The little-known leadership ‘Archimedes Principle’ – as well as ‘Failure Demand’ in public services – are two things that all too often wreak havoc through our organisations, the first vertically and the second horizontally.
Quite a piece, Matthew! A few interesting new concepts for me in here.
I think we need to be cognisant of an organisations purpose (by which I mean the thing it is meant to be doing e.g. delivering health services, creating technology products, manufacturing cars etc) as this deternines what structures and concepts are appropriate. On organisation like the NHS has always been hierarchical and probably has to be, although there may be areas where a more self-organising approach can work. However, as we've seen, it's difficult to ringfence these and they tend to get neutralised by the organisational antibodies.
There are also certain beliefs and philosophies that underpin organisational strutures that need to be exposed and considered. Successful alternative to hierarchy, like Buurtzorg and Haier for example, have a depth and richness here that is lacking in traditional structures. The NHS also has this depth but it is only imprecisely articulated and often ignored, but it's why we are so proud of it as a symbol of our country.
I'll stop there before my comment get as long as your post!
Glad you managed to dig through it all, Colin. Someone pointed out earlier that it was probably three blogs in one (at least) ;-)
I do hope we get to a point where people are able to choose whether hierarchy or self-management is needed, depending on the situation. To notice whether we have a complicated problem or a complex one etc.
i need to learn more about Haier. And hasn't Bayer in Germany somehow gone self-managing...?
The Buurtzorg team found that even a very traditional care homes org can go self-managing in a few months, something like that anyway.
What the NHS could do - given the opportunity, and real freedom - would probably astonish us all.
BTW, is Reinventing Work London still organising meetings?
Quite a piece, Matthew! A few interesting new concepts for me in here.
I think we need to be cognisant of an organisations purpose (by which I mean the thing it is meant to be doing e.g. delivering health services, creating technology products, manufacturing cars etc) as this deternines what structures and concepts are appropriate. On organisation like the NHS has always been hierarchical and probably has to be, although there may be areas where a more self-organising approach can work. However, as we've seen, it's difficult to ringfence these and they tend to get neutralised by the organisational antibodies.
There are also certain beliefs and philosophies that underpin organisational strutures that need to be exposed and considered. Successful alternative to hierarchy, like Buurtzorg and Haier for example, have a depth and richness here that is lacking in traditional structures. The NHS also has this depth but it is only imprecisely articulated and often ignored, but it's why we are so proud of it as a symbol of our country.
I'll stop there before my comment get as long as your post!
Glad you managed to dig through it all, Colin. Someone pointed out earlier that it was probably three blogs in one (at least) ;-)
I do hope we get to a point where people are able to choose whether hierarchy or self-management is needed, depending on the situation. To notice whether we have a complicated problem or a complex one etc.
i need to learn more about Haier. And hasn't Bayer in Germany somehow gone self-managing...?
The Buurtzorg team found that even a very traditional care homes org can go self-managing in a few months, something like that anyway.
What the NHS could do - given the opportunity, and real freedom - would probably astonish us all.
BTW, is Reinventing Work London still organising meetings?