Hierarchy

...in the organisation that cannot be superseded or trumped by another individual simply because they are higher in rank or higher in the organisational hierarchy. And then the second, I think, core piece of the definition is that it has to be organisation-wide. So there are many different organisations, I wou...more

...ral and strong tendency to recentralise informally or formally. So, you see that in the way that within organisations, you may say: "Okay, there's no hierarchy", but very quickly, a kind of informal status hierarchy emerges that operates very much like a traditional formal hierarchy. And so I think that that...more

...rmally. So, you see that in the way that within organisations, you may say: "Okay, there's no hierarchy", but very quickly, a kind of informal status hierarchy emerges that operates very much like a traditional formal hierarchy. And so I think that that similar dynamic occurs in any organisation that's tryin...more

...at we're helping this form of collaboration to emerge. And, as you say, it's a paradox because in a sense we are still enabling what one might call a hierarchy, but it's a different kind of hierarchy. It's not the old hierarchy, and at the same time, we are actually creating the flattening of the organisatio...more

...ion to emerge. And, as you say, it's a paradox because in a sense we are still enabling what one might call a hierarchy, but it's a different kind of hierarchy. It's not the old hierarchy, and at the same time, we are actually creating the flattening of the organisation which is the ideal of those who died i...more

...ay, it's a paradox because in a sense we are still enabling what one might call a hierarchy, but it's a different kind of hierarchy. It's not the old hierarchy, and at the same time, we are actually creating the flattening of the organisation which is the ideal of those who died ideologically, wanting that, ...more

...ial organisation, then we can reinvent it. Gary Hamel: It's a human creation. There's almost nothing that is a given about it. We've always had human hierarchies on any given subject. There are people who know more than others. So that's just inevitable. But the idea that you'd have one single top down formal ...more

... on any given subject. There are people who know more than others. So that's just inevitable. But the idea that you'd have one single top down formal hierarchy as a way of organising human beings is not a law of physics. That's a choice that we made at a particular point in time when administrative skills we...more

...yet at the level of algorithms, but, you know, there's plenty of know-how out there. And now rather than thinking about having organisations that are hierarchies of administrative capability, we need organisations that are networks of entrepreneurs. So that's a big challenge. But we've done other difficult thi...more

...change that's going to come with decentralisation. For me your work was so helpful, because it represents the business case for why traditional power hierarchies can be so problematic - because we're sort of invisible. And yet these hierarchies shape our brains and our ability to think creatively or differentl...more

... because it represents the business case for why traditional power hierarchies can be so problematic - because we're sort of invisible. And yet these hierarchies shape our brains and our ability to think creatively or differently. Margaret Heffernan: Well, I don't think they are that invisible. Because the pow...more

...ape our brains and our ability to think creatively or differently. Margaret Heffernan: Well, I don't think they are that invisible. Because the power hierarchies are typically illustrated in org charts. And they are pretty visible. I think the difficulty is people think that because they have always been part ...more

...ership is often thought of in wider society. It's about the person who is the leader of a team but in an environment without that coercive positional hierarchy. So what does that look like? I think it's facilitative leadership, bottom-up leadership, servant leadership, there are lots of terms coined to gest...more

...been fascinating to me to watch their journey from fully on board with Teal and self management. And then they went wow - and went back a bit to more hierarchy, but more conscious hierarchy. But I was kind of disappointed with this document, because how they were describing the management capacities - like t...more

...h their journey from fully on board with Teal and self management. And then they went wow - and went back a bit to more hierarchy, but more conscious hierarchy. But I was kind of disappointed with this document, because how they were describing the management capacities - like the skills and what it is to be...more

...as that have been developed over the years. For us, it's about "grow", not "climb", exactly as you say. Because there isn't a predetermined ladder or hierarchy that traditionally would narrow as you go up, because there isn't that, it really is with the individual, with a great deal of support and scaffoldin...more

...t whether not only does this person have the competency the skills that we're looking for, but also, how will they get on? What's their perception of hierarchy? For developers, especially when we're hiring experienced developers, how do they feel that they will they will be a developer, not a senior develope...more

... you. Because I don't think, as far as I'm aware, I don't think I've ever inducted anyone at Mayden that has worked in an organisation like ours, and hierarchy is so ingrained in our culture, whether it was in school or university or in other other job experiences, even in our family structures there is hier...more

...ributed. And the moment - well, after some time, when we shift into a, when there's more of us, we're more static. So we're not nomadic, any longer - hierarchy develops, and the hierarchy always takes the same form. So one of the things I quoted in my book from a wonderful Canadian writer, is that every civi...more

...ll, after some time, when we shift into a, when there's more of us, we're more static. So we're not nomadic, any longer - hierarchy develops, and the hierarchy always takes the same form. So one of the things I quoted in my book from a wonderful Canadian writer, is that every civilization takes the same form...more

...ow, religious organisations. And they saw kings or, yeah, kings. So I have been really fascinated by how, when we talk about whatever is in our DNA, hierarchy is in our DNA. Not necessarily the people's DNA, but the the progress of a civilization always leads to increased hierarchy, increased bureaucracy, a...more

...he Holocaust, and how because of the way our brains are wired, certain things help to keep us in that cognitive dissonance. And power structures and hierarchies is one of the things that keeps that in place. So there’s an example of nurses in an experiment who are given instructions over the phone from a seni...more

...d she was so shocked by that, like: how can we throw away perfectly good products?! And she in her own store, without asking for permission from the hierarchy, got people to agree “let’s have returned items and sell them at a 20% discount.” And other people from other stores looked at this and she just had ...more

... moments where they felt powerless and that they’ve hated it, or they’ve seen their father or their mother being deeply unhappy at work or crushed by hierarchy and just never want this to happen again, or, you know, just some of these very personal motivations. And then I go, “Okay, now we’re talking, now w...more

...ike this. And this was, I remember going to some of those early workshops, where we had several layers of management, you know, six, seven layers, of hierarchy. And people who normally never almost hardly talk to each other, you know, and how the people at the lower level within a matter of a couple of hours...more

...g this work I, like many people, stumbled into this trap of thinking that to find new ways of working, we have to reject anything that has a whiff of hierarchy, for example. So anything that looks like a structure or process is like “no, that's more of the old stuff that we don't want anymore”. And I think L...more

...ow can we need both of these things, because they're opposites. How can we be more integrated and more autonomous? To your point about you know, all hierarchy is bad? Well, no… a small number of very integrated things and a whole bunch of autonomous things. Then where are we really? Are we getting what we n...more

...ings that require an integrated decision where multiple perspectives consent to the decision. So you focus on the decisions themselves, rather than a hierarchy of people. In a traditional system, the hierarchy of people says all decisions are made at the top, and progressively fewer and fewer decisions at th...more

...tiple perspectives consent to the decision. So you focus on the decisions themselves, rather than a hierarchy of people. In a traditional system, the hierarchy of people says all decisions are made at the top, and progressively fewer and fewer decisions at the bottom. And in a model like this, it's more like...more

...cisions are made at the top, and progressively fewer and fewer decisions at the bottom. And in a model like this, it's more like, actually, there's a hierarchy of the types of decisions. So most of them, you can make yourself and then some of them you need advice and a very few, you need a more integrated ta...more

...ll, one of the typical problems that this flatter organisation has is how people grow in a flat organisation, right? Because you can grow in terms of hierarchy. Sometimes most people understand growing in terms of scaling positions in a hierarchy. So one of the challenges is to work around that, and know how...more

...n a flat organisation, right? Because you can grow in terms of hierarchy. Sometimes most people understand growing in terms of scaling positions in a hierarchy. So one of the challenges is to work around that, and know how to deal with that. And I'm starting to move to a purpose-driven company, where you try...more

... along that growth you started to see different challenges. And we had created our model of self-management - we didn't call it, we call it 'reversed hierarchy', and we had our own little pictures that we were painting and felt very revolutionary, and so on. And at the same time we faced challenges, and you ...more

...tact with this world of teal companies, and so on. And how it happened was that I was speaking at some different conferences, presenting our reverse hierarchy model, and so on, and then somebody asked: "Oh, you probably read this book, Reinventing Organisations and you decided to build your company that way...more

...Lisa Gill: Yeah, it's really cool and he talks about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and that actually, it's wrong and that before any other needs, we have social needs as human beings. If you think about when we're babies, w...more

... value and my self-worth, and all of this stuff. So it makes sense that I have to go through that work before I can feel safe enough - until my basic hierarchy of needs are met, for me to then we start thinking about my teammates and the bigger picture. Edwin Jansen: Yeah, it really is inner work and we like...more

...let the organisation down'. So it's kind of a cruel joke in a way that even when you get rid of that oppressive, sometimes bureaucratic, traditional hierarchy, new challenges emerge - where it's still a human challenge of how to be together in another way. Even if you're doing meaningful work together, and ...more

... came in and, brought in some new thinking, new structure, some things we didn't actually know from outside. Traditional African culture is rooted in hierarchies and is about yielding to authority and seeing all subordinates yielding to authority. You look at the African chiefs - traditional leaders who have ...more

... I'm no longer the same to your managers that I used to be. So if the organisation should take a decision that "no we must go back, we must have more hierarchy", I don't think I'm the CEO for that company. So that's where I stand but it's not my decision on where we go but I would surely see consequences for...more

...ple that have been hired lately, I see that there is such a now such a strong culture, that it is impossible that you end up working for Haier with a hierarchy or control perspective. It’s mathematically impossible. You won’t be at Haier. You won’t be actually attractive because the employer branding that th...more

...w to create that paradox of how to create environments where everyone is powerful, and and yet, at the same time, allowing for natural leadership and hierarchies to emerge -that's really tricky and there's no magic pill for that. So I think that's also been something that's been confirmed time and time again....more

...een worked out before implementation. Because in the command and control world, so many times I talk with people, you know, at the lower level of the hierarchy who say they are such idiots, the managers because they decide things they think they know, but they make this decision and they don't ask us and we ...more