The Rise of the Chaordic Organization
A conversation with a client about activating their "organizational purpose" with employees led me to pull this book off my shelf for a reference: "One From Many." Its author, Dee Hock, is also the inventor of Visa. Yeah, Visa, and for that matter, the entire "credit card" system as we know it, was invented from the head of one man. He also coined a term based on his experience creating Visa—"Chaordic." It's the combination of the words Chaos and Order.
He has this lovely way of thinking about companies
"The truth is a corporation, or for that matter, any organization, has no reality save in the mind. It is nothing but a mental construct to which people are drawn in pursuit of a common purpose, a conceptual embodiment of a very old, very powerful idea called community."
Communities.
What draws us to work at one company over another? We live in an age where many of us have a choice of where we work. So, what draws us? Money, benefits, curiosity. In our research with our clients, one thing comes up over and over "the people". I come to work, I stay at my job, I work hard for "the people I work with". It's not a far jump to make a connection between "the people" and "a community".
If employees choose to work at one place over another for a sense of community, what do our current organizations do to foster that community? We may be at an inflection point with our organizations, and maybe we need a little Chaos with our Order.
"Our current forms of organization are almost universally based on compelled behavior — on tyranny, for that is what compelled behavior is, no matter how benign it may appear or how carefully disguised and exercised. The organization of the future will be the embodiment of community based on shared purpose calling to the higher aspirations of people." - Dee Hock.
If we are to truly build organizations around a shared purpose, how much input should every employee have?
This has been rattling around in my head as I work, and I thought I would share.
Thank you, Charles J. Hoover, for introducing me to the book and way of thinking. It has truly changed so much for me.
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