Giving up Power
One of the cornerstones of self-managing teams is the distribution of power.
Easier said than done; organisations rarely apply genuine self-management all the way.
Take strategy, for example. The dominating business culture tells that only a selected few should make decisions in that space. Those few usually occupy C-level positions and strategy roles.
Some companies even prefer to invite outsiders, such as consultants, to develop their strategy.
I’m not saying that C-level executives and strategy folks are not qualified to decide on strategy. They are.
Strategy, though, should not be exclusive. Customers and team members should be invited in and participate in the process as well.
My team is currently going through a significant restructure at the moment.
As an innovation team, we enjoy a certain level of independence. Due to our work’s nature, we have to pivot our mission as quick as the environment changes around us.
Instead of making those calls top-down, we are distributing the decision and leveraging what Gary Hamel, the author of Humanocracy, calls the everyday genius.
Those geniuses are closer to your customer and the problems they face. In short, they are closer to reality.
Multiple hands are designing our new mission and structure, 56 to be exact.
So, what is the role of a leader, a senior executive then? If not to make those strategic decisions, what should they be doing?
My answer is simple: In a world where command and control is still a reality, a leader is there to allow the emergence of that collective expertise by giving up power.
As a leader, your responsibility is to lead your team or organisation through the best possible path, even if it means following others that may know the way better than you.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Connect with my on Twitter for more content related to Corporate Innovation, Design and Leadership, or if you’d like to ask any question.✌️
This article is part of a series of 30 Atomic Essays I wrote for 30 consecutive days. You can check all of them here.
