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RETHINKING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE

Written by: Roger Ingbretsen

Article Overview: The future lies in creating and inventing tomorrow. This can mean inventing new and exciting markets, products, services and methods…and an organizational culture capable and driven to take advantage of opportunities as they appear. These new organizations must become acutely sensitive as to who they are, what they are all about, what their culture is and then work hard to adapt to a new flow of ideas.

RETHINKING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE

Old Survival Activities New Innovative Activities

Traditional Hierarchy Networked Hierarchy
(One person responsible) (Shared leadership and responsible teams)

Making/Obeying Rules Changing Rules
(Who is authorized to do what) (Everyone authorized to do what it takes)

Optimization Experimentation
(Getting everything perfect) (Constant action, constant feedback)

Re-engineering Reinvention
(More of the same only better) (Totally new products and services) products/services/process)

Internal Restructuring External & Internal Alliance
(Rearrange organizational charts) (Restructure, outsource, and work with the best)


Thinking in old or traditional ways blocks innovative and visionary thinking. When rethinking the organization of the future, no process, method or organizational structure should be regarded as indispensable or sacred. When attempting to transform any organization the very basic questions of: where are we? Where do we go from here? And how are we going to get there? Need to be honestly addressed. Key to this investigation is understanding both individual and organizational beliefs. But you must even go beyond these basics. You need to break habitual thinking patterns and deconstruct the situation, looking at all elements without prejudgment. Then dialogue can take place, which allows creative thinking and expression to evolve.

The future lies in creating and inventing tomorrow. This can mean inventing new and exciting markets, products, services and methods…and an organizational culture capable and driven to take advantage of opportunities as they appear. These new organizations must become acutely sensitive as to who they are, what they are all about, what their culture is and then work hard to adapt to a new flow of ideas. This will require an evolutionary process, which should be pursued in a revolutionary manner. Whatever the future brings, organizations cannot hide behind the walls of tradition. Dismantling and rebuilding on a day-to-day basis is required to constantly build an emerging and evolving organization, which is better prepared to meet the future.

Research into the new sciences has I believe yielded a great new set of practical applications for organizational structure. Those bold enough to don the lenses of the new science thinking, understand that the new world they are entering means they are about to experience a transformational process of discovery and learning. Continuous learning will become the only realistic and practical approach to thriving and surviving in the new marketplace marked by constant change. More daunting for the leader than the obvious challenge of “managing change” – a euphemism for coping with confusion and uncertainty, since change cannot be managed or contained – is the extraordinary feat of relinquishing control. Every time a real or perceived barrier is erected between people whether it is a title, department or a division, the strength of the whole is diminished. As a leader you will not personally hit your organizations goals nor will you personally hit your organizations numbers or the desired deadlines…your people will. People are the bridge to the future. Without them even the very best thought through plan will fail.

One of the challenges for leaders in the new economy is that they have personal impact on others through both conversational and emotional contact. People generally want to do the right thing, however; they need to feel engaged to the point that they are emotionally interested in what it is they are being asked to accomplish. People need to believe and feel that what they are doing is in both their and the organizations best interest. Explaining “what’s in it for us” and “what’s in it for me” goes a long way toward getting buy-in from the very people who need to make it happen.

The words used by a leader are very important because they can be life changing and help formulate the magic needed to inspire people to action. It is also important to remember that leaders constantly operate in a fish bowl. As a result the leader acts like a barometer helping to forecast the climate of the organization. Additionally, the demonstrated beliefs of the leader can quickly become the accepted beliefs of the follower. It is in fact very difficult to create a desired culture if you behave differently than what you expect.

The new theoretical lenses of chaos, complexity theories challenge the old assumptions. These new theories are meeting only with limited success when applied to organizational structure. I believe this is because many organizations cannot, or do not, realize that the old management styles do not fit a new organizational model. The new model requires continuous adaptation to situations, markets and the diversity of people in a landscape of continuous change. The dynamics of traditional management were expressed as a tendency toward equilibrium or stability, regularity and predictability. As new insight is gained on organizational success, a different picture has evolved, one in which ambiguity, change, non-linearity, diversity, anxiety, and fluctuations tend to be the forces that mold organizational fitness.

Complexity within an organization can be best described as the point in which innovation is continually being created which leads to even more unusual discoveries which in turn constantly develops new patterns of organizational language and behavior. I have come to the realization that if organizations are to be successful in the new business climate; they must be built on a foundation of innovative discomfort and stress. To foster this environment leaders and followers must create a climate in which people at all levels can feel free to test the boundaries of constraint, ask “why not?” take risks and make decisions.

Imagine an organization, which is made up of a portfolio of innovative projects and creative processes, constantly exploring new opportunities. Now think of an organization comprised of traditional functional departments. Which one would you like to lead or be a member of? “There is no silver bullet approach,” but that should not stop us from constantly rethinking our approach to forming new organizational processes. We live in chaotic and ever changing times, which will dictate that an organization - just like any other system in the universe - is continually emerging to higher and higher orders of complexity. I would also caution that it is not enough to simply rethink and change assumptions. The new enterprise needs to speak and act differently. New beliefs need to be encouraged and supported by all stakeholders if the emerging organization is to become a reality.

Information must be allowed to flow freely and people must network not as managers, employees or customers but as human beings who can truly express their beliefs, feelings and emotions. The new science thinking is not about incremental tactics and strategic moves; it’s about new thinking, which will allow organizations to thrive in a new business world, a world dominated by relationships. The new business world is not about transactions; it’s about transforming practices that impact and reinvents the relationships of people inside and outside the organization.

Obviously there is much more to be said about the intriguing subjects of leadership and organizational outcomes. The ideas I’ve shared represent but a small fraction of the vast reservoir of present and yet to be discovered knowledge on the subjects. With what has been presented, I hope to have provoked readers into cultivating a new appreciation of the challenges facing most organizations in today’s world. Hopefully your curiosity has been peaked into exploring new images of leadership, and follower-ship, and new ways of rethinking organizational behavior.

In the end, if we are ever going to realize true on-going innovation in our organizations, we will need to leverage the talents and commitment of all stakeholders. Doing so will require immersion into the whole rather than adjustment of the parts. I believe when we craft an organizational culture that celebrates both leading and following roles and considers all the complexities and diversity of our individual beliefs, feelings and emotions; then a more realistic model is formed. When this approach is used it will foster a climate in which people become innovative, more committed and participate more freely in the future success of the entire enterprise.

Copyright Information:

You MAY reprint the information contained in this article as long as no portion of the contents are modified and it used “exclusively” within your organization. You must also give credit to information by including the tag line...Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and Career Developer.

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Article Tags: basic questions, creative thinking, dialogue, elements, expression, leadership, optimization, organizational charts, organizational culture, organizational structure, outsource, restructuring, revolutionary manner, survival, traditional hierarchy



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