Fewer rules and a different way of organizing

Conductor Leonard Bernstein was by no means an easygoing type (the stories of his tantrums are legendary), but his performance of Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is a textbook example of how servant leadership makes a group of professionals work as effectively as possible. The rules are known (the notes are on paper), the people are competent (all selected through rigorous auditions and endless study) and the vision is shared (rehearsals are behind them). Trust and positive feedback suffice.

Bernstein rests his hands and uses his facial expressions to show his appreciation. No time is wasted on instructions or procedures. All efforts are focused on the higher goal and adding value. Team members have the freedom to determine the how of their actions. They make full use of their talents, creativity and sense of responsibility.

Agile working is the trend

Agile. Short cyclical and iterative, close to market, customer or citizen demand, not afraid to make mistakes and keep learning. It offers better visibility of your costs. But agile now also knows its shortcomings. A sprint of never longer than three weeks is very dogmatic, scaling up to the entire organization is not always obvious, and how do agile teams connect with the rest of the organization that does not work this way? Ultimately, you want to be not only agile, but also resilient. Be able to bounce back in the face of adversity and have your systems in place to ensure continuity.

Overcontrol and flexibility

Realize what you have rigged up that prevents your organization from responding flexibly. You may have introduced more and more control mechanisms in recent years in response to the increasing complexity of work. What about the growing laws and regulations from regulatory bodies? Regardless of your (legal) obligations, you may have become a victim of ‘overcontrol’. A human and systemic phenomenon that occurs when organizations want to prevent mistakes. From the (possibly unconscious) conviction that the world can be made, they design more and more control mechanisms. And when rules are piled on top of rules and nobody can oversee the total of rules or the logic behind them anymore, own initiative is eliminated. You’ll fail to make a decision if you don’t know all the rules. Better to do nothing than to do the wrong thing.

Looking at rules and responsibility differently

The desire for agility requires a fundamentally different way of looking at rules and responsibility. The best example of this comes from Frisian traffic expert Hans Monderman, the man of shared space. His credo: scrap as many rules as possible, and traffic becomes safer. In 2003, he had the traffic signs, traffic lights, speed bumps and lines removed from Laweiplein in Drachten, where 27 people had died in traffic accidents in the previous two years. Monderman turned the messy intersection into an orderly square where motorists, cyclists and pedestrians regained eye contact with each other and entered the square with their own judgment. The result was amazing and has been widely imitated (also internationally). Thus a change in context can enable desired behavior, exactly what you are looking for if you want to get your organization agile and resilient. So look for the minimum set of rules you need in your organization to give people room to take their own responsibility. And above all, don’t forget to get rid of some ingrained habits that keep you from working once and for all. Divergent signals are crucial

Fewer rules and a different organizational model

Brian Robertson, the founder of Holacracy, a new organizational model emerging in recent years, illustrates this with a story from his first solo flight as a trainee pilot. The “Low Voltage” warning light was on red. Although all other gauges indicated that everything else was fine, he ignored the light and nearly crashed. Robertson realized that a small signal can have enormous consequences, even when all other indicators are green. He translated this insight to his work. In organizations, the majority is often chosen and deviant signals are ignored. But those very signals are crucial. Holacracy is about structured self-organization. The organization has a clear goal, a purpose beyond making a profit. The organization consists of circles, teams. Everyone has the right to start a circle when he sees a reason to do so, for example, when a red light comes on. People in the organization have roles, often several, and can be part of different circles. They decide which circle they work in. There are hardly any meetings and decisions are not made top-down, but in the circles after broad advice. Transparency and working on the basis of strict agreements are essential. The organization continuously adapts when the situation makes it desirable, similar to a flock of birds.

Self-development as the ultimate development

So fewer rules. And a different organizational model. What else is involved in an agile and resilient organization? Frederic Laloux, in his book “Reinventing Organizations,” describes the self-development of organizations as the ultimate stage of their development:

• Self-organization is the norm, power is balanced
• Middle management has disappeared
• Staff and support have been reduced to a minimum
• Steering is based on trust rather than control
• There are no functions, but roles. Employees know what role they play within the whole: within their team, project, or assignment.

Based on our own practice, we add:

• People know what they contribute to and what their personal contribution is to the ambitions of the organization.
• Leadership is inspiring and connecting, and strives to make others more competent.
• There are mature working relationships. All employees are equal as people, but not in their roles. Everyone has clarity about their contribution, which reinforces the dignity of each employee.
• Management is not by input, but by agreement on qualitative results. It is about role responsibility rather than task demands.