Time, Patience and Reflection: How to Build a Team that Moves Fast
Enabling your team to move unconstrained and fast comes from a paradox.
The first days when you start distributing power, more people will join the table. Your first reaction might be that you are entering a dangerous “decision by consensus” zone: more conversations, more collaboration and more time.
Letting this initial stage run its course without interference is crucial. You are building the trust required so people can take ownership of their decisions.
Decentralisation needs trust, both ways.
The case for decentralisation.
Agile ways of working are not enough anymore. A culture of ownership permeating all levels of the organisation is the next frontier. All employees need to be able to make decisions quickly and contribute to improvements in the business.
While a top-down view of work ignores the wisdom available in all parts of the organisation, a self-management model leverages and unleashes it.
It takes time
Patience, reflection and time are enablers to an environment where distribution of power is the norm.
Once trust is established, speed will pick up exponentially.
Small day-to-day decisions will start to be made without the fear of hierarchy and wasteful approval processes by management.
After being on this journey for three years, I can say that although it takes time, it is incredibly rewarding. Seeing people’s autonomy growing, their true selfs coming to work every day and a sense of collective responsibility emerging makes me wonder if I could ever work again in a different environment.
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.
