Leading a free organization — Walking the tightrope

GetConnectance
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

A father and son are flying a kite. After some time, the son observes, “Dad, because of the string, the kite is not able to go any higher.” Upon hearing this, the father smiles and breaks off the string. The kite does go higher initially, just after the thread has been broken off, but shortly after that, it begins to spiral down and finally falls on the ground. The child is sad. The father sits next to him and explains, “When we reach a certain level of independence and start feeling that certain realities are not allowing us to grow any further, like our home, family, culture or friendship, we might feel the need to break free from those strings. But these strings help us remain stable at a height.”

Having worked with different companies we have often sensed a dilemma, where the senior leadership seem to struggle with whether rules help the organization or hold it back from achieving higher goals. This dilemma of the senior leadership, at times, may be sending confusing messages to the teams.

The new generation of entrepreneurs look up to inspiring leaders like Steve Jobs, Facebook & Google founders, who have changed the way organizations work. Their aspiration to create a similar work environment is natural. No workplace dress code, no fixed office timings, no restriction on holidays, nobody to watch over or manage are some of the trends these new entrepreneurs would like to adopt.

While there are benefits to an open work environment, the leaders emulate these practices without understanding how to adapt them to their environment or equip their team and their managers to manage & sustain such an environment.

As some start-ups transition into the growth phase, the leaders struggle and get exhausted trying to retain the open & transparent culture.

A simple example to understand the complexity of managing a free organizations is implementing the ‘Flexi- time’ concept, where the employee is free to walk in and out of office anytime, they can decide whether they want to come to office or work from home or not work at all on that particular day. To continue this benefit in a collaborative environment becomes difficult if the team does not follow self-discipline. For flexi time to work well the team needs to understand that it is ‘inter- dependence’ and not only independence that is needed. Just as the father says to the child that factors like family, friends, etc. help the individual to remain stable at a height.

The organization ultimately exists to grow a sustainable business. If the commitment to provide a progressive, free environment is coming in the way of their existence then they need to decide how to make things work. The leaders have to understand and make changes to their leadership styles to lead a free environment without allowing the organization to crumble under its own ideals.


By Deepti Lewis

Connectance

Connectance partners with leaders of SMEs, Start ups, Social Entrepreneurs and NGOs to build humane and unique organizations.

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GetConnectance

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Connectance

Connectance partners with leaders of SMEs, Start ups, Social Entrepreneurs and NGOs to build humane and unique organizations.

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