Bureaucracy is a massive, multi-player game and those who excel at it are typically unenthusiastic about changing it. Someone who’s invested 30 years in acquiring the power and privileges of an executive vice-president is unlikely to look   favorably on a proposal to downgrade formal titles and abolish the link between rank and compensation.
- No location available
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Look what happened when Zappos, the online retailer, tried to replace bosses with interlocking decision-making groups or “circles.” While the goal was laudable — to eliminate managers and organizational politics — the all-or-nothing implementation of this new and mostly untested management model left Zappos in turmoil. Staff turnover jumped to an unprecedented 30%, and many of those who remained were confused and demoralized. In 2016 Zappos fell off Fortune magazine’s Best Places to Work for the first time in eight years.
- No location available
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Beating bureaucracy isn’t just one more re-org. What’s needed is an approach that’s emergent, collaborative, iterative, and inescapable; one that “rolls up” rather than “rolls out;” something more like an open innovation project and less like Mao’s cultural revolution.
- No location available
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(highlight:: Imagine an online, company-wide conversation where superfluous and counter-productive management practices are discussed and alternatives proposed. The output of such a conversation wouldn’t be a single, elaborate plan for uprooting bureaucracy, but a portfolio of risk-bounded experiments designed to test the feasibility of post-bureaucratic management practices.
For example, a hack might propose that front line teams be given the right to interview and select new hires — a task heretofore performed by department heads or HR staff. Such an idea could be quickly tested in a small corner of large organization. Within a month or two one would know: Can we do this efficiently? Can the legal risks be mitigated? Does this produce better hiring decisions? Does it boost team morale?)
- No location available
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You can’t build a human-centered organization by leaving behind those who find the transition discomforting.
- No location available
-

Bureaucracy is a massive, multi-player game and those who excel at it are typically unenthusiastic about changing it. Someone who’s invested 30 years in acquiring the power and privileges of an executive vice-president is unlikely to look   favorably on a proposal to downgrade formal titles and abolish the link between rank and compensation.
- No location available
-

Look what happened when Zappos, the online retailer, tried to replace bosses with interlocking decision-making groups or “circles.” While the goal was laudable — to eliminate managers and organizational politics — the all-or-nothing implementation of this new and mostly untested management model left Zappos in turmoil. Staff turnover jumped to an unprecedented 30%, and many of those who remained were confused and demoralized. In 2016 Zappos fell off Fortune magazine’s Best Places to Work for the first time in eight years.
- No location available
-

Beating bureaucracy isn’t just one more re-org. What’s needed is an approach that’s emergent, collaborative, iterative, and inescapable; one that “rolls up” rather than “rolls out;” something more like an open innovation project and less like Mao’s cultural revolution.
- No location available
-

(highlight:: Imagine an online, company-wide conversation where superfluous and counter-productive management practices are discussed and alternatives proposed. The output of such a conversation wouldn’t be a single, elaborate plan for uprooting bureaucracy, but a portfolio of risk-bounded experiments designed to test the feasibility of post-bureaucratic management practices.
For example, a hack might propose that front line teams be given the right to interview and select new hires — a task heretofore performed by department heads or HR staff. Such an idea could be quickly tested in a small corner of large organization. Within a month or two one would know: Can we do this efficiently? Can the legal risks be mitigated? Does this produce better hiring decisions? Does it boost team morale?)
- No location available
-

You can’t build a human-centered organization by leaving behind those who find the transition discomforting.
- No location available
-