Trying To Build Non-Hierarchical Organisation

Building an organisation that’s not based on org-chart, command and control is a difficult thing, but we’re trying. We all have this feudal hierarchy baked into us by school and past jobs. On top of that we humans are hierarchical animals. It means that even if there’s no formal ranking, a natural pecking order will kick in.

To build a turquoise organisation (which I believe is the term du jour) there’s a couple of things required.

First we need trust that the people will do the right thing, what needs to be done. Sure we may have our trust disappointed many times, but we need to keep trusting people until they raise up to the challenge.

Second in order to relinquish control organisation members need to understand what the goals are. So clear definition of goals is the beginning of this process. It’s an art in and of itself. It’s best if they’re underpinned by a strong vision and even a mission statement!

Third it requires the awesomest communication of those goals. As every communication it’s very, very hard. It’s not enough that those goals are written somewhere. They need to be clearly defined, told and repeated multiple of times in different forms.

There’s also other things - matching values, matching incentives, etc. But those are necessary in any kind of half-decent business. This is a huge challenge, but that's what we want Evojam to become. Or keep becoming, it's a constant ride.

Photo by Larm Rmah