadership Do? Even if it may sound paradoxical – leadership leads the organization into self-organization. A new, very demanding role of leadership:
- It creates the framework for self-organization.
- It provides orientation to the teams and creates clear responsibility.
- It supports and coaches the teams.
- It provides the necessary freedoms and boundaries.
- It allows self-organization of individual teams without losing sight of the overarching coordination.
Traditional companies are learning to work more agilely and collaboratively to cope with increasing pace, growing customer demands, and a more turbulent business environment.
More self-organized, flexibly composed, networked teams are a characteristic of future-oriented organizations (fluid organization). Employees can have multiple roles, also changing in different teams, (instead of rigid job descriptions).
Self-organization often succeeds quite easily with teams that form around a topic. Communities, for example, come together through a common interest and a unifying theme. Leadership tasks are usually distributed among several people as needed or performed by them alternately.
It looks different in a hierarchically shaped environment. Misunderstood, self-organization would be seen as pure self-abandonment or freedom from hierarchy. Self-organization needs a clear framework and rules.
The Tuckman model provides orientation to the different stages of self-organization:
In our work with various companies, the following principles have proven successful in practice:
And What Does Leadership Do? Even if it may sound paradoxical – leadership leads the organization into self-organization. A new, very demanding role of leadership: