The New Way of Organizing (Part 3)

The first blog on this topic was about the traditional way of organizing work and how it doesn't serve us anymore. Part 2 introduced the New Way of Organizing as presented below. 

Part 3 will shortly talk about the organizing principles behind this model. Simply put it is about: Why, What and How.

The Why is about why we have organized ourselves in the first place. It is the uniting principle where (groups of) people are connected to an overall goal and to each other. Most organizations have a vision. but very often it is a 'lip service', a PR-statement or a 10-page document. A good uniting vision should be short, clear and crisp aimed at both the heart and mind of people. Every member of the organization should know and embrace the vision.

The What is derived from the vision. It is translating the vision into practical result areas and refining those result areas into result contracts. People or groups of people are taking on that contract and commit themselves into delivering the results. 

The How is about how we will get to those results. What processes, rules and procedures are at the disposal of those 'contractors' and what kind of behavior (derived from core values) is effective and acceptable in getting the results. So the how is about the structure and culture of the organization.

The New Way of Organizing should result in a 'fluid' organizations that adapts very easy to changes in the context. How fixed or flexible are these organizing principles? An organization will not very often change its Why, its vision. It is the most stable principle. The What is somewhat more adaptable depending on the level. Having new result areas - which translates into new products and services for the customers or new supporting services - will happen every now and then. The detailed result contracts will change every year or even more often. The How is somewhere between the Why and the What and also depends on the type. Processes are in for continued optimization and its supporting rules & procedures should have that as well. Culture however is less flexible. You cannot change a culture overnight. It takes years and it is very hard to 'engineer' a culture (though not impossible).

All of this doesn't sound very 'fluid', does it? So how is this New Way of Organizing more flexible than the old industrial model? The answer is: through the activities of its people. The New Way of Organizing creates a framework where people are directed and guided on the one hand but also left to the circumstances on the other. It deliberately creates space and 'uncertainty' for people to operate so that they need their talent, their competencies and even their passion in order to make the results to which they committed. That space should be exactly right. Not too much space where people feel lost and unconnected. Not too little space where people feel trapped or suffocated and just a 'cog in a machine'. Finding this 'sweet spot' of space is not easy. It requires experimentation and it changes over time. As people learn to adapt to working within that new space, you will need to stretch it a little more. If you stretch it beyond the capacities, you will need to shrink it again. So also the framework itself is somewhat flexible.