Week 3, 2020
PepsiCo’s Responsive WoW: Work in Public, Build SLAM Teams, and Aim for Consent
Each week I share three ideas for how to make work better. And this week, that means exploring one company’s answer to the million-dollar question: How might we become more agile?
Why am I writing about this? Last week’s issue on Business Agility (see w22020) was very much about the what and why: what is Business Agility and why is it so important?
This week, I thought we’d explore the how. And to do that, I’ve decided to tap a somewhat unlikely source: PepsiCo.
Let’s dig in.
1. Work in Public
Things change. And PepsiCo — the 260,000-employee beverage juggernaut — is well aware. So much so, in fact, that it has published a manifesto called Responsive Ways of Working. It’s a great read. And it advocates (new) ways of working that are “open, connected, and comfortable with the unknown”.
2. Build SLAM Teams
SLAM teams are one of the cornerstones of the manifesto. And they are Self-organized, Lean, Autonomous, and Multi-Disciplinary. Importantly, they are also fit-for-purpose; organized not according to function but according to jobs to be done. In short, SLAM teams are built for “agility, alignment…and speed.”
3. Aim for Consent
Autocratic decision-making does not scale. And consensus-building is slow and cumbersome. That’s why Pepsico underpins its SLAM teams with a consent-driven decision-making model, tools with which to run better meetings, and guidelines for running a continuous improvement process.
PepsiCo’s Responsive Ways of Working was first published a few years ago. But it hasn’t received a lot of attention. And that’s a shame. Because of its great document. It reads kind of like a CliffsNotes version of books like Reinventing Organizations (w422018) and Brave New Work (w172019, w182019, and w192019), albeit more practical. So do yourself a favor and bookmark the site. It’s a great reference.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time, stay calm.
