I wanted to discuss how molds are the inhibitors of success in today’s agile economy. With the pace at which technology, practices and businesses evolve, molds that were once created to provide rigid, top-down structure 100 years ago are now useless and archaic. Companies must learn to stand on their own with employees who can be trusted to get the job done without a lot of rules and structure.

Companies that focus too much on structure and too little on values will not keep up with the economy. If passion about solving a problem won’t hold a company together but rather layers of management and tons of check-in meetings will, then the company doesn’t stand a chance.

So if we don’t have structure, what do we have? We have values to support and grow a company. Employees that believe in company values and a unified culture are stronger than any organizational chart could create.

Managing with molds will not cut it today. You must create values and hire people that believe in those values enough to work hard and help the company succeed. Hiring weak employees and using molds to make them into great ones won’t work. Employees that need molds as motivation will only slow a company down, as well as drag the passionate employees with them.

Sometimes, in order to succeed, you have to let the fence fall down and let the reigns slacken a little bit. This will let you know if your company or team really has what it takes to succeed or if you are merely delaying failure.

Photo courtesy of Brian Bennet