3 Books That Will Change How You Think About Organizations And Management
The world changes! People change! On the one hand, people expect more from their jobs — they don’t want to work just for the money. They’re looking for a purpose, work that they love with people they like. They want to travel, work from home when the plumber comes and have the time to do all the things they love. So, if an employer wants to recruit the best people, then he must provide all these benefits. One the other hand, lots of companies have already proven that giving employees freedom, responsibility and a purpose, not just increases the motivation but also has a significant positive impact on company revenue and success.
Once in a while I read an eye-opening book that changes how I think about certain things. The following three books changed the way I think about organizations, jobs and management. I highly recommend to read them in 2016. It’s worse the time!
Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
This book is really a ground-breaker. The author Frederic Laloux describes the next generation of organizations — so called Evolutionary-Teal Organizations. But it’s not some obscure theory, no, it’s all based on companies which already work like this (some for more than 50 years). The book provides a framework how to start and run such an organization. It covers a lot of topics (including obstacles) and is very detailed.
So, what are Teal Organizations? Teal Organizations are self-managing organizations. It’s like a Scrum team, just bigger and more complex. Some characteristics are:
- Strong company purpose
- No formal hierarchy or job titles
- People have one or more roles and group into teams
- People are not empowered because they have power by definition. They can make all decisions which are necessary for fulfilling their role. BUT they have to seek for advice from all involved people!
- There are no secrets, all information are available for all employees
- Expect all people are good. Trust them.
- Change is constant. The organization evolves from within.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organizations-Frederic-Laloux/dp/2960133501
Creativity Inc. by Ed Cutmull
By far the most humble business book I ever read. Don’t get me wrong — I mean this is a great thing because the world is complex and there is not a single right or wrong.
The book describes how Pixar built a creative environment to become the most successful animation studio in the world.
But building a creative organization is a never ending process. There are no simple answers. Therefore the book isn’t a blueprint for other companies. It’s actually more, it’s a mindset that shows you a way to think about management and organizations.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012
Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock
Work Rules! Is a book about the organizational culture at Google, written by Google’s Senior Vice President of People Operation, Laszlo Bock.
It is really interesting to read how much effort Google invests to find the most efficient and best way to create a high-performance culture. Here are some insights from the book:
- Provide a purpose
- Have trust in people
- Hire people who are better than you
- Separate people development from performance ratings
- Focus on the top- and on the worst-performer. Top-performer can lead and teach. Worst-performer need help.
- Managers provide value to the team, but take away managers’ power over people
- There’re a hundred million small things that can improve health, wealth and wisdom of the people. Yes, it has an impact on performance.
Link: https://www.workrules.net
Bonus: REWORK by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
When I first read it in 2010 I had the feeling it was a little ahead of time. Over the years I read it again a couple of times and it always feels like a good reminder to think differently about state-of-the-art management methods.
