by Richard N. Knowles, Ph.D

Many leaders brag about their businesses running like ‘well-oiled machines’ – models of consistency and efficiency.  But is this really the most effective way to get the results we want?  Are consistency and machine-like organizational behaviors actually signs of a company locked into rigid work patterns, bereft of flexibility, and suffering from stifled creativity?

Having directly managed business units and leadership teams for over three decades, the answer to me is clear:  The best and most effective businesses strive to make their organization living systems.

The practical – some might say revolutionary – “living system” theory of business efficiency and effectiveness fundamentally rests upon simple principles.  First and foremost, leaders must recognize their organization is, in fact, like a living, dynamic system.  That is, it takes in energy from outside systems, processes this energy, and exchanges it.  To survive, it must adapt to changes in the environment.  Just as human beings react to changes in their world and adapt behavior and plans accordingly, so should a business.

The question, however, is how to determine if your business is a healthy living system, or shackled to a machine-like leadership philosophy.

Corporate Dysfunction Identified

Dysfunctional organizations are typified by an inability or unwillingness to evolve and maintain an identity amidst a perpetually changing environment.  We routinely see, for example, businesses launched with great success and fanfare, only to falter and fail as the systems and markets around it change. 

Think of the dot.com companies which broke from the gates to great fanfare, ostensibly ‘ahead of the curve’ of technology with business models which married ingenious ideas to emerging technology.  Were the crash-and-burn scenarios most of these companies experienced after the bubble burst due solely to bad planning and inflated growth projections?  Or, could more fluid, adaptable leadership with comprehensive up-down, honest communication have averted failure?

Dysfunctional, ‘machine-like’ organizations are marked by rigid demarcation lines from top management down.  Front line employees, for example, who often deal with fundamental problems first, are essentially the eyes and ears of a company.  By virtue of their positions, they often witness the genesis of market changes which affect sustainability.  In a rigid, hierarchal organization, lines of communication only go top-down, and employees may be discouraged from sending information up the chain of command.

Assessment and Unleashing Creativity

All members of an organization need to share information with each other. To keep leaders from being buried in information, everyone needs to be able to see and understand the big picture and understand their role in it.  The establishment of trust among all employees is essential for the kind of honest and productive conversations healthy businesses need.

Is your company healthy?  Or are processes which foster and facilitate an environment of adaptation, functionality and growth needed?

The following six points can enable companies to assess their organizational model, identify potential problem areas, and open doors for change and renewal:

1.)   Type of organization structure

Is your company so rigidly structured that ideas and input from various levels are restricted to those levels?  Or, is it a fluid and flexible organization comprised of multi-level task forces and ad hoc teams?

2.)   Flexibility

How much flexibility do individuals have in their positions?  Can individuals quickly take steps to adapt to changing conditions, or do they stay within strictly-defined roles?

3.)   Sensing change

Are key personnel trained to focus strictly on tasks at hand, or are they guided to sense the environment around them and manage disturbances and crises on their own?

4.)   Decision-making processes

If people in the organization feel the need to make changes, how does this process work? Does unhappiness result in mere griping and complaining, or is there a forum or means by which these issues can be addressed?

5.)   Self-reflection and adaptation

How is your company structured as it relates to learning and improving the ability to adapt? Is it designed to encourage learning from mistakes, or focus primarily on punishing mistakes?

6.)   Institutional foresight

Are people in your company encouraged to imagine future scenarios and develop possible actions in response?  Is the organization fundamentally pro-active or reactive?

The Leadership Dance

Honest assessment of the answers to these questions can enable organizations to become more alive, sustainable and healthy.  Leaders who take positive action toward these issues inevitably ‘open up’ an organization and create an environment which recognizes, values and accentuates the very human characteristics of any company.  Managers fearful of opening up the flood gates of employee input are doomed to stifle the resource of creativity available to them.

The ‘machine-like’ orientation of many businesses ultimately results in stagnation and burdensome rigidity.  The fact is, as I’ve seen over and over in many types of situations, when businesses are treated as living entities and led by individuals who understand this philosophy, natural human creativity and ingenuity is unbridled.

Richard Knowles is the author of The Leadership Dance: Pathways to Extraordinary Organizational Effectiveness.  He spent 37 years with the DuPont Company in various different positions.  He now runs The Center for Self-Organizing Leadership, a network of individual consultants and practitioners, who adhere to Self-Organizing Leadership Principles in guiding organizations, communities and individuals to achieve extraordinary and sustainable results.