One of our biggest challenges is learning all the implications of new models of connection between people brought about by cloud tools and capabilities. We are used to models based on hierarchy, such as “the outline” view, but we are much less prepared for “many to many”, “one to many” and “many to one”. We don’t have a good visualization that allows us to understand our new reality in one model, or graphic, or view.
“Many to one” would be a wheel with the spokes coming to the center. One to many could be the same with information moving in the opposite direction. Well, except that’s just two dimensions, so what would a 3D model look like? AND what is the model for “many to many”? And “many to many” combined with many/one one/many?? The mind “boggles” to borrow some slang from 60s.
Sometimes we depend on a metaphor or simile; we talk of the web, but diagramming a web that doesn’t have just one center is like diagramming the neuron connections in our brain. Seemingly impossible to “see it” from one perspective; myth has been used to understand the seemingly impossible to understand before, perhaps myth will come “to the rescue” again.
But whether we are conceptually ready or not, our world is being restructured according to the new reality, and learning is not immune as new structures are being developed all the time to take advantage of new connectivity. 21st Century civilization has a lot of different organizing structures: religions, government, business, institutions, non profits, grass roots, regional ..to name a few.
Reorganizing into “lean startup” is one of many new approaches to how businesses and workplaces can be organized. There are many others, often with an emphasis on human relationships being maximized in every dimension possible. Such as how we are “happy” and thus efficient when we are working together.
Heres a link to something called “Delivering Happiness” one person, community, and company at a time.
Then there’s examples such as Tony Hsieh radical approach called Holacracy.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/At-Zappos-Pushing-Shoes-and-a-Vision-The-New-York-Times.pdf”]At Zappos, this means traditional corporate hierarchy is gone. Managers no longer exist. The company’s 1,500 employees define their own jobs. Anyone can set the agenda for a meeting. To prevent anarchy, processes are strictly enforced. At the June meeting, a trained facilitator, in this case a young bearded man wearing a blue baseball hat, followed the Holacratic method by asking attendees to “get here, get present, get now,” and encouraged everyone in the room to briefly check in.
Here’s more on Holacracy “how it works”.
Holacracy is a new way of running an organization that removes power from a management hierarchy and distributes it across clear roles, which can then be executed autonomously, without a micromanaging boss. The work is actually more structured than in a conventional company, just differently so. With Holacracy, there is a clear set of rules and processes for how a team breaks up its work, and defines its roles with clear responsibilities and expectations.