Week 25, 2021 — Issue #157
RDHY at MAQE: Complexity Conscious, Customer-Centric, and People Positive
Each week: three ideas for how to make work better. This week: three reasons why MAQE is adopting the Rendanheyi (RDHY) organizational model and philosophy.
Let’s dig in.
1. Complexity Conscious
We’re looking to make MAQE more resilient and adaptive to constant and continuous change. Doing so requires that we unbundle the organization, moving from a monolithic to a microservice-type structure. We think RDHY’s focus on platform ecosystems to be particularly valuable in this context. As an organization, we tend to favor consensus and mutual agreement. That’s not necessarily bad, but consensus takes time. RDHY will make us faster; it’ll make us better able to deal with complexity, and it’ll help us become loosely coupled yet highly aligned.
For more on this, see w202020 on Value Networks; MAQE is moving from a traditional matrix structure to an adaptive network organization.
2. Customer-Centric
We’re looking to make MAQE more innovative and responsive to customer needs. Doing so requires that we adopt an outside-in perspective, allowing us to continuously sense and respond to market demands. We consider the RDHY principle “Zero Distance to the Customer” to be particularly valuable in this context. As an organization, we tend to focus on process and methodology. That’s not necessarily bad, but doing-things-right is not the same as doing-the-right-thing. RDHY will help us focus on customer needs; it’ll help us discover and maximize value, and it will help us provide exceptional customer service.
For more on this, see w132020 on Competing Values Framework; MAQE is moving from “Collaborate” towards “Create”.
3. People Positive
We’re looking to make MAQE better able to attract and retain talent in an increasingly competitive labor market. Doing so requires that we optimize for fulfillment; that we provide equal opportunities for impact, learning, and cohesion (see w32019). We consider the RDHY principle of “Everyone is an Entrepreneur” to be particularly valuable in this context. As an organization, we have a bias towards cohesion. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but fulfillment requires that we get out of our comfort zone. RDH will help us do that; it’ll make us truly people positive, and it’ll enable each and every one of us to create our own path.
For more on this, see w72021 on Innovation Culture; MAQE is looking to embrace the “hard truth” about innovation.
A few things to note:
- The term “Complexity Conscious” comes from Aaron Dignan’s excellent Brave New Work (see w172019). I dare say that our move towards an unbundled and decentralized organization is very much in line with Dignan’s thesis around adaptability and change.
- The term “Customer Centric” is a hat-tip to the relentless focus on service and value that we find in organizations like Amazon, Haier, and Zappos (see w242021), etc. It’s a trait often forgotten in talks about the future of work. But it’s tremendously important.
- The term “People Positive” is again borrowed from Dignan (see w182019). My intent is however slightly different. MAQE is already a proponent of Theory Y. It’s how we live up to that ideal that needs to change: less consensus-cohesion and consent-personal growth.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time: Make it matter.
