by Jon Husband
December 8, 2008 at 8:16 pm
· Filed under Collaboration, Communities, Distributed Work, Enterprise 2.0, KM, Talent Management, Web 2.0
It was only a matter of time. If you look at the bullet points at the bottom of this post and you have been following emergent thinking about the future of work and / or Enterprise 2.0, you will recognize that many of us who have been thinking and writing about this new environment have covered off most, if not all, of the bullet points.I’m delighted to have stumbled across this new (to me) initiative (more below) for helping organizations in today’s networked world of work create what these folks call “organic leadership” in “natural hierarchies”. As some readers will know, I have for several years been yapping about what I call “wirearchy” …“a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and technology”.… and as part of my discourse have mused from time to time about the eventual appearance of fractal patterns of purposeful human activity (notably in workplace / organizational settings).
In fact, a quick comparison of the elements called for in this May 2002 World Future Society piece titled “From Hierarchy to Wirearchy – the future of workplace dynamics“, demonstrates considerable alignment with the elements set out further below in the Leadership StrateGems program.
The core components of wirearchy are:
- a crystal clear vision and values
- a strategically designed and integrated technology infrastructure
- comprehensive, clear and completely open communications
- pertinent objectives and focused measurement
- characteristics of culture that create, support and enable responsiveness, adaptability and fluidity
- leadership that is clear, focused, open, authentic and shared
Recently I have discussed this notion with Dave Snowden, who to my surprise confirmed that there’s already interesting research underway on that very subject (I cannot remember the names of the researchers he mentioned). And so it was with delight that I discovered this morning, via the Program For The Future Conference (an interactive conference inspired by Doug Engelbart’s vision of harnessing technology for human betterment) that Strategems is pursuing research and education into “fractal org charts”.
.
Just as modern pesticides deplete soil nutrients, contaminate groundwater, and generate inferior produce, the command-and-control structure of top-down human hierarchies poisons work environments through internal competition and control.Organizations that have natural hierarchies function more like Nature’s ecosystems than top-down pyramids, continually expanding and evolving rather than remaining fixed and stagnant. In such organizations, leaders and staff are united in their commitment to reaching the group’s goals and utilizing collective intelligence instead of competing against each other internally and wasting time and resources.
[ Snip ... ]
The Leadership StrateGems program is designed to help executives reconstruct their hierarchies organically with nested layers of responsibility and create exciting work environments with unlimited possibilities within the parameters of shared vision and purpose.Communicating a vision is both an art and a science: it requires not only inspiration from within but also an understanding of the tremendous power of groups in action, working toward a common goal. In this modular program, leaders learn how to increase loyalty and cooperation, improve morale, direct competition energy outward, reduce turnover, and transcend common communication issues through focus in these ten key areas:
- Organic Leadership
- Shared Vision
- Natural Hierarchy
- Collective Intelligence
- Diverse Personalities
- Direct Communication
- Emotional Intelligence
- Group Participation
- Personal Mastery
- Transformation Architecture
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Natalie wrote @ December 9th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Interesting post. Looking at organizations in terms of “wirearchies” and “fractal org charts” seems reminiscent of a new learning theory making the rounds called Connectivism (http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm), which explains how learning occurs in an increasingly networked world.
Yes, indeed. I think it’s George Siemens, Jay Cross and a few other elearning thought leaders who are responsible for elaborating the concept of Connectivism, if I am not mistaken.
And yes, learning and doing in tandem … being responsive to constant flows of information and change (just like organisms’ nervous system) … are necessary in this interlinked interconnected environment.
The deep issues leading us in this direction have been building for quite some time .. in 50 years or so, of course, those of us who are still alive will (probably) think that things have always been more or less this way … just as today we find quaint the way things were done say 50 years ago.
Oh, and I’d like to take (very mild) exception to your use of the word “reminiscent” … it sometimes has felt like I have been screaming into the full force of a cyclonic wind storm when writing and talking about “wirearchies” … for 8 years now
Really nice to see that the Fractal nature of modern networks (e.g. Internet & World Wide Web) is making its way into the obvious realm of Enterprise Architecture thinking 
We are increasingly dependent on Networks (public and private), but not always cognizant of the nature / topology of these networks which ultimately leads to incongruent attempts at exploitation e.g. centralized services as espoused by typical Web 2.0 solutions atop a network substrate that is inherentlyFractal 
Kingsley Idehen.
Thanks for stopping by, Kingsley. We’ve never met but I know about you, you’re the guy who had the smarts and luck to get Fred Giasson working with / for you
I’m not too sure how much “the fractal nature of networks” is making its way into anything approach “the mainstream” of Enterprise Architecture thinking, but clearly we will find out … in my opinion, it’s inevitable.
You might find this article by Dion Hinchcliffe in ZDNet today of interest:
The emerging case for open business methods
Jon, Thanks for the interesting set of links and directions to explore here. Your post reminded me of my 21stCenturyOrganization blogging colleague Victoria Axelrod’s pointer yesterday
http://snurl.com/7yj8t to the Web Science Research Initiative begun this fall at MIT and South Hampton University. http://webscience.org/about/ with no less than Tim Berners Lee as a director. http://webscience.org/about/
What struck me reading about the WSRI site was the recognition of the complex intertwining of technology and human interaction:
QUOTE:
“The Web is an engineered space created through formally specified languages and protocols. However, because humans are the creators of Web pages and links between them, their interactions form emergent patterns in the Web at a macroscopic scale. These human interactions are, in turn, governed by social conventions and laws. Web science, therefore, must be inherently interdisciplinary; its goal is to both understand the growth of the Web and to create approaches that allow new powerful and more beneficial patterns to occur.”
Given your long advocacy of wirearchies to help organizations adapt their structures to a constantly changing, increasingly connected world I’m interested in your observations on the promise of webscience.org’s efforts.
[...] See also “Fractal Is As Fractal Does … Emerging Forms of Organization Structure?“. [...]
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