I'm tired hearing from people in different industries that flat organisations, more autonomy and/or self-managed teams will not work in their industry/business. They claim their people/jobs are different than others and people expect a boss, clear orders/tasks, expect a bonus/commission, etc.
I came across an inspiring article about servant leadership in the Ukrainian military forces. (link at the end of post)
The author, Dmytro, shares his experience of moving from a modern workplace in IT/Consulting to the military forces. From modern workplace & management methods, to Soviet-era command & control
(Some companies still run this kind of management version … with minimal patching and updating since the mid-20th century 😉)
The underlying believes go something like this: great leaders have to be tough & command, followers have to follow orders & execute them without talking back; carrot (bonus) and stick (or else!) are the only way to motivate people; ...
Who ever enjoyed this kind of environment and style really?
Dmytro shares many great insights about servant leadership & delegation, asking 'why' and treating each other as equal humans, creating psychological safety and focusing on doing things better rather than blaming. He demonstrates a softer approach that actually gets better results in the end ...
One of my favourites, because this classic approach is still holding on strong:
<<When I came to the army one of the officers tried to explain to me that I need to have sanctions and benefits to motivate people. So, it’s about the carrot and stick approach. I said to him: “Yeah, I know about this approach. But it doesn’t work”. [...] people’s motivation will increase if you give them autonomy, set goals, and create opportunities for self-improvement.>>
If a different model works in the army, there is no reason why this would not work anywhere else.
We tend to get stuck in our ways and naturally resist change - the unknown looms. Our tendency to overestimate our personal performances combined with a lack of self-awareness, makes it hard to imagine a differently run organisation. Perceived effort and risks are high - and benefits hard to imagine. Could it be so much better if I give up control?
There are success stories and role models in the business world. About autonomy, clear goals and room for growth resulting in superior results, in comparison to classic management models. For example like this story of coach maker Irizar in Spain.
Time to rethink how we work together and build successful, lasting organisations. In every single industry and sector there are humans at work.
I came across an inspiring article about servant leadership in the Ukrainian military forces. (link at the end of post)
The author, Dmytro, shares his experience of moving from a modern workplace in IT/Consulting to the military forces. From modern workplace & management methods, to Soviet-era command & control
(Some companies still run this kind of management version … with minimal patching and updating since the mid-20th century 😉)
The underlying believes go something like this: great leaders have to be tough & command, followers have to follow orders & execute them without talking back; carrot (bonus) and stick (or else!) are the only way to motivate people; ...
Who ever enjoyed this kind of environment and style really?
Dmytro shares many great insights about servant leadership & delegation, asking 'why' and treating each other as equal humans, creating psychological safety and focusing on doing things better rather than blaming. He demonstrates a softer approach that actually gets better results in the end ...
One of my favourites, because this classic approach is still holding on strong:
<<When I came to the army one of the officers tried to explain to me that I need to have sanctions and benefits to motivate people. So, it’s about the carrot and stick approach. I said to him: “Yeah, I know about this approach. But it doesn’t work”. [...] people’s motivation will increase if you give them autonomy, set goals, and create opportunities for self-improvement.>>
If a different model works in the army, there is no reason why this would not work anywhere else.
We tend to get stuck in our ways and naturally resist change - the unknown looms. Our tendency to overestimate our personal performances combined with a lack of self-awareness, makes it hard to imagine a differently run organisation. Perceived effort and risks are high - and benefits hard to imagine. Could it be so much better if I give up control?
There are success stories and role models in the business world. About autonomy, clear goals and room for growth resulting in superior results, in comparison to classic management models. For example like this story of coach maker Irizar in Spain.
Time to rethink how we work together and build successful, lasting organisations. In every single industry and sector there are humans at work.
Max