Self-organisation

I really enjoy reading about design, philosophy, futurism, governance, motivation, and leadership, among other things. To me, when these are combined in my mind, they point to a bolder, brighter future. A future where people’s individual perspectives and contributions in the workplace are valued appropriately and perhaps, where everybody feels free and strong enough to offer them. It doesn’t make sense to me that we need other people to tell us what to do. We each need to understand what to do, and that is not the same thing.

Enter self-organisation.

Self-organisation seems to me like a natural and humane way for a group of people to work together. In this environment, people are not designated as managers of other people. Everyone makes decisions together, ideally not by consensus, but by agreeing on a method and trusting the process. Leaders emerge and people follow because their ideas are excellent and effectively communicated — not because they have to. Management can be for tasks, things and your own self, while leadership can be for people and ideas.

Paraphrased somewhat, and taken from Doug Kirkpatrick’s book, Beyond Empowerment:

Effective self-organisation requires that we balance freedom and responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is unproductive. Responsibility without freedom is frustrating. We’re looking for a harmonious balance of the two.

Self-organisation also requires integrity and learning. When we can rely on each other’s word, we can get more done, and much more efficiently. When we’re learning, we’re growing our capability, we’re self-correcting and we’re ensuring our future.

We’re trying elements of self-organisation at Optimal Workshop. We’re currently 6 months in and it’s going pretty well. I wouldn’t say we’ve cracked it yet, but things are looking positive and we’re still learning so it feels like we’re on the right track.

Self-organisation in our environment is not a free-for-all. Most people are part of a small, cross-functional ‘squad’ and all squads have objectives aligned with the company strategy. A lot like — but not entirely the same as — Spotify’s Squads.

Over the next year, I‘ll share candidly our experience of defining and implementing principles and practices for self-organisation in our workplace — and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think.