When I started my consulting practice thirty years ago, one of the first things I observed was the inability of people/leaders to be able to see how the structure of the organization affected everything else. People were subject to structure. In effect, function followed form. The transactional nature of relationships developed. There was a consequent loss in the ability to think clearly, which affected the agency of people to take initiative to do human things like solve problems and communicate broadly. Everything became scripted and permission based.
One of the responses to this highly structured organizational environment was the emergence of a culture of entrepreneurship. Ideas, relationships, initiative, focus on impact are all present in a start-up. Then, as the business grows, founders turn over the business to managers who scale the business or set it up for acquisition. Entrepreneurism is not a sustainable organizational structure.
As I saw these three patterns of behavior related to ideas, relationships, and structure, I also saw the unsustainability of this situation long-term. What I saw three decades ago is coming to pass. We have entered a time of transition that has no clear end point. It means we all, as amateur sleuths, be vigilant in observing what we see that works, and elevate its importance for awareness. We also recognize what doesn’t and must change.
It means this transition is not like leaving home to go on a trip, only to return back to the same home. Instead it is a reorientation of our perception of what is real, and how to adapt to it. Not a new house, but a new world. So, we identify as amateurs learning what we need to know minute to minute.
When I started my consulting practice thirty years ago, one of the first things I observed was the inability of people/leaders to be able to see how the structure of the organization affected everything else. People were subject to structure. In effect, function followed form. The transactional nature of relationships developed. There was a consequent loss in the ability to think clearly, which affected the agency of people to take initiative to do human things like solve problems and communicate broadly. Everything became scripted and permission based.
One of the responses to this highly structured organizational environment was the emergence of a culture of entrepreneurship. Ideas, relationships, initiative, focus on impact are all present in a start-up. Then, as the business grows, founders turn over the business to managers who scale the business or set it up for acquisition. Entrepreneurism is not a sustainable organizational structure.
As I saw these three patterns of behavior related to ideas, relationships, and structure, I also saw the unsustainability of this situation long-term. What I saw three decades ago is coming to pass. We have entered a time of transition that has no clear end point. It means we all, as amateur sleuths, be vigilant in observing what we see that works, and elevate its importance for awareness. We also recognize what doesn’t and must change.
It means this transition is not like leaving home to go on a trip, only to return back to the same home. Instead it is a reorientation of our perception of what is real, and how to adapt to it. Not a new house, but a new world. So, we identify as amateurs learning what we need to know minute to minute.